Boat driving schools, who "Accredits" them?
 

Just curious who "accredits" boat driving schools? What is the accredidation title? And, why aren't these "accredidations" made public??
I've seen several courses listed as "endorsed" and "accredited" by insurance companys, but wonder what the meat and potatos is.
The only "accredited" course I've found is the Coast Guard Auxillary, which is "Endorsed" by the US Coast Guard.
Thanks

Check out Tres Martin's credentials on his web site. I think you'd be hard pressed to say the man doesn't know what he's doing. (Same goes for his staff.) And then you could ask anybody who's attended his school. Again, you'd be hard pressed to find a bad word said about him. That's good enough for me.

Hp Driving Schools
 

The insurance company underwriters for our program tell us who they recognize and so far it's only TRES MARTIN.

I plan on taking tres's course....heard nothing but great things.

Thanks for the replies. But back to my original question: WHO is the ACCREDITING agency??? What is the specific ACREDITATION?
Sy, what kind of recognitions $$ does one get if they take Tres' course?
Thanks again!

That doesn't asnwer his question.

Buck

Tres Martin Class
 

I got 10% off my insurance by completing the course. Worth it? idk I did learn some good moves and felt better at high speed maneuvers

Course Credit
 

The discount varies according to the type of boat and is coupled with our other discounts and can be up to 15% total.There are scenarios where the course is a requirement for a quote primarily in our cat program.

I do not believe any large scale organization actually "accredits" any of the driving schools.
What really matters is that they are recognized by your insurance company and that you actually learn something from them.

Took the United States Power Squadron class back in 1997..I had State Farm at the time and as soon as I passed the class they gave me 10% off,,after a couple of years I switched to American Family and they also give me a 10% discount for taking the class..took it at a local college and it was around $50.00...

Also State Farm and American Family give a additional 5% off if you have a Halon system

Not sure if that is your question but I thought Id put it out there.

I think Griff pretty well hit it on the head here, but let me see if I can clarify a bit more. When something is “accredited,” that generally means that some organization set a standard, then somebody (sometimes that same organization) audits and accredits you as having met those standards. So if you meet the standards, you’re accredited. As you might guess, this requires a market big enough to support the cost of the infrastructure.

I’d suggest that ISO certification is probably an example of how this works. A number of years ago, our friends in Europe decided that if you wanted to sell goods or services over there, you’d better meet certain quality requirements. (All kidding aside, it was just a huge piece of protectionist legislation, but we won’t get into that.) So ISO (the International Standards Organization) came up with a set of standards that one needed to meet if they were to become “ISO Certified.”They next needed to accredit a number of companies to audit companies wanted to become ISO Certified because ISO decided that they were in the standards business and not the auditing to standards business. Once they had these accredited auditors in place, they could then go out and certify that one was (or wasn’t) ISO Certified. Make sense?

Now let’s get back to high performance boating schools and who accredits them. Remember I noted that you needed a pretty big market? Want to guess how big the market for these schools is? That’s right, Tres Martin pretty well has the very limited market covered – and he does it very well. So I’d propose that nobody accredits this type of school because the market just isn’t big enough to support it. Hopefully that answers the question.

Too Stroked,
Your last paragraph nails it!
My question was not to single out any school, but to learn specifically who the Accreditation Agency is, what the standards are, and how does one become Accredited.
The question is still unanswered: Who accredits these courses??-or is it a "marketing tool", with a meaningless pharse.
Thanks again for the responses!

I honestly think the answer is "nobody."

Nobody.

Let's face it, for whatever the reasons - be it realized or imaginary - people and companies are proud of their accreditations, and they generally plaster them all over their marketing materials and websites. I can't find any at TM.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it should not be construed as a such. TM is the best at what they do, and frankly they don't need anyone to legitimize them with some lousy stamp of approval.

Most standards organizations and accreditation agencies are nothing more than happy horsesht peddlers with their hands out, and their entire existence being dedicated to preserving their own infra$tructure. I$O is a prime example. It's a meaningless badge of conformity.

Great thread. Ive wanted to ask this question for years but didnt want it to be taken the wrong way or offend anyone.

The correct answer, as several of you have pointed out, is no one.

