Boaters need free VHF weather forecasts at sea
Issue 45 : Nov/Dec 2005
Now and then our fearless political leaders have a really bad idea. The federal luxury tax on boats, which went into effect in 1991, collected $15 million in new revenue — and lost 25,000 jobs in the boating industry and an estimated $75 million in tax revenues that went down the tube with those jobs. Plus it pretty well crushed a lot of American and Canadian boatbuilders out of existence. The idea was to tax the snot out of large expensive boats in order to punish the owners of those boats for being well-off. Good political hay, the stuff that gets votes. Many of the builders of good old boats are gone forever, thanks in some measure to that bad idea.
Bad ideas come from both sides of the aisle. One from the other side comes from Sen. Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania. If his bill, S. 786, passes, you will have to pay our government (through your taxes) to collect weather data and then pay again in some way to get it from the government by way of a private company. The contention is that the distribution of free weather information by the government competes with private businesses that wish to sell this information.
Judging by the senator’s youthful and handsome face, I’ll bet I have more sea time than he does. In my opinion, people will die if this thing passes. There will be no way to lay these deaths at the feet of the senator with the bad idea, which makes it a win-win for him and the private weather companies, and a lose-lose for the readers of this magazine.
You don’t need to have more sea time than the senator to know you can get free weather from the government and fee-based weather from private weather companies when you are ashore.
Updated forecasts
If you have spent any time sailing at all, you know two things the senator does not understand deep down in his gut where he needs to understand them. The first thing is that as you leave the shore, updated weather forecasts become very important. The farther you go from a safe harbor, the more important these weather forecasts become. Indeed, the whole concept of a coastal cruiser is that the boat can reach safe harbor before dangerous weather reaches the boat.
The second thing you already know is that the weather changes over time and that the only weather updates you can afford to get on the water come from your VHF radio. There are other ways to get weather on the water, but they currently cost from $2 grand to $10 grand and up, way too much for the vast majority of sailors.
If the senator has any time to spend outdoors, my bet is that it is golfing or maybe enjoying picnics with his advisors and financial supporters among the private weather companies. While golfing, picnics, and other shoreside activities can be spoiled by the arrival of bad weather, nobody dies. No rescue resources are called to prevent loss of life, with the attendant risks to the rescuers. That is why picnickers, golfers, and politicians don’t carry VHF radios.
The experience of sailing in really bad weather varies between very unpleasant and life-threatening. At best some people will give up sailing after a few such experiences. At worst some people will die. I suggest that you contact your elected representatives and tell them that they should vote against this bill. It is a bad idea.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
