Free* Boating Safety Course

There are a few different questions here:

• Does my state have education requirements for boating?
  
• If so, what are they?
  
• Is BoatUS’s free boating safety course approved to meet my state’s requirements?

You can find answers to all those questions on your state’s course information page, which is linked above on this page.

You can also visit your state agency’s website, where you can find complete information on their boating policies.

Go to your state’s course information page and look in the first section of the page to find out. Courses that are approved are marked with green text and the state’s department seal. Courses that are not approved also say so.

Our boating safety course is approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA).

Many states require boaters to complete a boating safety education course from a NASBLA-approved provider. In total, our boating safety course is officially accepted in 37 states for fulfilling the state’s boating education requirement.

In the remaining states, we often have a boating safety course available, but it doesn’t fulfill any official requirement – it’s just to enhance your understanding of boating safety. These courses will be prominently marked as “not approved” in multiple locations, including bold red text during the registration process.

Go to your state’s course information page for specifics about their requirements. Some states require a course for the operation of personal watercraft (PWC) but have no requirements for other boats.

There’s a separate issue of whether the printable certificate of completion is valid proof. See the next accordion item.

It depends on your state:

• Finally, in some states, our course does not fulfill official educational requirements. If this is the case, we mark the lack of authorization clearly and prominently in multiple places before you register.
• In most states, boating authorities accept a printed copy of your Certificate of Completion as proof that you’ve met their mandatory education requirement.
• In most states, you also have the option of ordering a durable plastic wallet card from us that will be accepted as proof of training.
• In a few states, ordering a plastic card from us is mandatory – these states will not accept a printed certificate except as a temporary measure.
• Some states require you to order an official ID from the state using your certificate of completion as proof of education. These states don’t allow us to issue a plastic wallet card at all. Typically, they’ll accept your printed certificate of completion as proof on the water while you wait for your official ID but policies vary.
• To learn your state’s particular policy, go to the appropriate state’s course information page and look under the Education Requirements tab.

To learn your state’s particular policy, go to the appropriate state’s course information page, linked above.

If you share a computer with another boater or “borrow” someone’s log-in to take a course, the certificate of completion will reflect the name of the person who registered, rather than the person who took the course.

It’s important that every boater who needs to complete a course registers with a separate login. Our courses site now features the registrant’s name prominently in several places in order to help you recognize when you’re in the wrong account.

To ensure you get credit for your coursework:

• Create a separate account for each boater.
  
• Check for YOUR NAME on the courses site each time before you launch your course. If someone else’s name appears, log out of that account and log back in with the correct credentials.

Some states require specific identifying information to help boating authorities verify that the person who presents a certificate of completion on the water is the same person that passed the course. It’s an anti-fraud measure.

We only require you to disclose this information if it’s mandatory to meet your state’s education requirements. The required pieces of information vary by state.

There are two ways you may come across these questions.

Before you can take a course, you click the “Start Here” button and it launches a form. We’ll only ask for visibly identifying information here if it’s necessary in your state. In order to complete your boating safety requirements online with us, you must fill out everything on this version of the form.

You can revisit this information through the “My Profile” link under your account menu. This version of the form represents all questions required by all states. As a result, many of the form fields won’t be mandatory for you. You’re under no obligation to fill out every question when you visit the general “My Profile” form.