There is no overseeing agency or body accrediting these schools.

It's a valid question.

However, just as valid (at least to me) is that an insurance company will provide a discount for those who complete the Tres Martin course. It's safe to say—with all due respect to those of you in the insurance business—that insurance companies do not like losing money. If an insurance company is willing to offer you a discount on your rate because you took a particular driving course, and will only offer a discount for completion of that particular driving course, that speaks volumes.

Think of it as economic accreditation/validation.

The "true" purposes of an "accreditation" is for liability purposes. Generally this takes years to establish, and it usually starts up with subject matter experts (SME) with the original backing of some type of governmental agency with respect to training or an association with pattern & practice of evaluation of course content that would be acceptable via governmental standards. There are models for just about every type of training that is to be vetted. But just because it's accredited, the certification could be worthless unless the association mirrors it's accreditation process to that which acceptable in court by a governing body.

For example, you hire a veteran racer with years of experience in racing boats. Two weeks after the course you flip your boat and it lands on top of another you kill someone. The litigation stream is endless on this, this will get drilled down to what was taught by the veteran boat racer. He will be shredded unless he be backed up via an acceptable certification. Just because he has the experience doesn't mean he is teaching the correct content or in an approved manner. Lawsuits change course content constantly.

My guess is that ultimately Tres is backed by some type of USCG certification and his course was vetted by some type of governmental agency. I believe he is teaching Border Patrol advanced driving techniques at the Federal Law Enforement Training Center in GA. His course would have to be vetted and approved.

So to answer your question, call the school and ask them, and find out who certified them, then drill down the accrediting agency and drill down on the means in which they accredit the class. Hope this makes sense.

I also read where the Coast Guard was sending its own to his school to learn how to handle a certain kinda of craft.

That says alot I think, but not an official endorsement. always heard great stuff and the guy and the course.

Have You Taken the Tres Course?
 

How about a poll of those who have actually taken the Tres class. What do you think about it? Was it what you expected? Would you do it again? Do you feel you are a better driver today? Was it worth the cost? Just curious

And I might add that "accredited" doesn't always mean better. Going back to my ISO discussion, I remember one year at the boat show many years ago when a competing marina selling Bayliners (across from our Fountains) proudly posted a sign saying that Bayliner was one of the first marine maufacturers to receieve their ISO registration. The implied message was that Bayliners were of higher quality than Fountains.

I also remember correcting one of their salesmen by telling him, "ISO registration doesn't mean you're better. It just means you have procedures in place that say you're very consistent." I then added, "And appropriately, every one of your Bayliners is pretty consistently junk." The sign disappeared shortly afterwards.

Has anyone ever failed this class?

As a manufacturer I have sent a few clients through the class. I consider it pricey but worth it. But then again it depends on the boater.

Let's face it younger vs. older, drinker vs. non-drinker. New hi-perf owner vs seasoned 5 boat owner guy that started with a Baja, moved up to a Fountain or Cigarette and then eventually builds an Active Thunder and knows the ropes makes all the difference. :drink:

Tres knows boats and safety. Racing and dealing with egos gives you the upper hand. He's done it all. Not sure if Brad Schoenwald is still involved but he is worth his weight in gold as well.

Don't know if it is accredited but I do believe it is worth going to.

My 2 cents.

Not what i expected
i learned way more than i expected
worth every penny
no regrets
i may even take it again since it was a few years ago that i took it

Just took the class at Lake Cumberland this weekend and I would highly recommend it. I come from a boat drag racing background and I am a certified tournament ski boat driver. I have driven almost every kind of inland boat you can think of. But I still learned a lot that is going to help me enjoy the performance of my boat safely.
Tres understands and designs hull running surfaces. He teaches you the truth about different bottom designs. His goal is for you to be able to look at the bottom of a boat and have a good idea about how it will handle.
He spent at least 3 hours with me in my boat. He first drove my boat
to feel how it handled and then instructed me the best way to operate it. The best trim selections for my boat. Recommendations for set up improvements were given.
I thought my boat didn't turn well, but I was wrong, as it does turn well.
He discusses the causes of performance boat accidents and this was eye opening. I think it was a great opportunity.