Ulm
I can take my little boat out into the remnants of a cyclone…I don't need a licence, I don't need a medical, but I don't risk anyone else
Full medical and psychiatric examination of all boaties should be compulsory. I don’t know how many searches I have participated in during the past thirty-odd years looking for thoughtless boaties. In some instances, the risk factor to ourselves was increased due to the distance off shore of the search area or the prevailing weather conditions. One occasion I recall departing Cairns just before cyclone Justin struck, to search 400 miles south of Honiara!
Boats have been around longer than medicals and in particular psychiatrists and bringing such legislation in retrospectively for private boating would raise hell.
As far as private operations are concerned – don’t forget that some private operators are flying turbine aircraft and transporting their employees about. Wonder how they would feel if they felt their front end operators didn’t have to undertake medical examinations?