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Combat Boots Boarding for the Scuff Dance!

Old 03-17-2008, 01:08 PM
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Some pretty funny post. They have a CG training facility on texoma and I've yet to see one with the incompentence I've seen mentioned. Now the local PD..............thats a different story. I had one lose a badge in the boat after he boarded. Pretty sure its in the bottom of the lake now
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Old 03-17-2008, 01:54 PM
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The GC In clearlake are very professional and accommodating. Alot of the time you can catch them eating at Outriggers, and all they want to do is talk boats with you.Very nice guys.I have only been stopped once and it was only to check for PFD's only got close enough to talk.

The local sheriffs or WLF don't really bother us.


Where i grew up in La the local sheriff lived down the street and was invited to all the parties and crawfish boils we had so i was never harassed by them
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Old 03-17-2008, 02:04 PM
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during the summer I am out everyday and it is always the same couple cops, not coast guard, but I caught them at the launch ramp one day, talked boats with them for a while, never been stopped once, they give me a wave as I pass by
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Old 03-18-2008, 04:33 AM
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Originally Posted by bluellama
They were actually pretty good guys, my friend didn't know about the slow zone in front of the Castle, which prompted the quote.
It was early in the summer, the weather was poor and there wasn't a lot of traffic. They were more interested in what powerplant was in the smaller Donzi that had been blowing by their dock for the last couple of days...... (Geoo's X-18 @120 MPH )
I thought it was nice of them to provide me with multiple copies of the speed zone regs to take back t the dock
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Old 03-18-2008, 05:47 PM
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the ones around here arent bad, but they cant find anything ( they refuse to learn local names for places and or the turnover is too quick) I called them 2 years ago because I boatr was signaling distress on the noth side of manmade island..they had NO idea where manmade was...even though it's less than 1/2 from there dock.
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Old 03-18-2008, 06:02 PM
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Originally Posted by phragle
the ones around here arent bad, but they cant find anything ( they refuse to learn local names for places and or the turnover is too quick) I called them 2 years ago because I boatr was signaling distress on the noth side of manmade island..they had NO idea where manmade was...even though it's less than 1/2 from there dock.
That's funny. Maybe just because I know exactly the Island you're talking of. I also know how tight you need to hug the shore of the Island as your heading out of the river to make the cut over to the Ottawa or Woodtick. It's been at least 8 years since I've run a boat up there, and unless it's changed, I remember that passage well.
Making the cut always still gave me a little "pucker" factor.

The CG and Harbor Patrol where always pretty laid back, and I never had any problems - but now, this is going back a few years.
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Old 03-18-2008, 10:30 PM
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There was a time when the CG would call you via VHF and ask to board your vessel. September 11th changed all of that. Due to new Homeland Security laws the CG does not need to ask you anything.
Case in point....
We were pushing 6 barges in the ICW around Lafitte, La one morning when I was tapped on the shoulder by, to my great suprise, a Coastie with gun in hand.
I had no idea that they had boarded my vessel and at no time did they ask if they could.
They tell me to stop my vessel so they can run a Homeland Security check of myself and my crew. They wake everybody up and make all of us give them our ID's and ran checks on all of us.
During this time there were 4 coasties on board and all but one had their guns drawn. Here we are trying to make an honest living and we get treated like cocaine traffickers down in the Keys.
I understand they have a job to do but I also think they should show us just a bit more courtesy when doing the security checks.

Another story I can share happened just a couple weeks ago in Houston, Tx at the Lynchburg Ferry crossing.
The Coast Gurad had set up a checkpoint ON the ferry so when you drove onto it you were no longer protected by the laws of land.

Being on a public marine transportation vehicle you are now under the jurisdiction of the USCG. They searched every vehicle that got on that ferry for 6 hours straight. They had drug dogs and the whole nine yards. They arrested quite a few people that day.

So in short just always remember that when you step off of the land you are at the mercy of the USCG and they answer to no one.

Chuck
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:14 AM
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Coast guard has powers that well exceed what would be considered constitutional for regular law enforcement.

The way it has been explained to me is that coasties, and border patrol, can come on your boat when they damn well please, for little or no cause, and can run you through the ringer. If you're in order, you're good to go, if not, you're in trouble.

State and local police agencies do not have the same powers as the coast guard. They need probable cause or a search warrant to board your boat.

And like any profession, experience level and respect for the customer (you, since you pay their salary) varies greatly. Some will be courteous and respectful, some will be *******s, some will show great skill maneuvering their boat with little effort, some will be trying their hardest to keep a twin outboard RIB under control, and not necessarily succeeding.

I believe some of these agencies have a quota for the number of boardings they have to conduct over a given period. A friend of mine's dad was out in a 14' aluminum boat fishing one of the branches of the st. clair river and he was boarded by the coast guard. I believe they actually boarded his boat, just to do things "by the book". Now, more than one of them on this boat would have likely capsized it, and everything on the boat was in plain sight to the officers on the CG boat, but they put a guy on his boat just so they could say they boarded him. This was during a stretch of mediocre weather, on a weekday. Very little traffic out there, he was the only one they could board.

They're out there doing their job, and it's a necessary job that can be dangerous and thankless at times. But I don't think it's unreasonable for law abiding citizens to expect some respect in our encounters with them.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:04 AM
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:[QUOTE=CAPTAIN CHUCK;2490366]we get treated like cocaine traffickers down in the Keys.


Actually they treat the cocaine traffickers quite nicely down here, first name basis and all.
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