New York Now Requires Boating Safety Certificate for All Motorized Vessel Operators

For the first time in New York State history all operators of all types and sizes of motorized boats are required to carry what is, for all intents and purposes, a drivers license for operating a watercraft.

To get what the state is calling a boating safety certificate one must complete an approved 8-hour safe boating course and pass a written test. There is no floating version of the road test required for boat handling (yet ...) but if you are piloting a boat that has a motor — so, yes, sailboats are included — you will have to have your certificate on you.

Technically, you can get a ticket from any of the local marine patrol, bay constables, U.S. Coast Guard, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation or Suffolk County Police officers who patrol our waters if you are caught without one this summer, but it’s more likely that at least for this season you will get a verbal warning and instruction on how to sign up for a boating safety course.

The course does not teach boat handling — again, there’s no road test, as of now — but the focus is instead on basic understanding of navigational markers that boaters will encounter and the so-called rules-of-the-road, which even seasoned boaters will likely find have some on the water situations that they’re not sure of the correct approach to (a lot of rules of the water guidelines are set up for places with more constricted waterways than we have around here).

Think you don’t need it? Quick quiz: Two boats are approaching each other on intersecting courses on constant bearings and decreasing range, which boat has the right-of-way? In a meeting situation of two boats approaching each other head on, which boat is the give-way vessel and which is the stand-on vessel? What about one vessel overtaking a slower vessel, who is responsible for staying out of the way of whom?

The courses are available from a variety of sources. There are several in-person courses being offered each month by various agencies like the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Boating American, and the state Department of Parks and Recreation. The state-managed courses are free. The Coast Guard and Boating America courses are $50.

There are also a wide variety of online course that you can take — which cost between $60 and $100. The state parks department website parks.ny.gov/boating/education has a list of both in-person and online courses that pass muster and links to the online courses.

The state has been gradually working its way up to this year’s universal licensing requirement — starting with young boaters nearly a decade ago and gradually moving up the year of birth after which it was required.

For many responsible boaters and those who are tasked with keeping our waterways safe this requirement was long, long, long overdue.

“I’ve been in favor of a boating safety certificate for a long time, even before I was in law enforcement and I was a marina manager because people would get boats and would just have no clue … because the classes teach you how to be safe on the water,” said East Hampton Town Police Marine Patrol’s Commanding Officer Tim Treadwell.

“We don’t have double yellow lines that show you which side you’re supposed to be on. There’s no stop signs, right?” he added. “A lot of people don’t know, even people who have been boating for years, don’t always know a lot of the rules of the road, or how to communicate over the radio, or know what lights on the water at night mean. It’s all things that will help keep people safe.”