Traditional Small Craft Association Founding, Recreational Boat Safety Regulations, and the Coast Guard

By David Cockey

The founding story of the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) from 1975 centers around the need to organize and defend traditional small craft from onerous Coast Guard recreational boat safety regulations. There are many versions of TSCA’s founding story and what occurred with the Coast Guard during the development of the recreational boat safety regulations and their effects on traditional small craft. With the 50th anniversary of TSCA's founding approaching, I decided to dig into what actually happened. I went through six years of National Fisherman and dug into the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations.

John Gardner was the leading figure alerting traditional boat enthusiasts to the danger of new recreational boat safety regulations posed to their boats. His monthly articles about traditional boats in National Fisherman, a monthly commercial fishing newspaper, were the primary source of timely information about traditional small boats before WoodenBoat. John Gardner’s “day job” was assistant curator for small craft at Mystic Seaport.

Another name that appeared repeatedly in my research was Coast Guard Captain Raymond H. Baetsen of the Boating Safety Division. He understood John Gardner’s concerns about the effects of the recreational boat safety regulations on traditional small craft, worked to build understanding between the Coast Guard and the “traditionalists,” and sought to have the regulations be more reasonable for traditional small craft.

The story begins with the Federal Boat Safety Act, which became law in 1971. Among its many provisions is one authorizing federal safety standards for the construction and performance of boats manufactured for recreational use. The act also created a National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC) with members from boat manufacturers, state boat safety offices, members of national boat organizations, and the public.

Responsibility and authority for creating and enforcing the federal recreational boat safety regulations were delegated to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard then worked with boating industry organizations to develop safety regulations.

The initial recreation boat safety regulations took effect in November 1972 and included one on maximum load capacity. The allowable maximum weight capacity was determined by the boat's weight, hull volume, and a live-load stability test. This regulation applied to recreational monohull boats under twenty feet in length, and excluded sailboats, canoes, kayaks, and inflatable boats manufactured for sale. (Homebuilt boats for personal use were not included.) Realizing that some regulations were unreasonable or inappropriate for certain boat designs, the Coast Guard began granting exemptions on an individual basis.

John Gardner became aware of the new maximum capacity regulations in spring 1973 and was concerned about their effect on traditional small craft. John and colleagues at Mystic Seaport tested several traditional boats to determine their maximum capacities allowed by the new regulations. They found the loads allowed by the regulations to be much less than loads shown by experience to be reasonable. The results are presented at the 1973 Small Craft Workshop, and Gardner wrote about them in National Fisherman.

In September 1973, a meeting was held at the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to discuss the new regulations. Attending were Coast Guard representatives, including Capt. Raymond Baetson (Chief, Boating Standards Division), boat builders, boat designers, museum representatives (including John Gardner), and boating industry representatives. The participants were relieved and gratified when Capt. Baetsen informed them that the Coast Guard supported a change in the regulations for unpowered boats, which would eliminate the live load stability test and alter the hull volume formula to increase the allowable load by 50 percent. These proposed changes would eliminate many objections to the maximum-capacity regulation when applied to traditional small boats. The changes need to go through the formal rulemaking process.

The Coast Guard’s proposal for relaxation of the load capacity regulation for unpowered craft was considered by the National Boating Safety Advisory Council in January 1974. It met with significant opposition, but a vote was not held to recommend the proposal, which prevented it from moving forward. In a subsequent letter to John Gardner, Capt. Baetsen said of the opposition, “We hope to resolve this problem (NBSAC opposition) by the persuasion of logic and facts.” He also expressed his appreciation to John Gardner for his reporting: “Finally, thank you for the continuing vigor and timeliness of your articles.” The Coast Guard continued to issue exemptions from the regulations for individual models.

In January 1975, the NBSAC asked the Coast Guard to develop standards for level flotation of swamped boats. The original regulations from 1972 required sufficient flotation for a swamped boat to remain afloat with some portion of the boat above the surface. There were no requirements that the boat float upright or support passengers when swamped. Unpowered wooden boats usually met this requirement with their inherent buoyancy, so it had not been an issue. Level floatation requirements would be more stringent and might be difficult or impossible for traditional designs to meet without major modifications.

John Gardner responded to the development of level floatation requirements with an article titled, “Traditional Craft are in Bad Trouble; It’s Time to Fend off Big Brother In The Boatyard,” in the April 1975 issue of National Fisherman. He warned that “such a requirement would almost certainly outlaw the Adirondack guide-boat, and such proven craft as the St. Lawrence River Skiff, the Rangeley Boat, and the Maine Peapods might end up half full of foam or other flotation” and “would require drastic changes in design and construction of heritage small craft and would work hardship and financial damage on small boatshops building traditional wooden small craft.” However, in his article, John Gardner did not offer any suggestions for fending off future regulations.

