Do you dive from your boat leaving no one aboard?

[Cacia]

but some people don't have as big a picture as they think.

yea, well...I do okay somehow. Maybe there is something to not having to need the Coast Guard to fish you out of the ocean?...Ever contemplate those stats???

I won't send them packin if they answer my EPIRB, I just will have already run through some other options..like calling all the Nemrods I know. And alerting my Nemrod friends that we are about to dive, and when we are due up.

 

[JeffG]

'nuff said. Didn't mean to hi-jack my own thread, but some people don't have as big a picture as they think.:no

and some people just come across as condescending. Go figure.

 

[Cacia]

Oh...35 years of diving in different locations around the world doesn't really count if you are a blonde woman, you know that.

I need a man to advise me to "think about it". By most accounts, you'd think I would have caused my own demise by now....just a lucky girl I guess.

My point is that if you dive off your boat without anybody topside, of course you think about it....silly man. Mommies are always thinking, I guess.

 

[Nemrod]

The Coast Guard serves a fine and useful purpose, one of their purposes should not be harrasing boaters. They are a military organization and the only military organization allowed to act as police without additional government authroity--martial law. They are often heavy handed, rude, pushy and lacking knowledge. There really needs to be a limit to their ability to board boats--a reasonable cause such as other police authorities would require. They are not all heros, sorry, quite a few are in fact heels.

My BW did not coast 65,000.

If I am in the area--I will come get you and I won't chew you out, threaten you, hold a gun on you, charge you or make you leave your beloved dog on the roof of your house as the waters of Katrina slowly rise around you.

There is a fine line between freedom of choice and a police state and we are flirting dangerously close to it. The National Guard, citizen soilders, there to help in many crisis, fine people, they also pulled the trigger on students at Kent State. The abuse of power by police, military and police state organizations like Homeland Security are a danger to the freedom of choice that is our right as a US citizen.

I am not carrying a bomb in my boat, unless I call for them or am in obvious distress I frankly wish them to stay away from me. I have managed to get this far without being nanny-ied to death.

N

 

[matt_unique]

In Massachusetts, I have personally found the most annoying presence is the Police.

I was working in a commercial capacity last summer before our Ted Williams Tunnel was reopened. It was a calm Sunday with clear skies, etc. I was crossing the harbor with passengers when a Boston Police boat approached me waving arms, on the loud speaker, etc. I immediately reversed engines, stopped, and stood up as high as possible on my boat. I assumed I was looking for someone overboard or some other emergency. It was at that time I was able to hear the cops yelling to "SLOW DOWN". I was stunned...."WHAT?!?" was my reply. "SLOW DOWN....THIS IS A NO WAKE ZONE". My second reply "A NO WAKE ZONE...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HARBOR?!?" My tone was evident to which they just yelled again "THAT'S RIGHT...SLOW DOWN". I just shook my head and kept moving. Returning across the harbor they had stopped almost every single regular passenger vessel with the same nonsense.

Later that day I was transporting more passengers. A woman with a Massport badge asked me about passenger volume increases with the tunnel closed, etc. I discussed the increases and also mentioned my oberservation about the Boston Police boat. I told her my opinion, that they had no right or valid reason to be on the water at all, considering the traffic concerns they were in the way of other modes of transportation picking assisting with the demand, etc. The Massport women then replied..."thanks for the information...I'll mention it to the Mayor when I meet with him". Ha ha ha - awesome - she was the Director of External Affairs or some such title. She was meeting with the mayor to discuss transportation concerns, etc.

Anyway - as far as the USCG is concerned I've been approached once and boarded once in 7 years. Both experiences were professional and quick. These guys have balls of solid steel to go out into insane storms to rescue people. I have extreme respect for them. If I had negative experiences, as is the case in most instances dealing with cops, I'm sure I would feel differently.

For Nemrod - I'm sure you are proud that Boston Whalers are almost as good as Grady White's It's pretty hard to mess up the design of a bathtub. Bayliner owners like me have, and will move up to larger boats while you're still frothing at the mouth with the look of crazy saying "my boat still floats cut in half - hey look at my fittings - it was worth triple the cost of a Bayliner!"

--Matt

 

[matt_unique]

For those unfamiliar, Nemrod and I are honorary (self appointed) zealots of our current boat brand....

--Matt

 

[Tom Winters]

That's pretty funny - calling the Coast Guard for help in Hawaii. No one ever did that twice. People out there help each other since the Coast Guard was pretty much --->totally nonresponsive. Oh wait, I only drove boats there for 20 years for the Navy and as a civilian captain, so maybe I'm uninformed. For blue water deep ocean rescues, the Navy went out when it was too rough for the Coasties.
I will say that they did a fine job of boarding vessels off Waikiki and maintaining buoys. I never saw them enforcing the longliner 75-mile offshore restriction either, but I'm sure they were busy doing something.
At least they were consistent in the area of licensing - the Regional Exam Center there screwed with the ex-Coasties as much as they screwed with anyone else who had to deal with them.
This is just my own opinion.

 

[Ana]

My concern is not so much the USCG or the boat drifting. I don't think there is a "LAW" against it around here, and the way we dive is: go down the anchor line, check the anchor (adjust if needed) and then do our dives.

The thing that puts butterflies in my stomach is the possibility of some punks coming by in another boat and get ideas when realizing they are next to an empty boat. Even if we take the keys of the ignition with us, there are things on board that can be stolen. Of course they have all been blessed/cursed for that particular reason but it will still require additional funds to replace them.
For those who may see our boat and get any ideas, know in advance that stolen fins will not allow you to swim to the surface, stolen masks will forever fog, food on a stolen ice chest will produce eternal intestinal malfunction, and so on.

 

[Cacia]

That's pretty funny - calling the Coast Guard for help in Hawaii.

Not to mention how they treated me when somebody died on a boat my kid was on for twelve hours at sea before "releasing any information"...even though it was all over the marine radios. yea, they are out of my algorithm, you might say. No hard feelings, just need to adapt my expectations, I am sure there are some great people in the Coast Guard.

of some punks coming by in another boat

I think we would notice if a boat engined up, we stay kind of close. Not a lot of boat traffic, but every area is different. Sounds like "In to the Blue" scene!

 

[matt_unique]

Your USCG experience sounds like a regular cop experience. I can understand why you would want nothing to do with them.

Keep your Tow Boat US membership, check the weather, and keep a backup engine (if you do not already have two) and you're good to go.

--Matt