Coast Guard

[subzero]

Gidday Moondancer/Boatboy50
I can thouroughly recomend involving your young one in VMR/Coastguard as an operational member if you can swing it.
Things have changed slightly from 10 years ago when Boatboy50 joined VMR and where as, we are all classified as S.E.S members for workcover and insurance porposes etc some areas have become grayed as the units have progressed and moved on and we are becoming seperated from them as such.
S.E.S has Junior members but they are restricted in what they can do operationally wise I believe. Because of the ages, Trainers/Peers are limited to 3 youths per person. They need a Police clearance far more thourough than the standard one for dealing with children, have to get all sorts of references etc, and then attend a course to be able to look after the young ones... All cost's money and time, and a heap of red tape. NORMALLY, most will sooner or later become interested in the opposite gender and a few drinks and tend to drift away. We have a couple of young members at our unit, (VMR Vicky Point), and without a parent overseeing them it is bloody hard to get them motivated in anything such as fundraising or theory tests. On water stuff and they are champfing at the bit.
I personally would recomend that any person under 18 who is keen to join a Volunteer group rock up at the door with an application in one hand, and a Marine Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency, (M.R.O.C.P), current Senior First Aid certificate, and preferably a Recreational Shipmasters License. (Powerboat License) in the other. If you happen to know a few knots such as the Bowline, Clove Hitch, Sheepshank etc you are well on the way to being very handy. It is hard to turn someone away who has put in all that effort.
The hardest thing to do will be the Radio License but with a bit of study it is not that hard. (My daughter sat it at 12yrs old and passed it first time but had to wait untill 16 to have the A.C.A issue it).
If your young one has an MROCP it is possible VMR Raby Bay may turn a little bit of a blind eye and use him/her in the Radio Room untill they turn 18 if they can be patient long enough. Believe you me, young ones are brilliant on the radio and where as us older blokes can get a bit tongue tied, they take to it like a duck to water. ALL UNITS are desperate for GOOD radio operators.
It may be possible to seek an exemption through VMRAQ to accept someone under 18
in a fully operational role if you have an understanding Comodore.
I do know that on all the Coastguard sites they do state the minimum age is 18 and I have spoken to a couple of their units about seeing if they would/could relax the age restriction for requests through our website to join us as active members and I didnt want to dissapoint them so I looked at other options with other groups for them.
Its a shame the beuracrats generally say no, as to me, I cant think of a better way to keep the young ones out of strife and teach them some valuable boating and more importantly, life skills through mixing with a wide age and group of backgrounds. (Us old farts learn from them to but mostly we just reminisce about how it used to be, wine, women and beer)
Dont know if this post helps or not, especially seen as I dont really have any official documentation on it, I am only speaking through my personal experience's.
Kind Regards
Lloyd

[boatboy50]

Hi Lloyd,
We still accept 16 year olds at Southport. We have two on seperate crews at present.
As you said, i dont believe there is anything in writing, and under 18 is accepted with the SES.
I find the young ones really really good, because they definately have a little more enthusiasm.
Working around the parents for transport and year 11 and 12 exams does get hard too, but their place on the crew far outweighs it.
As you say, i find them great on the radios, and also for general crew running.
Regards
Darren

[moondancer]

Thanks boatboy/subzero. I think my son & I will take your lead and just rock up to the Raby Bay boys and chat. At this stage, my son doesn't have any of the tickets you speak of, but I think he was thinking of doing them as part of being a member of VMR. Anyway, that would certainly give him the incentive to follow through!!

Lawry

[Dug]

I was a member of Yeppoon coast guard for 7 years. Good fun if you pick the right crew, the usual association bullshit and politics but then I just crewed the boat and never went to the committee meeting.

Join up, it is good fun, great experience and doing a great service.

PS it's about time the Government started giving tax breaks to volunteers like Coast Guard, SES and Rural Fire etc, instead of people on $52,000+ ( thats my beef for today)

[blaze]

I buy that DUG, maybe tax breaks for all emercency service organisations, had my time on the rural firebrigade, my concession was that any time I missed work my employer at the time still paid me, that was a real bonus as at times it was a week at a time
cheers
blaze