[Paddlewise] Re : Ch 16 and DSC - Illegal made Legal

From: VE3JC John <jbcumming_at_sympatico.ca>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:38:14 -0500
I tried in vain to find any Industry Canada reference to licensing in 
the owner's name instead of the vessel.
So I decided to  call IC Regional Office directly.  What followed was a 
rather amusing phone conversation with a very pleasant
IC staff person, trying hard to be of assistance.

I explained that I was a kayaker with a Restricted Operator's 
Certificate, enquiring about  licensing requirements.

"Don't worry, you don't need a license for a kayak"

"Ummm....Well you see, I want to be able to land in US ports, and the 
regs imply that I need a license"

"What?? You want to paddle a kayak across Lake Ontario ?!?!?"  (I hadn't 
mentioned anything about Lake Ontario, but from the
tone of her voice, it was obvious she thought a paddle across Lake 
Ontario would be as foolish an endeavor as paddling over Niagara Falls)

"Not necessarily....   I might just want to paddle over to Port Huron or 
to Marine City.  And the rules seem to suggest I need a license if I'm 
going to land, or
if I'm going to communicate with the US Coast Guard"

"Can you please hang on a minute?"  (Prolonged pause, while she speaks 
to her supervisor)  "Yes you are correct.  You DO need a license!"

"OK, so here's my problem.  The License application needs the name and 
registration info of the vessel.  What if I have a couple of kayaks, and 
I just
want to be able to take my marine vhf handheld on whatever kayak I 
want?  Is it possible for me just to get the license in my name ??"

After some discussion about the absurdity of the whole thing, we 
concluded that I could complete the license application using a 
sufficiently generic vessel name that
it would apply to any small  craft.  Since we have no Registration 
requirements for kayaks, I can leave the Registry Info blank.  
(Hopefully we won't ever get into the obligatory vessel registration 
quagmire!)

A couple of points to note, if anyone decides to obtain a license:
- The annual fee is $36.  You're initial fee will depend on the month 
when you apply, based on IC's Mar. 31 Year End.  (eg if I apply in 
December, it's $26 to take you to Apr 1/07.)
- If you already posess an MMSI, let them know on the license 
application, because they will need to update your MMSI info to include 
your call sign.

John in LondonOn
=================================

Michael Daly wrote:

> Michel Charlebois wrote:
>
>> Could you provide me the web link to the IC documents stating that a 
>> hand
>> held VHF can be license in the name of the owner rather than the name 
>> of the
>> vessel.
>
>
> Sorry, now I can't find it.  I went through a lot of documents quickly 
> yesterday and noted the item but didn't keep the link, otherwise I 
> would have included it in the previous post.  It was more by luck than 
> design that I found it the first time.
>
> Mike
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Received on Tue Nov 21 2006 - 15:38:32 PST

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