From today's London Times

From Times Online July 27, 2009

Dinghy sailors and canoeists to be subject to shipping laws
A canoeist on the Fal in Cornwall. Many water-sports enthusiasts are angered by the proposals

Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor

Canoes, surfboards and dinghies are to be given the same legal status as cruise liners and oil tankers in a clampdown on reckless behaviour at sea.

Unpowered craft including sailboards and bodyboards are to be reclassified as ships to bring their users within regulations for merchant shipping.

Users face prison and fines of up to £50,000 if they are held liable for any accidents. A family in a dinghy or a beginner oarsman could be prosecuted if they collided with a swimmer. Anyone out on the water would be liable to a random breath test. The change was initially prompted by pressure to reduce accidents involving reckless use of jet skis, which have caused nine deaths in the past ten years. But the Department for Transport has infuriated many of Britain’s four million water sports enthusiasts by proposing to extend the regulations to unpowered craft. All watercraft would be classed as “ships” and thus bound by safety regulations enshrined in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1995. Surfers and canoeists in particular are adamant that they should not be subjected to such legislation.

Mark Wesson, a member of the British Surfing Association’s executive council, said: “We shall certainly be opposing this, and goodness knows what holidaymakers are going to make of this. It may put a lot of people off investing in a surfboard.”

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Rob Barber, owner of a bodyboarding school in Newquay, Cornwall, suggested that the plan was too bizarre to enforce. “Common sense says you don’t go out on a surfboard when you are drunk — it’s not something you do,” he said.

Jason Smith, editor of Canoe and Kayak magazine, said: “There is a clear difference between a powered and an unpowered craft and it seems draconian if someone is in the sea in a beginner’s-style kayak after drinking a beer and then they may be prosecuted. I don’t think readers will like it one bit.”

Gus Lewis, legal officer at the Royal Yachting Association, the governing body for dinghies, yachts, rigid inflatable boats and sailboards, said everyone at sea should follow the same safety rules. But he said the association did not support new drink-driving rules for amateur sailors, since it is already an offence to behave in such a way as to endanger a ship or an individual.

Mr Lewis questioned whether the laws should apply to canoes and surfers. “We would include windsurfers, though, for we would say they navigate waters. If you got injured by a windsurfer or a dinghy, you’d be angry if they were somehow above the law.” The proposals, in a consultation paper, are intended to close a legal loophole identified in the Court of Appeal four years ago. Judges overturned the conviction of Mark Goodwin, of Weymouth, Dorset, who nearly killed a man when riding a jet ski. They ruled a jet ski was not a seagoing ship, so not subject to the merchant shipping legislation. The new rules would bring Britain into line with a Convention on International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea.

Most yacht and speedboat owners already comply with the equivalent of a highway code for the sea, and until the judgment most people thought both motor and sailing boats were governed by the rules. A spokeswoman for the DfT said the intention was to “prevent the irresponsible few from spoiling the fun of everyone else”. She added: “Everyone should be free to enjoy themselves on the water in the knowledge that there are sanctions to deal with those who would put their safety at risk.”


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Pretty much anything with a motor, requires a license and all water craft should be able to be classified somehow, but its absurd to put surfboards into the same class as an ocean liner... the operate differently... you dont get the same license for a car and a train.

The fact is that if I hit someone with my gear (licensed or not), I can face a civil suit - and is one of the best reasons for being part of your state association (in our case Windsurfing Victoria), as it provides liability cover.

Interesting article. I can see something will happen in the near future requiring us and kiters to be licenced or controlled in some kind of way.
The Government will do 1 of 2 things
1) Licence and enforce through the water police.(similar to Jet Skis)
2) Legislate to require us to become members of clubs

I think 1) is a total waste of time.

My gut feel is the Government will legislate to make all recreational sailors/kiters become members of a Club, licence the clubs and require the clubs to enforce a code of rules and education on its members. Not a bad option

Hopefully common sense should poke its head up.
Firstly, how many potential newcomers would be turned off by the thought of licensing and regulation? What I like about windsurfing is the idea I can rock up to any beach anywhere in this country and go for a blast without having to worry about anything else.....
It would be close on impossible to enforce any type of licensing given that there are so many different locations, conditions and types of sailing...but given our State's previous form, I wouldn't put it past them....
What we need is a member of parliament who windsurfs....Old Salty, are you up for it??
mick

Matthew - agree about being part of a State association for insurance purposes. It is commonsense. Which reminds me I had better renew And the bit about surfboards is crazy, however Governments in their infinite wisdom tend to follow the masses(to stay in power - Am I being cynical?) and there is a ground swell about the dangers to the public from Kitesurfing and unfortuinately windsurfers are being lumped in with it. The same thing happened with Jet Skis. They became popular, a few accidents started happening then the Government licenced them. We are already seeing designated areas being formulated for windsurf and kitesurf beaches, I see licencing as the next step.
DRIFT - nice try. Me a politican, I don't think so. Licencing has not stopped jetskiing becomming even more popular but I do get your point

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Old Salty said...

My gut feel is the Government will legislate to make all recreational sailors/kiters become members of a Club, licence the clubs and require the clubs to enforce a code of rules and education on its members. Not a bad option

Hmmm, still this would only make sense with some form of standardised license that you could carry around to proof to some authority (e.g. the police) that you know the windsurfing or kiting rules. So if you need a license anyway then why make club membership mandatory? Of the two options license or license+club membership I definitely prefer the first, cause the second sounds more expensive to me.

Germany has had a windsurfing license for decades. You have to do a little exam and practical test (rig and sail) and pay a small fee to get a license which never expires. The tests are run by clubs (usually as part of a windsurfing introduction course). The license is managed by the VDWS, which is kind of an umbrella organisation on top of the clubs. But you can get the license without having to join a club or the VDWS.

The license is recognised everywhere throughout Germany as well as in some other countries. In Germany if police catches you sailing without a license you could pay a hefty fine. I doubt that they spend time checking windsurfing licenses though. But in case of an accident they would certainly do.

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ddevil said...

Old Salty said...

My gut feel is the Government will legislate to make all recreational sailors/kiters become members of a Club, licence the clubs and require the clubs to enforce a code of rules and education on its members. Not a bad option

Hmmm, still this would only make sense with some form of standardised license that you could carry around to proof to some authority (e.g. the police) that you know the windsurfing or kiting rules. So if you need a license anyway then why make club membership mandatory? Of the two options license or license+club membership I definitely prefer the first, cause the second sounds more expensive to me.

Germany has had a windsurfing license for decades. You have to do a little exam and practical test (rig and sail) and pay a small fee to get a license which never expires. The tests are run by clubs (usually as part of a windsurfing introduction course). The license is managed by the VDWS, which is kind of an umbrella organisation on top of the clubs. But you can get the license without having to join a club or the VDWS.

The license is recognised everywhere throughout Germany as well as in some other countries. In Germany if police catches you sailing without a license you could pay a hefty fine. I doubt that they spend time checking windsurfing licenses though. But in case of an accident they would certainly do.

It's already happening here in Vic!...check out the post below.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53223

It's going to soon be law that we have to be a member of a club, not to mention the idiocy of the proposed boating laws!

I wouldn't be too worried because in theory Jetski's have rules and regulations, however all summer I watch them doing donuts next to swimmers, 20+knots in 5knots zones and both cutting me off and coming within 15metres of me on my formula (meant to always give way to sail and keep 50metre range). In cases like this they really should allow exceptions to the gun law.

So if they don't enforce those rules can't see them going after windsurfers, I hope.