A national campaign is encouraging boaters to enroll in a boater education course before the kickoff to the boating season. Many boater education courses are offering discounts or other incentives during the week of March 19-25, to students who enroll or complete a boating safety education course.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) works with BoaterExam and Boat-Ed to offer online boater education courses and during the March 19-25 week, they will be offering 50 percent off the on-line course price.
“March is the perfect time to take a course. The summer boating season will be here before we know it and all of us could benefit from a refresher course,” said Susan Stocker, boating law administrator for the Iowa DNR.
The exam covers required equipment, boating basics, navigation rules, environmental stressors, aids to navigation and takes about six hours to complete. Once a student has passed the test, they can print off their course completion certificate.
An estimated 236,000 boats are registered in Iowa. Last year, there were 37 boating incidents reported on Iowa waters.