>>1684763Most are, but the top 25% or so are able to get a license.
>>1684767You have to be the kind of person who can read a government form and understand what it's saying; the paperwork, prerequisites, and how to get approved to test, and then you have to be able to pass the tests themselves, which requires that you be able to focus on extremely dry and boring material, much of it obsolete or irrelevant to the modern sailor, and then remember enough of it to pass the tests.
Youve also got to be able to find and schedule and pay for much of your own supplemental training classes that are required in addition to just passing the tests.
And this is just in order to get the license, says nothing at all really about your actual professional capabilities.
The complex process itself filters out most people, the tests filter out some.
I'd say among the boomers when it was much easier, a guy with a 95 IQ could probably do it. Now you need to be above average or have very strong focus/goal oriented mindset. I've known 25 year old deckhands who got licensed and ive known 65 year old deckhands who've been sailing since they were 20. The biggest difference was their intelligence levels, really obvious difference in aptitudes.
>>1684678Its one of the ongoing most active threads on /n/ but it ebbs and floods with the sailing schedule of the regular posters, and with the summertime "how do i become sailor" posters.
