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My youngest daughter just turned 12 and is dying to drive the boat. She's in the process of studying the alabama boaters safety manual. When she feels she's ready, she'll take the test. But she will do so alone and without the book in hand. If she has to take it and I have pay for it 10 times, I don't care as long as she retains the info.
www.boat-ed.com
That's the one.@F.M. This is the course and exam for certification that we used. It is through Boat-Ed. The link below is the one for Alabama. The nice thing about it is that the course requires you to read, watch video's and also has a lot of images and interactive diagrams which help with retention. Every section has a practice test of questions, if you don't get them then you must start that section again. At the end of the grouped sections you take a full section longer practice test, again same thing, but if you don't pass this you must start the whole group over again. At the end you take a very long 70 questions practice test. If you pass that you are ready to take the longer exam, which upon completion give you your certificate.
I liked the format and the repetition. I went through it as well and found a few section a bit challenging during the practice test. The Admiral and I both went through it so that we could talk about it with the kids when they were actually on the water. You probably already now about this but I am linking it anyway.
Get Your Alabama Boating License & Safety Course | BoatEd
Take our Alabama approved online boater safety course and get your boating license at your own pace! Get boater certified today!
Yeah it was your typical “User Error”
!
And distracted by umm everything
Lots of new boaters here that are completely ignorant when it comes to who has the right of way and who should hold steady.
My daughter completed the course and passed the canadian boater exam last year, she was 10. She did the reading, watched the videos and did the end of chapter tests. Some sections she repeated 2 or 3 times, other she got right on the 1st try. I'd then ask her 2 or 3 review questions with practical examples to ensure she understood and could apply the knowledge. She then passed the exam on the first try. Took about 10 days total, 30 to 40 minutes per day. She drives anytime she wants. She handles the 195 better than I handled 15hp boats when I was 12, but then again, I don't remember anyone ever explaining anything to me or teaching me the right of way rules, how to read the wind on the water, etc...
sounds like Darwin had it right!
I agree with this - we do most of our boating on the river because there's less people and it's directional. Due to rain lately we were not able to go to our spot on the river for Father's Day and instead went to the Chain O Lakes. Trailers were parked a mile from the ramp. There were not less than 500 boats on that body of water, which, on a normal day if you see a hundred, it's busy. It looked like a constant boat parade on the no-wake zones. The four lakes that you could do water sports on were packed with people, mostly pontoons pulling tubes (why do I hate those people so much?). I had the transom fat sac fall of my boat ending the session, and I had to sit in the middle of the late to empty it. We were nearly side-swiped by a pontoon in that time. Needless to say, shortly after, I pulled out of the water.
As a guy that likes to fish, I get it giving dirty looks. However I always told myself that "if I'm going to fish in the middle of a channel on a busy day, there's going to be some waves."My boat is on a really big lake/river system so it's been a lot easier to avoid getting too close to other boaters - lots of room to maneuver. This is my first season owning a boat so I'm hyper aware of what's going on around me and am trying to not be one of the douche bags that are being described in this thread.
One thing that is a bit annoying is the fleet of fishing boats that congregate at the mouth of the river as I'm heading out onto the lake. I try to be as mindful as possible but weaving between them sucks at low speed and I still get some looks.
Agreed. I do the same thing. Tube is out (usually with someone on it relaxing) and I put the orange flag up high in one of my rocket launchers. I too have an air horn on the console and we almost always leave at least 1 person on the boat as a spotter/DJ/drink and snack fetcher.