There I was...

[Baker]

....Minding my own affair.* I was meeting some friends at an anchorage up in* Clear Lake but wanted to run out into the Bay for a bit just because it was so nice out.* So I go out for awhile and then turn around to head in. The Clear Creek channel into Kemah, Tx. has every bit of 10feet of water in it.* Outside the channel has every bit of 5 ft of water.* It is fairly common for the courteous planing boats to stay outside of the channel until they are ready to come off plane.* Well I am just entering the channel from the side and there is a small sailboat in front of me and we are probably 200 yards from where the landcut/no wake zone starts.* So I come off plane and am just behind and off the quarter of the sailboat.* We are no more than about 30 feet apart and exchange pleasantries.* We are close enough where we can talk in a normal voice to each other and be heard.* I look back and here comes.... a penis boat(bout a 4xft Fountain) doing about 40 something knots.* He is pointed right between us.* I am thinking there aint no way he is gonna try that....not to mention we are the only 2 boats in a 1/2 mile radius.* Well, you guessed it.* He goes flying right in between us.* His wake hit my boat so hard that it actually went straight up with a SLAP spraying water 15ft into the air.* Well I hit the throttle to get up next to this guy.* It is his wife and 2 young children so I had to hold my tongue a bit. The stupid ignoramus had no clue what he just did..."....huh....what.....what are you talking about...."...

Menawhile the Coasties and the Game Wardens and all other LEOs are about writing tickets to people whose flares are outta date.* They are never around to see stuff like this.

* If I had turned a little left at the last minute not knowing this guy was coming(which is a very real scenario reference his speed) it would have been all over and that is what I told him when I got up next to him.* I had to curtail my tirade since his kids were present but I did mention if He loved his wife and kids, then he should operate his boat in a way that doesn't endanger their lives.*

Name of the boat was "Service Me" and I think it was a Fountain.

 

[troy994719]

TPWL are too busy stopping guys like me in a dinghy and doing life jacket checks, they are just looking for the revenue making stops.

*
48 foot sportfisher named Team Marine Max waked me a few weeks ago between the first and second set of markers in the bay. He slowed down behind me because of traffic then 20 foot off to my stern he opened up the boat and put out a 4-5 foot roller. Needless to say it re arranged my boat. If someone had been below or in the head they would have ended up on the floor.
I called Marine Max and the manager admitted that they had the boat and said he would talk to the captain. But he also said normally the captains are really good boat handlers. I explained to him next time I would be filling a complaint with the USCG. I think now I am going to have the digital camera ready on video mode so I can shoot a short video of boats that pull that crap.

*
I wonder if I could get away with launching water balloons at a boat, they sure wouldnt be filled with clean water!

 

[FF]

Traveling the ICW , esp in the warmer areas , the brain dead or delivery "captains" are easily contro;lled.

We carry as 2x4's , as long as we can find from a dumpster , waive it overhead and slip it into the water as the imbecile gets within eye contact range.

NO PROBLEM , they go past really slow!!

FF

 

[troy994719]

Well I dont want to leave anything in the water for someone else to run over, someone thats not doing anything wrong could hit that later on after the jerk has passed on by.

Paintball gun might work also!

 

[Keith]

That might get you shot at, at least in Louisiana! If you really want to stop a boat, throw a PP heaving line in front. As they pass over, it'll wrap up the props and make a genuine mess. Be prepared for the result though. I just toss that out (pun intended) as a way to stop an out of control boat!

Oh yea, I looked that boat name up in the Federal database, and it's not listed. Guess he's a TX number kinda guy. Or maybe just too new to show up.

-- Edited by Keith at 08:14, 2008-08-26

 

[Baker]

Yeah, Keith, trust me, that was the first thing I did(look up the boat name).

Also, you gotta be careful about doing something like throwing a line out like that. You snag only one prop/engine and the boat will yaw something fierce if only one engine is affected.....possibly into you. I don't know if you remember, but there was a guy who got killed at about the same spot in this scenario. Except they were doing the courteous thing and they were outside the channel. They were going at a good clip and snagged a crab pot. It killed one engine and the boat yawed so sharply that it threw a passenger out and the boat ran over him....his wife was right next to him.

