But it can be taken to absurd levels in the other direction, too. We have seen some of that.
I think new boaters see CG regulations as excessive, but they do tend to grow on you. I readily got myself into jackpots boating, and did learn from them a lot about myself. Was I boating or just drinking? Is boating not enough on an afternoon, that I viewed it like going to the pub?
I'm a risk taker and oblivious too often of common sense, but I make my living as an entrepreneur, so I hear my own counsel before others'.
Nonetheless, I have detected some osmosis over the years, for at least baseline regulations and must confess I support them wholeheartedly.
First, there are too many out there who remind me of my past. I didn't take fire seriously enough and was lucky my gas boats and I didn't evaporate together. I spent a night in hospital from monoxide poisoning (rubber exhaust hose..) Today I would be ashamed to take out family or anyone out if the fire extinguishers and life jackets weren't right, and much more than that.
My point is this caution and care emerges in boaters with experience, and boating education, and I credit yacht clubs and exemplary boaters with teaching us some standards, for generations. Just identifying the proper state of affairs for boating, as this forum probably does more than any similar means, underwrites my feeling that "Boater - regulate thyself" should be our baseline. And know what's proper.