FERRIDAY— Area residents will have a chance to learn why they shouldn’t rock the boat Saturday.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will have a boating safety course from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The free course will be at the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office Doty Road sub-station.

Another course will be offered July 21.

The course will teach participants navigation rules, how to read buoys, right of ways, anchoring, lighting and other skills.

Completing the course could save participants as much as 20 percent on their boating insurance, a publication by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.

It is illegal for anyone younger than 16 to operate personal watercraft, including jet skis, Captain John Rhodes said.

However, anyone who was 13-years-old or older by January 2005 may do so if they have completed the approved boating safety course, Rhodes said.

Since 2003, anyone born after Jan. 1, 1988 has been required to complete appropriate boating safety courses and be able to produce evidence of such completion to operate a motor boat in excess of 10 horsepower.

There are about 40 boating-related fatalities a year in Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

For anyone not required to take the course, Rhodes had one piece of advice.

“Wear the life jacket,” he said.

For more information or to pre-register for the course, call 318-757-3072.