On a more balancing note and something I meant to mention, after we had hung out at anchor and were heading back to a neighbors dock to grill and eat we came upon a 23ft Century CC fishing boat. It looked absolutely brand new with an older couple on board. Their engine had quit and they couldn't get it started. We threw them a line and towed them to their waterfront home. As we were maneuvering for the tow, a heard of penis boats(about 3 of them) were coming right at us at full bore. I was thinking, "Oh no, not this again!!!!". They all slowed down to a crawl as they passed us. I gave them an exaggerated bow down and a thumbs up and a salute. There are a few of those guys that know what they are doing.

And to be honest, it wasn't the wake that concerned me in the first scenario, it was just the guy came so damn close to me going so damn fast.

 

[FF]

For folks that get buzzed by bored jet ski drivers , the simple solution is to cut up polly pro line into 2 or 3 ft sizes.

Unravel them into strand and spread them in a 50 ft circle round your boat.

Stops them dead in the water , and the seal is usually ruined , a nice big $$$ repair.

What me, worry?

FF

 

[LarryW]

I remember one summer about 13 14 years ago I had gone on one of my weekend cruises to to Norfolk and on the way back one of those standup jetskis came out from the camp grounds at the end of the Chick jumping my wake real close. I finally got tired of him and turned and chased him with my boat, 37' Egg Harbor aft cabin, everytime he turned I turned it was fun and no I had no chance of catching him. Couple of months later we had a pig roast at the marina and guess who shows up. Pulled his jet ski up and started to shoot the bull with the marina manager and myself and recognized my Egg. He told us what had happened and we syphthized with him. Anyway he decided to get some barbque and asked if I'd watch his jetski for him. SURE I told him and procedeed to watch as he was gone quiet a while, tide came in and over the top of his jetski. Boy was he pissed. Then I introduced myself as the owner of the Egg.

 

[LarryW]

Oh yeah who says there is no justice. You just have to wait and bidd your time.

 

[KMA]

Speaking of justice and good manners, I've an interesting tale: We were invited to take a short day cruise on a new Norhavn 55 a short while back. The new owners are British, and the boat is UK flagged. The boat is berthed in Dana Point, CA, and is just wrapping it's commissioning. The boat's tender isn't registered in California, but is marked as T/T [vessel name].

The local harbor patrol is also the Orange County Sheriff. These guys have told the boat owner he can't put his tender in the water without CF numbers (Calif. Reg). on it. The owners were also told to "go ahead and make a stink... we'll just enter your boat in the DHS database as a "problem".* Then just try and renew your visa."

Can you imagine the diplomatic flap if US flagged vessels weren't allowed to drop their tenders in the water in BVI or Bermuda (or Mexico, even) if they didn't have local registration?

I was so embarrassed, I about fell over myself apologizing for those jerks.* These tremendous people just dumped close to $2MM into the local economy, and the cops are giving them grief?

-- Edited by KMA at 23:23, 2008-08-31

 

[troy994719]

Typical law enforcement, a few weeks ago I was in the dinghy towing a 32 foot sailboat that had lost engine power in the Kemah channel. Texas parks and wildlife came up on two jet skis wanting to know why the sailboat didnt have registration. Then he asked if we were having engine problems. You would think his first question would be do you guys need any help? After dropping off the sailboat at the dock I was stopped again by another parks and wildlife boat for lifejacket check.

 

[Chris Foster]

Not arguing the point about heavy-handed law enforcement, but...

These tremendous people just dumped close to $2MM into the local economy, and the cops are giving them grief?

Uh, no, they just dumped close to 1.9MM into the Taiwanese economy, and some of what was left ended up in the local economy.*

 

[Tidahapah]

Knowing how much (little) it costs to build in Tiwan and China i think you will find that a lot more than 100k was dumped in your local economy.
Usually the manufacture price in Asia is about 1/4 or less of the end price paid in country of purchase.
There are a lot of middle men on the way.

Benn

 

[FF]

1.9MM into the Taiwanese economy,

At least 40% of the cost of most boats is builder and dealer markup.

Figure $30,000 for deck shipping a few K for import duties and the slaves/slave masters probably

got under $500.K for the boat on the dock.

FF

 

[Chris Foster]

True - it was a bit of a smartass comment on my part.

Big difference in cost between Taiwan and PRC - that's why CHB moved production to the mainland. Looks like about half of the Norhavns are built by Ta Shing in Taiwan and half by South Coast Marine in the PRC.

Certainly the importer's (PAE) mark-up and commissioning costs stay here. And there's significant dollar value in the engine and other componentry that's exported from the states and returns on the boat.

