By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THEY are record-breaking fishermen who are ensuring that Victorians can stay on the water safely.
The Tooradin Marine Boat Licence course has a much lower failure rate than the VicRoads online equivalent.
Organiser Bob O’Connell said the local classroom taught course appeals to all ages.
“Our teacher Gordon Sanders has put 35,000 people through the marine licence course in 14 years – that’s the most in the state,” Mr O’Connell said.
“We’ve only had one failure and he came in drunk,” he said, laughing.
The success of the face-to-face course has spread far and wide over the years and even kept one happy boater in his house.
“He was 86 years old, from Inverloch and he had his boat up for sale because he had failed the VicRoads test three times,” Mr O’Connell said.
“His wife ended up doing our course as well and he put his arm around us and said, ‘you’ve just given us 10 more years on the water’.
“He withdrew his house from the market and kept his boat so our course completely changed his mind.”
The three-hour lecture and 40 question test is run out of the Tooradin Public Hall on the last Wednesday of the month.
Mr O’Connell said people from Ballarat, Echuca, Bairnsdale and even Western Australia have made special trips to do the course.
“It’s been so successful for people my age who didn’t grow up with a computer in their hands,” he said.
“But also for the younger generation who haven’t had the experience out on a boat, they get first-hand knowledge explained to them.
“Often it’s the 12-year-olds who beat their parents!”
The cost of the Tooradin Marine Boat Licence course had stayed the same for 14 years but recently it increased from $70 to $90.
However it was still significantly cheaper than other classroom boat courses, Mr O’Connell said.
