As of September 15th, 2009 All Canadian Boaters Are Required To Be Licensed.

There are several ways to get your Pleasure Craft Operator Card , but perhaps the easiest is to take the boater exam® online.  For a small fee (you won’t be able to avoid the fee anywhere), you can access all the training material you need to study for you boater exam®.  Then once you are ready, you can actually take the test online.  You will have to be supervised by a non-relative, so this really works on the honor system.

Once you pass the exam, you are certified for life.

There are several sites that can grant you your operator card, however, not all of them are accredited by the government of Canada.  You must make sure the one you choose is on the approved list.

To save you a little time, I have research these and have found the easiest site to use:

This is where I took my boaters test

Whether you like it or not, it is now the law in Canada (and several states) to have passed a simple boater exam® to operate a pleasure craft in Canadian waters

There are people who support both sides of the , but the fact remains boating accidents and deaths are on rise, and a little education may not be such a bad thing.  Many of us live in rural areas, and there really are not too many boats on the lakes and oceans we recreate on.  On the other hand, there are tons of lakes and coastal areas that see tremendous boater traffic, and if all these boats are not all aware of the basic “rules of the road”, then accidents are bound to happen.

I grew up sailing, so the basic boating rules are obvious to me as I learned them at a very young age.  However, this is not the case for the bulk of pleasure craft operators.  Many people think operating a boat is easy and requires no special skill or specific knowledge.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Is is too easy to just buy or rent a boat and head out on the water with no knowledge or skill.  The real problem occurs when a situations arises where you, as the pleasure craft operator, are required to make a fast decision and you don’t have the knowledge to do it.

The pleasure craft operators card test will not eliminate all the variables, nor will it provide a full education of what a boater really needs to know.  For that you need a mentor and lots of practical experience.

What the pleasure craft operator card will do is educate you on the basic knowledge you must have.  This is the knowledge that can save your life and those of the people on the boat with you.

The good news is, you only have to take the boater exam® once, and given you pass, you are certified for life.

The easiest way to get your pleasure craft operator card is to take an online boater exam®.  All the study material is provided and this saves you from having to spend hours at a training course.  Although, if you have absolutely no boating experience, perhaps a boating safety course is a good idea.

I recently took my boating exam online.  After a lengthy search for a Transport Canada accredited provider, I found .

provided full training and study materials and lets you take the boater exam® as many times as you like until you pass (only once per 24 hour period).  The best part was I was able to immediately print out a temporary certification card until the real one arrived in the mail.

Have a wonderful and safe summer on the water!!