Just a little sensitive here from having lost my job to Asia in June.

 

[KMA]

Not meaning to get into a pissing contest about this... the main point being the double standard and gestapo tactics of our local law enforcement.

I feel for your job loss to offshore.* I've been managing to convince my client base to not move.* For my line of work, there are hundreds of reasons not to move offshore, and only one reason to do it.* Thus far, sanity has won out.

 

[FF]

the main point being the double standard and gestapo tactics of our local law enforcement.


I'm so old I remember way back when the US Coastguard helped folks in boats out of troubble.

Today they are simply the Federal Marine Police , and useless.

If we need pirates like Sea Tow , why fund the Hooligan navy?

 

[sunchaser]

The CG "problem" is largely fostered by the idots racing around the ICW doing licit or illicit things. I boat in the PNW and have seen too many instances of the USCG doing their job well to get caught up in the over hype that permeates all blogs and boards. I spent the night a few weeks ago on the docks at Friday HArbor snugged in next to a 75 CG cutter. What a neat group of guys and professional in every way. As with all cops, they are now overly sensitive to bad guys trying to bring in bombs etc to destroy our great country.

Most of us have heard stories about what the water cops are finding, but not reporting. Some of these are staggering. I'd mcuh rather get stopped and fined by the CG for some minor thing than have them overlook the potential for major disaster. And I am glad to see the CG profiling - bad boaters are more suspcious than good boaters!!

 

[gns]

charles wrote:
I have reviewd all of the prior posts in this thread and fail to find any mention, good or bad, about the US COAST GUARD.

You must have missed the second paragraph in the very first post by Baker:

"Menawhile the Coasties and the Game Wardens and all other LEOs are about writing tickets to people whose flares are outta date.* They are never around to see stuff like this."

Whenever I read or hear "Coasties" I always interprete that as USCG.* 'Course that's not what we called them when I was in the Navy.

 

[Chris Foster]

The individual officers and enlisted in the CG are all top notch people - as with the military, they have nothing but my undying respect and gratitude.

I think the thing that sets a lot of us off is the ability of the CG to board any boat at any time, for no cause, not only to verify compliance to safety regulations, but to search for other possible violations of the law. Perhaps someone versed in law can explain how this is not in direct violation of the 4th amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The one time I was boarded, the CG people involved were courteous, respectful, and businesslike. But I don't think they were any happier about coming aboard my boat (both because of the possible danger coming into a strange place as well as invading our privacy) than I was with having people with automatic weapons boarding my boat at night. But it's in their job description, so even if they don't personally agree with the policy, they have to do it.

(BTW - before anybody starts about Bush/Cheney/Halliburton/Rove/Patriot Act, I was boarded in 1995... I'll leave any more comments about that to the "deep end").

 

[RED]

How about when their training includes having some member of the public bang on their reisdence unannounced and proceed through all their private areas looking for gotchas of minor violations.

My experience with boarding - we prominently displayed a VSC decal, which they passed by as they approached. One standing in the inflatable with an AR ready, and the boarding officer standing in the stern, hand on his weapon demanding we assemble everyone on board in the salon so they could conduct a "safety check". We told the arrogant bastard that everyone was in the salon except the cancer patient we had aboard who was too sick to get out of bed and we weren't going to move her. After going through our logs, papers, etc with a fine tooth comb they finally left without acknowledgement, having found nothing.

 

[FF]

The last time I bothered to have contact with the kiddy boaters was a few years ago in the ICW heading south.

A charter operator in a 75 or so, big* tin boat charged constantly through the usual pack of boaters (that collect at bridge openings) cauaing at least a 4 or 5 ft wave.

A couple of smaller boats were spun 180deg by the force and the radio was alive with complaints, DOZENS.

After a 2 day exercise in doing NOTHING , but telling the calling multitudes to "register a complaint at Miami", someone FINALLY shamed them into actually using a boat, to observe the chaos.

A boarding resulted and the boat was stopped in Georgetown till a competant crew was brought aboard.

Since so much damage was done , when I heard a similar set of screaming at a marine mororist coming up to my position going north I simply got out the 10gage , and held it over my head while stairing at the imbecile.

We got a fine slow no wake pass , and cursing to blush a sailor , with out waiting days for the Federal Marine Police to do its usual, nothing.

FF


-- Edited by FF at 06:00, 2008-09-10