Beginning this spring, most operators of a motor boat in Massachusetts must pass a boating safety class and have in their possession a certificate/license. The law, known as the Hanson-Milone Act, was signed into law by Governor Healy on January 8, 2025 and goes into effect for boaters born after January 1, 1989 on April 1, 2026. Enforcement won’t begin until September 2026, meaning boaters under 37 years of age will probably be given a warning if caught without a license during the 2026 summer boating season. All boat operators must comply by April 1, 2028. (kids under 12 may not operate a boat unless accompanied a certified adult over 18). The law only applies to motorized watercraft, including “personal watercraft,” (e.g. JetSkis) – meaning that sailboats without auxiliary engines, rowboats, canoes, and kayaks are exempt.
The law, filed by a state representative from Kingston, is named in memory of David Hanson of Kingston, who drowned when his 15-foot fishing boat capsized off of Plymouth in early May, 2010. The law is also named in honor of the late Paul Milone, the former Weymouth harbormaster. The law was widely supported by the state’s harbormaster and marine trades associations.
There are two ways to get a certificate. The “free” way involves attending an in-person course that lasts from 10 to 12 hours. and is usually conducted over multiple days. The more convenient way to take the course and obtain a license is to do it online via the state-approved provider, Boat-Ed. That will cost you $45, and, depending on your experience and prior knowledge, can be completed in a few hours if you skip the inane story line about a bunch of clueless teens setting out to solve a mystery involving mutant insects and an irrelevant boat theft on an inland lake.
Now for my opinion on the whole matter (and you know I have one). Putting aside any libertarian resentment of the nanny-state, hand-wringing state reps, and my utter loathing of the inane content that Boat-Ed forced on me during its puerile online course, there is no question that the general nautical IQ on the water has plummeted in recent years, especially since sailing seems to be dwindling and motorized boating rising. The majority of motorboat operators are morons. Always have been and always will be. They buy or rent a boat, turn a key, cast off, and hit the high seas with zero knowledge of the rules of the road or basic safety measures. They can’t read a chart, depend on a GPS, and generally treat a boat as a floating version of a car. They head out of the harbor in 15-foot open boats in early May, get swamped, and die of hypothermia. They pound a cooler full of White Claws in the August sun and drag the kids around on inflatable rafts. Most of their equipment is still wrapped in plastic after they bought their boat at the boat show.
The average nautical IQ plummeted during the Covid summer of 2020 when the masses headed to the high seas for some social distancing. Suddenly center consoles with four outboard engines were de rigeur. These were not salty people who grew up on the water, took sailing lessons as kids, and could tell a sheepshank from a bowline.
Yes, boating licenses make sense. But if you have sixty years of experience on the water and find yourself sitting at a computer taking a boating safety course designed for mouth breathers you are going to clench your teeth, and realize that what passes for competency on the water is little more than knowing how to use a fire extinguisher and staying on the right side of a channel marker. One example of the course’s glaring shortcomings: the online course made zero mention of the dangers of “bow riding” where a passenger dangles their legs over the prow of the boat and becomes propellor bait.
I predict this new law will accomplish nothing more than give the Massachusetts Environmental Police and local harbormasters an excuse to board boats and issue a demand to “show me your papers.” It can’t replace experience and common sense, and will definitely instill a false sense of confidence in people who have no business being on the water in the first place. The only upside of the new license is that you only have to pass it once for the license is good for life.