MAX EBB T
he exam was starting in less than a minute, and I still didn't know what room it was being given in. I ran down the corridor, which in this building was a rickety suspension foot bridge with loose boards. I checked the biology classroom, then stumbled along the shaky bridge to the chem lab, then peeked into the history lecture hall. All the likely spaces had classes in progress. The exam would be starting right now, and the catwalk between the classrooms was becoming even more unstable as I ran faster in a desperate effort to find the right room in time. Only one choice left: It had to be the math classroom, but some senior girls were coming the other way along the narrow path, blocking my route. "Max!" they screamed. "Max!" That's when I realized I had forgotten to put on my pants . . .
studies show that it's, like, mostly the successful students who have them. Where are you going today?" Lee must have boar ded the train at the University Avenue station after I had dozed off. "I'm on my way to a conference up at my company's Sacramento branch," I said as I moved my briefcase from the seat next to me to make room for Lee, placing it on the table with my laptop and cellphone. "They want a live report this time," I yawned, "and I was up late last night finishing the presentation. Are you on your way to the Davis campus?" "Nope, I'm going to Sacto too, then light rail to Department of Boating and Waterways." "Consulting project? Or is it an internship deal?" "They don't do anything interesting enough for a naval architect grad student," she shrugged. "Today I'm, like, trying on my lobbyist hat."
"M
ax! Wake up!" My eyes flew open. It was Lee Helm's voice, not the girls in the senior clique, and I was on a train, not back in high school. There was no exam to take and no classroom to find. But the motion of the train was not very different from the rickety bridge in my dream. "Exam anxiety dream," I explained
If industry lobbyists had their way, everyone in the spread photo (yes, including the floaters) would be required to get a state-issued license while houseboat and PWC renters could take an on-the-spot 'test'.
Boating Education Scope Vessel Accident Involvement Relative to Time on Water • 2002 USCG Accident and Boater Survey Data
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Data collected by the Department of Boating and Waterways show an hour of PWC operation to be 24 times as likely to result in a serious accident as an hour of canoe or kayak operation.
with a sigh of relief, looking down to make sure that I really had put my pants on that morning. "Cool. I get those too sometimes. But Page 164 •
Latitude 38
• November, 2007
"It's that water ballast permit thing, right? The proposed law that will force all recreational boat owners to buy a ballast discharge permit at some exorbitant
fee?" "No way, Max. That one will collapse under its own weight, and it's totally not even worth getting upset about. This meeting is about something that's, like, potentially much worse, the Reckless Jet Ski Driver Protection Act." "You'll have to explain that one," I said. "Sure. It all started in 2006 when the Department of Boating and Waterways published a study recommending mandatory education for powerboaters." "Seems like a good idea," I said. "Especially for Jet Skis and those rental houseboats." "Then you'll love how this story ends," she said. "So far 46 states have already passed mandatory boater education laws in some form. In nearly all of these states, it only applies to powerboats over 15 horsepower. The operators are required to carry a license or certificate to prove they passed a basic boating safety course. In California's version, there