Boaties should be licensed - harbourmaster

The entrance to the Waterways in Pauanui, where a collision between a jetski and a boat on Friday left two boys in hospital. Photo / Janna Dixon

The dangers on the water are the same as on the roads, so boaties should be licensed just like drivers.

That's the belief of Pauanui-Tairua harbourmaster Wayne Price following a collision between a jetski and a small boat near Pauanui Waterways on Friday night.

A 13-year-old and an 11-year-old were injured after their outboard motor-powered inflatable was rammed by a jetski driven by a 16-year-old at 7pm. The youths were unsupervised.

The following day 17-year-old Bishop Thompson was run over by a jetski after falling off his jetski on Lake Okareka near Rotorua. The boy was not wearing a lifejacket and is missing, presumed dead.

Mr Price said a licensing system for recreational boaties, similar to that for drivers, is overdue.

"I do tend to think skipper licensing is more important than boat registering," Mr Price said. "It is not the whole answer, but it is a start. It's better than what we've got now."

Currently anyone aged 15 years and over can operate a vessel capable of speeds above 10 knots.

Mr Price said adequate courses and tests already existed, such as the Coastguard Boating Education day skipper course.

"Coastguard Boating Education courses have existed for many years. The infrastructure is there, but the system is voluntary - it needs to be compulsory."

He said the dangers for boaties were similar to those for road users, so the standards placed on skippers should match those for drivers.

"Two boats hitting each other out in the water at 30mph is no different to two cars hitting each other at 30mph. The impact is the same.

"Ninety five perc ent of boaties, whether they have been to a course or not, are totally compliant and not a problem at all. It's the same as on the roads."

Some boaties are not competent at controlling their craft and taking a course helps them get a feel for how their vessel manoeuvres in the water, he said.

"There is nothing in the law stopping someone going from a smaller vessel to a big vessel. They handle completely different. There is nothing stopping people going straight to a 40ft vessel - that's the same as operating a big truck."

Mr Price said his was a view shared by other harbourmasters he had spoken to, particularly in the Waikato.

"It is a thing that's got to be done nationally, not regionally."

Mr Price said verbal warnings are often given to boaties for minor infringements on the water, but the advice is heeded.

"I've never had to speak to someone twice."

The issue is many boaties do not know all the rules, he said.

"The rules are there for your safety, not to get in your way of having fun."

In Australia, boaties must have a Recreational Skipper's Ticket to operate a vessel 6hp (horsepower) or more. To get a ticket boaties must demonstrate "the minimum knowledge and practical skills needed to operate a boat safely on the water" in a theory and practical assessment. Only one person on board will need to hold a RST.

However, Maritime New Zealand safety inspector Jim Lilley told Radio New Zealand research over the past decade had showed licensing of boaties overseas makes "negligible difference" to the number of fatalities on the water.