"What I'm trying to do is to kind of stick my toe in the water and see if I get bit by a piranha," he told a group of state legislators.

The reaction was instantaneous.

Michael G. Sciulla, senior vice president of the Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatU.S.), called the licensing idea an "ill-conceived" suggestion "that will inconvenience everyone and not result in a substantial increase in security."

Other boating groups piled on, and Allen quickly pulled his toe out of the water. The service now is returning to a three-year-old proposal asking Congress for authority to set federal requirements for mandatory boater education. Only a few states have such programs so far, and many are cursory or apply only to teenagers.

CHANGING IMAGEU.S. COAST GUARDEight crewmembers from a disabled casino boat in Jacksonville, Florida, are rescued by the Coast Guard crews in heavy seas.

The changes come at a time when the Coast Guard is being called on to expand its bigger-picture duties even more. Along with its homeland security tasks, the service is being propelled into a sharply expanded role under a new national maritime strategy proposed earlier this year, under which it will be asked to cooperate more closely with the Navy and Marine Corps to help guard global sea lanes, combat piracy and terrorism, and help provide humanitarian assistance and disaster aid around the world.

The Coast Guard's overall performance since 9/11 has been mixed–and far more high-profile than before. In 2005, the service won plaudits for its rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina, when it singlehandedly pulled more than 25,000 persons off rooftops and flooded streets in New Orleans–one of the few real success stories in the aftermath of the massive hurricane.

A year later, the Coast Guard found itself embroiled in a major scandal when its massive shipbuilding program, Operation Deepwater, foundered after the service set up a system that allowed the shipbuilders to oversee themselves. An initial effort to convert rusting 110-foot patrol boats into more versatile 123-foot cutters, was canceled after inspectors found hull cracks and engine failures. And the first completed new ship, a $564 million National Security Cutter designed especially for its homeland security mission, was found to have structural weaknesses that some Coast Guard engineers feared might jeopardize its safety and limit its lifespan without costly repairs.

After intense negotiations with the contractors, the fleet-building program has been resumed–but with major delays, an increased projected cost of $24 billion (up from $17 billion) and a major embarrassment to the Coast Guard that has tarnished the image it earned during the post-Katrina rescues.

The blame for last month's incident in San Francisco, where an oil tanker hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge and spewed some 58,000 gallons of oil into local waters and onto beaches, is still in dispute. The Coast Guard says it did everything by the book to head off such a mishap and deal with the resulting oil spills. Some outside groups–and San Francisco city officials–are more critical, arguing it was slow to respond on both counts.

Although none of these incidents is expected to have much impact on the Coast Guard's relationship with recreational boaters, former Coastie John Benson says it's likely that the service won't go back to its friendlier, lower-key days of the 1970s–if only because it has so many security missions on its platter.

"We didn't have to wear all that body armor," he recalls, with a smile.