Yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOATERS REMINDED OF NEW BOATING REGULATIONS
Release Date: 08/11/2009

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Law Enforcement Division (LDWF/LED) is advising boaters to be aware of new boating regulations that will go into effect on Aug. 15, 2009 including new regulations on personal flotation devices (PFD) also known as life jackets.

The recent legislative session produced some new boating regulations that will affect recreational boaters. Here is a summary of the new regulations:

--Anyone 16 years of age or younger, onboard a vessel less than 26 feet, is required to wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved PFD while the vessel is underway. The law previously stated that anyone under 12 was required to wear a PFD.

--Penalties for driving while intoxicated (DWI) now include the suspension or revocation of boating privileges when a person loses driving privileges due to suspension or revocation of their driver's license due to a DWI or DWI refusal whether the offense took place in a vehicle or a watercraft.

--Beginning July 1, 2010, persons born after Jan. 1, 1984 are required to successfully complete a boating education course to operate a motorboat over 10 horsepower. The law previously stated that anyone born after Jan. 1, 1988 was required to complete a course. Operators born between Jan. 1, 1984 and Dec. 31, 1987 have until July 1, 2010 to complete a course.

The LDWF/LED also wants to remind boaters to follow the rules of the road, wear a life jacket and designate a sober vessel operator to keep Louisiana's waterways safe for all boaters.

Ain't dat some crap. Them big wigs don't know much bout drivin down da bayou and they want me to take a Boaters safty exam. Missed the date by 15days. But the wife laughs and says she doesn't have to take it. I laugh too and say that's alright you'll be 30 b4 me too lol

with da way da kids ride around in boats today I think dat class is a damn good idea... I hope it teaches 'em sum manners too.

bad thing is its not just the kids who drive bad. Unfortunately i will now have to take a class on something i have been doing since i was 7 years old. My dad at least showed me the proper way to handle all types of watercraft. From the time I was 12 i have had my own boat, and was trusted with using any boat we owned at the time. Hell at 13, I used my dad's Robicheaux airboat whenever i wanted.

Lately i have noticed that alot of guys in there 30s and 40s who have never owned a boat, think they know what they are doing. They drive around doing 90 mph pulling 3 of their kids on a tube in the middle of the busiest waterway in LA.

Amen slambin we almost got ran over last weekend by a bass boat. Man was in his 30s and had a young kid with him. The biggest problem is thats the ones who are teaching the bad habits to their kids. I have no problem taking the class but its not just us your guys.

y'all 2 make sure u don't attend da same class together.... dat way we get 2 classes covered. lol

We'll make Maxxis take one by himself too. We'll cover 3 of them that way.

don't forget Hunter too!

Holy shit! I think we can really get a coordinated effort goin here and cover every single class dey offer!

yes they do have some a$$holes out there that cant drive to save there lives if my boat was alot faster i would catch up with them and smack them up side the head

Thats why I only travel at dawn and dusk.

Hell, just 2 weeks ago friends on mine(charter capt) was out on a trip with a client and was running his 24 champion in a main canal about half throttle with the jack plate up b/c of underwater obstructions. Some Boogalee comes out in a small flat boat idling into the main canal and J ran over him with his buddy and their two little girls. The boat went clean over the flat, flipped it threw out one guy and the little girls were trapped under the boat. J and the guy on the charter trip jumped into the water and got the girls out into the champion. Boogalee tells J, " Leave me and my buddy here just take our girls back to the landing; We'll get there eventually." J towed them in beacuse he could loose his license for leaving them; so he called it in and had the LDWF waiting at the launch. Boogalee tells LDWF, " I thought I could beat him across the canal."

Idiots man, honest to GOD. Locals usually cause alot of trouble too b/c they think the above the law too.

There are alot of idiots on the water, but you should go on the Jordan river in Miss. there are more boat owners that don't know anything about boating there.
I had to take a class to drive a boat in Miss.
The class is easy and online.
Look for the free classes as others tend to charge $15-$30 for an online class.
If you have common sense and actually know a bit about boating it is an easy class.

But runnins I have on the waterways is not so much the teens, but more people in their 30s and 40s who just bought their first boat.

For some reason it is a bad year up here in N Idaho for boating deaths...mostly on personal watercraft and involving inattention. Had I think three fatal accidents so far this summer including one on my lake. Also boating deaths. There is a lot of cop presence on the lakes now...I saw the Sheriff's boat on our lake again yesterday.

Now, what I really hate is the punks on daddy's $70K Mastercraft wake board boat blasting profane rap music as they drive down the lake pulling a boarder. Not that I don't use pofanity myself (I have sometimes been considered an artist) but come on...there are little kids using this lake and this is no place for the kind of stuff discussed in your typical rap song.

