In 2025 we would like to see boating that is increasingly for everyone, accessible and simple. After some significant strides made in 2024, there are still many issues to be addressed that we would like, as a magazine, to see resolved because they would bring more people closer to this wonderful world. We have decided, together with the Journal of Sailing, to keep the focus on some of the hottest issues for boating in 2025 and also propose solutions to solve them. We started with the scrapping of boats on the French model. Today we look at another rather controversial topic: the mysterious fate of theOfficer of Navigation of the yachting 2nd class, a figure that was introduced by a law of 2023 and already regulated by several implementing circulars, which still fails to get off the ground.
Skipper in good standing: would like to, but can’t
TheRecreational Navigation Officer 2nd Class, in a nutshell, would be the professional skipper in good standing. Blocking the examinations that would allow the acquisition of this title, finally untethered from the merchant sector, is a seemingly formal obstacle. What is it all about? Of the ban on enrollment in the “medical first aid (First Aid)” course. This training is, in fact, reserved only for “Seafarers” seafarers. The solution, of course, would be very simple: an administrative act of the Ministry of Health that would allow these new future officers (who are not seafarers) to access these courses. After all, already that of Infrastructure and Transport has been working with the other courses to allow aspiring skippers to take them. All this, however, is not happening. A rather paradoxical situation because the problem has been highlighted by government figures and, most importantly, Confindustria Nautica. As an industry magazine, with the Giornale della Vela we have been engaged in a press campaign in this regard for months.
Our proposal:
A dutiful reflection should be made, before concluding, that it is really incomprehensible how the accessibility of courses was underestimated during the development of the standard. Creating a useful and sensible tool, but not being able to use it because of such an obstacle requires a quick response. The right “push” can (and must) come from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation. Let it take action.