Back in September 1973, at the meeting in Portsmouth, Jack Riggleman of Sears Roebuck Company, representing the American Boat and Yacht Council, told the “traditionalists” that they should organize to be taken seriously, citing the achievements of the powerboat industry with its organizations. This suggestion was not followed up on at that time.

The stage was now set for the founding of TSCA. With major concerns about the effects of future level-floatation regulations on traditional small craft, a meeting was held on June 7, 1975, during the annual Small Craft Workshop at Mystic Seaport. Those present voted to form an organization, and a steering committee was appointed with members John Gardner, Rob Pittaway, Robert Lea, Jr., Isabel Barten, and Sidney Whelan. TSCA was founded. A year later, at the Small Craft Workshop, bylaws were adopted, and the steering committee was replaced with the first council.

Concerns remained about the potential detrimental effects of the regulations on traditional small boats. The original maximum-capacity regulations still applied, and level-flotation requirements were on the way.

On September 8, 1975, National Fisherman sponsored a meeting at Mystic, Connecticut, with twelve traditionalists, including John Gardner, Pete Culler, Dick Shew, Lance Lee, and Bart Hauthaway; representatives of the boat industry; and Coast Guard representatives, including Rear Admiral Lauth and Capt. Baetsen. National Fisherman reported that Capt. Baetsen explained that the level flotation regulations being developed would not require self-righting, and that unpowered boats and boats with 2 hp or smaller motors would only be required to float right side up with the passengers hanging on, and that swamped boats would not have to be self-righting. (The final level floatation requirements adopted several years later would be significantly different.)

Capt. Baetsen attended the Small Craft Workshop in June 1976 and, prior to the first TSCA annual meeting, spoke about the Coast Guard’s position on the regulation of traditional, non-powered small craft. Capt. Baetsen retired from the Coast Guard in 1976 and died of leukemia in 1979 at age 48.

On June 24, 1976, the Coast Guard published a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise the maximum capacity regulations for small craft rated for manual propulsion of motors of 2 hp or less. The proposed regulations included a 50 percent increase in maximum weight capacity and the elimination of the live load stability test, but they added an 8-inch minimum freeboard requirement. The Coast Guard received responses objecting to the minimum freeboard requirement, including from TSCA members. Based on the responses, they reconsidered their test results for relevant boats, determined that the freeboard requirement was unnecessary, and removed it from the final regulation.

The revised maximum loading requirement for boats rated for manual propulsion or motors of 2 hp or less was published on January 13, 1977, and took effect on July 22, 1977. These regulations were the same as originally discussed in 1973.

The level floatation regulations were published on April 18, 1977, and took effect on August 1, 1978. The level floatation regulations for boats rated for manual propulsion or 2 hp or less were considerably more stringent than what had been described by the Coast Guard at the September 1975 meeting, but less stringent than the requirements for outboard boats rated for more than 2 hp. The floatation required was less than required for boats rated for over 2 hp, and air chambers can be used to meet the floatation requirements for boats rated for over 2 hp.

Today, the maximum capacity and level floatation requirements for boats rated for manual propulsion and engines of 2 hp or less are essentially the same as those adopted in 1977 and 1978. There have been minor changes to clarify the regulations, and interpretations of what constitutes a canoe, kayak, and sailboat have been tightened. Complete boat kits are now considered subject to the regulations. Many of TSCA members’ boats have been sailboats, canoes, kayaks, or boats originally built for personal use and therefore not subject to the regulations. Commercial boat builders subject to the regulations have learned to comply while reducing adverse impacts on their designs.

Sid Whelan, a friend of John Gardner and one of the TSCA founders, told me in 2023 that a high school classmate of his had become a Coast Guard captain or admiral involved in the 1970s. Sid said he contacted his former classmate about John Gardner’s concerns with the regulations, and the classmate advised forming an organization to be heard. I haven’t been able to determine who the classmate may have been, other than it was not Capt. Baetsen or RAdm. Lauth.

Finally, prior to the research for this article, I was unaware of Capt. Raymond Baetsen and the role he played in securing modifications to the regulations to accommodate traditional small craft. Without his support, it is not clear that the regulations would have been modified to what we’ve had for almost fifty years.