If you have common sense and actually know a bit about boating it is an easy class.


That's just it. There are to many people that are book smart and think if you throw an anchor on the bank and jerk on it you can throw the world out of orbit. Book smart ain't everything. Knowledge of job or boat has a slight advantage.

I just read the thread and i cannot agree more with all of the responses. Hell its just like Hunter's safety we all had to take a little time out of our days to take it. I have been contemplating taking the course since my brother has taken it and passed it while he was in High School.

I have read some of the study material and hell I even learned a few things. I will say i am far from the BEST operator but I will gladly take the test to get the permit. Like I said I may learn something new about boating and keeping myself and others in my boat safe.

Onto Idiot drivers WOW. Bass boat are very prone to cutting people off when on the water and it burns my ass to see people drive like crazy. One time Me, Slmabin, Slick, and hunter was riding in the basin in henderson. After we got unstuck and crusing the clear water, some asshat blows by us wide ass open and looks back like FORK YALL. Well someone flipped him off and he waited for us in the canal leading back to Pelba. Needless to say all 3 of our boats were on plave while he was waiting, we pulled over and sprayed his ass with rooster tails. and he basically left us alon after that. Maybe it was a dick move but blowing by flat boatS AT 50+ mph is a little bit STUPID.

thats just plumb retarted, i know some grown men that are 35 that cant drive a boat near as good as i can. i think if your boat is over 25' then you need to take a course, i been driving boats since i was 12, started off from a 15 to a 175 outboard motor and now the 35 sd. so i prob been driving a boat longer than most game wardens and they now have the right to tell me that i need to learn how to drive. see its this kinda shit that pisses me off. ill just end up taking the test but i think its rediculous. im 23 years old and now they tell me i need to learn how to drive a boat. lol. makes alot of scense green boys. a lot of phucking scense!!

if i hit a boat in my gator trax, i wont hurt anyone, but if a 50 year old man hits me in my boat with his 35' baja, its a good think i got my boaters safety card and safety cutoff lanyard on so they will know that i knew how to drive a boat. i think if one person needs a boaters safety card then so does everyone else regardless of age. i agree with the life jacket law but give me a break on this boaters safety card/course thing.

This is the type of pepole who need the class. see video

where's the video?

sh#% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEETjztLqI

F***ing Idiot!! That's why I never ride a wake I cross cut it for that reason!! Boating 101.... That's the problem, those boats run 50+ mph and the jackasses that drive em think that it needs to be run that fast all the time. when you have nothing but a prop in the water......you can control sheet!!! Hitting the water at 20+ mph hurts so imagine at those speeds.

the class thing sucks. i own 3 boats. if i didnt know how to operate a boat safely and respectfully wouldnt i still be on the water?

anyone have any info on the class?

my personal favorite is when the 30 year old with the brand spanken new 40,000 dollar boat has to ask you for help and teach him how to put it back on the trailer for him

Some may disagree with it, But I will take the course and pass it to keep the Green Jeans off of me and i will probably learn a few more things. Im all about leanring more. I will not claim to be an FE on boat driving and saftey!

I'm far from a boating expert, I am not obligated to take this corse either. But hope this course will teach safty and RESPECT to all boaters who take this course. I was out on bateman island a few weeks ago fishing sac-a-let and some A$$Hole came down the canal I was fishing in and slowed down to half way on step and rode right by me.....And looked at me like he was he was doing a good thing....People like that shouldn't be allowed to drive a boat...

The class is strictly for teaching boating regulations, and rules on how to pass , right of way so on. It's a quick "This is what you can get a ticket for" It doesn't teach boneheads how to be smart. It won't change an a$$hole's thoughts of it being ok to ride around at 7:30 when they get tired of not having their limit already. Boater's safty is mostly for the rules of owning/operatin a boat. it's not going to hange a punk's attitude of thinking he owns da bayou and there isn't going to be someone else comming around the next curb...

Growing up in S LA I don't ever remember boats not slowing to an idle when passing another boat that was stopped or fishing. Then I came to N LA and no one slows down for you. I guess it spread south within a few years though. And Id rather you keep haulin azz by than to slow just a little which creates twice the forkin wake just in case you ain't never looked back behind you.

There is so many docks, no-wake zones and boats parked along the banks up here it would take ya forever to get anywhere.


What creates a bigger wake, a 1648 running 30 or a 1648 running 10?


Give them 100ft and crack the whip IMO.

Just to give everyone a heads up about this you can take the test online... Just go through the study material at the website below, take the test, and pay a $15 convenience fee. Best option if you dont feel like sitting all day in a class.

https://www.boat-ed.com/la/index.htm