Last-ditch bid to save schools

SAILING:The Irish Sailing Association has launched a last-ditch attempt to halt moves by the Department of Transport, under merchant-shipping legislation, to effectively end trading by as many as 10 cruising schools.

Thirteen schools were advised last month passenger boat licences would be required for every vessel in use. Industry sources fear this initial clampdown will eventually be extended to every school.

Up to 120 schools with 1,000 boats in accredited courses that meet ISA requirements could be affected. More than 12,000 people take such courses annually.

It is also understood the presence in a professional capacity of coaches and sailmakers on boats would imply the crew become passengers and entail the need for a passenger licence.

The schools cater for trainees ranging from complete novices to experienced sailors seeking formal qualifications. Several ISA schemes replicate the widely operated, and internationally accepted, Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster programme.

The Department of Transport is pursuing the cruising schools under the Merchant Shipping Act 1992 and subsequent Statutory Instrument No 273, which provides for six different grades of passenger licence.

The difficulties arise from several terms of the P6 licence that most of the schools are unable to meet, primarily because the standards are used by the Marine Survey Office (MSO), whose function has traditionally been to monitor large commercial vessels.

Not surprisingly, critics argue the unsuitability of such standards to small craft in the leisure sector.

The P6 licence requires a liferaft be mounted on the deck with a quick-release mechanism that will ensure the device floats free from a sinking craft.

But on a sailing boat, the mast, boom and general rigging act as obstacles to the float-free requirement and the liferaft is customarily stowed in the cockpit for quick access.

The real issue with liferafts, however, is that the MSO will accept only the SOLAS-approved equipment (Safety of Life at Sea convention) found on large vessels. Two adults are needed to carry such rafts in their undeployed state. In other countries, the International Sailing Federation/ORC standard liferaft is acceptable to official agencies.

The Department's attitude to the liferaft issue typifies their general disposition toward the small-craft sector, say critics, who describe it as a "big-ship mentality" that regards small-boat users as a nuisance.

The current problem stands in stark contrast to the system in Britain, where the Maritime and Coastguard Agency recently completed widespread consultation to produced the Harmonised Code of Practice.

Many of the standards aspired to by the Irish legislation are contained in that code, but the specific standards are clearly set, which contrasts with the arbitrariness of requirements laid down by surveyors in Ireland, which has become another bone of contention.

The latest submission to the Department from the Irish Sailing Association has as its aim to ensure regulations are "clear, appropriate and achievable" and to exempt course providers from Merchant Shipping regulations.

The document presents arguments in favour of the existing training schemes and providers while also suggesting achievable standards and limitations on operators.

A 1998 amendment to the Merchant Shipping Act provides for the relevant Minister to exempt certain classes of vessels from passenger-boat licences; it remains to be seen whether the present Minister wishes schools with fine records of training in safety and seamanship to close for the sake of bureaucracy.