By Barb Thomson
Special to the Record
I鈥檓 not sure how young my sister Bernice and I were when our dad started taking us out fishing.
The boat was an aluminum cartopper and I can still see his hand wrapped around the Evinrude鈥檚 throttle, while I bailed the water coming over the bow. We learned how to hold a rod, bait the line, net a fish, and wait to pee. We used lifejackets for seat cushions. We lived as children in the context of the 50s and 60s, on the water without licences or limits.
Dad fished all his life, every chance he got. Two years after his death in 1997, Transport Canada introduced the Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCOC) and made it a legal requirement for anyone at any age, to pass the exam proving competency to operate a vessel of any size, propelled by an engine of any kind. You may imagine, dear reader, what my dad would have said about paying for Ottawa鈥檚 permission to run the Evinrude.
What was and is the point of writing an exam to get the PCOC, a legal requirement you may never be asked to show? In 1999, Ottawa鈥檚 point was to enforce education and reduce fatalities because every year there were more boats on the water with more power. Those numbers were measured in 1991 by an Industry, Science, and Technology Canada report that attributed the rapid growth in recreational boaters to demographics, easy credit, and a consumer shift away from sailboats to motorcraft with 鈥渋mprovements in engines, electronic accessories, and boat design,鈥� that made 鈥減leasure boating more affordable.鈥�
The result was more new boaters with less knowledge.
Today, Transport Canada鈥檚 purpose remains the same: an educated boater is a safer boater. The Pleasure Craft Operators Card is available through any number of accredited online course providers: (search. Cost of the course varies from $59 and lower; the fine for operating a motor vessel without a PCOC is $250. There are online practice exams and free re-tries if you fail: Transport Canada wants you to pass. The course includes basic navigation, buoy systems, safety equipment, and emergency procedures. Visit https://bit.ly/3UOGxFI for more information.
I like to remember my dad at his happiest, watching the arc of the rod as the boat鈥檚 wake parted the water. I imagine we survived by his skill and good luck.
Barb Thomson is a boating enthusiast who writes regular columns for the Comox Valley Record.
