Bay Constable

[Brian N.]

During my sail on Monday, the Bay Constable pulled in close but did not hail us. He took out his binoculars and looked at the boat ( I guess for the registration numbers  and sticker on the hull). He gave us a wave then took off. This seems to happen once or twice a season. I was only boarded once, and that was at the dock, and was a courtesy safety check by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is frequently patrolling my local sailing area. Just curious how active the CG or Bay Constable (or local enforcement) is in your area.

[Wolverine]

When we lived in a private lake community, the water patrol came along side us. Without saying anything, they turned in front of our sailboat and stopped about 20' ahead. We tried to tack, but collided with them. They were quite angry and wrote us a citation for the collision. I used my best prison vocabulary on them. Luckly, we had a GoPro recording our sail and the assc. paid for the minor damage to our bowsprit. Later that summer those same security officers came along side me while I was fishing from my bass boat. Again I communicated with prison language and refused to cooperate. I received a citation in the mail. When I went to the adjudicator, he recognized my name and gave his personal garrauntee they would never bother me again, and they didn't.

[Krusen]

Great  to read that you are out on the boat again!

Sailing, not just motoring to boot.  Be careful on overdoing it, but I had total knee replacement in October, and went sailing with a friend in Florida just after Christmas.  I did keep off my feet as much as I could. I was in my mid 70's then, but otherwise in very good health

[tjspiel]

The lake where I grew up was patrolled by the county sheriff's dept. They patrolled on boats in the summer and on snowmobiles in the winter.

I was never stopped on a sailboat, but on a powerboat was stopped twice. The first time was uneventful. The 2nd time, my wife (then girlfriend) was "driving". We were stopped because they thought we were going a little too fast through a narrow part of the lake where you pass under a bridge.

It was my step dad's boat and the registration, as we found out, was expired. The other thing I learned that day was that my wife sometimes has problems with authority.

She did not agree that she was going too fast and was not shy about letting one of the deputies know it. He did not react well.

Luckily the other deputy in the boat had a cooler head and I managed to convince my wife that we were not in a position to argue so she took a seat and the rest of the exchange went a bit better. They had only intended to warn us anyway but told us the next time they saw that boat it had better have an up to date registration. And sure enough my stepdad was stopped a few days later. Fortunately, he did get a new registration in the mean time.

The city lakes I sail on these days aren't patrolled though the sheriffs dept. will show up if the park police or someone on shore calls them.

I volunteer at a youth sailing event every Thursday night. And the kids are allowed and ocassionally even encouraged to capsize the smaller boats that are easy to right.

Sometimes they have a little too much fun doing it and the screams and thrashing around are interpreted by the people on shore as them being in trouble. Twice 911 has been called.

Now we tell the kids they need to act a more calmly, no messing around, get the boats righted and be on their way.

[Charles Brennan]

Brian, Your question:  "Just curious how active the CG or Bay Constable (or local enforcement) is in your area.  Was amusing to someone who lived in south Florida and had to deal with not one, but two Forces of Nature:
1) My face. 
I was unfortunately, born with one of "those" faces. 
Teachers my whole life, said: "And get that LOOK off your face!"   
Never understood that;    it was the only face I had.  But it seemed to segue from my parents, to teachers, to neighbors, to Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and taught me to avoid ever trying to play poker. 
2) South Florida.
NOBODY has EVER managed to subdue Florida.  British couldn't successfully blockade it in the Revolutionary war, nor the Union in the Civil war, nor Treasury agents during Prohibition, nor DEA in the 60's for pot, or the 80's for cocaine, or the 90's for migrants.  Not for no reason, is the USCG District 7, the busiest one in the nation.
After all, it's a BIG coast.   

That doesn't keep Law Enforcement from doing their utmost and sometimes they do get carried away.  The USCG was kept busy running off boaters who got too close to the President Nixon compound on Key Biscayne.  (Locals used to post yard signs that said "Key Biscayne: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.")  Later on, after 9/11, the USCG was kept equally busy running boaters away from cruise ships and the like in the turning basin in Port Everglades and down at the Port of Miami, after the USS Cole incident. Very sobering back then, being approached by a Coast Guard boat with a machine gun on the bow and two or more mates holding stainless steel Mossberg shotguns.   
Our local equivalent of your own "Bay Constable" is the FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission).  They have some amazing powers. They are allowed to continue pursuit from the water, on to land and back, and have essentially all the enforcement powers of Florida State Troopers. They are arguably, the most powerful policing agency in the State. 

When I first started venturing out in a power boat, getting stopped by some LEO or the other, was almost a routine thing.  Safety equipment, fishing bag limits, and later on, lobster measurements were all very common-place in south Florida.  In the Florida Keys during the era of the rafters, I would get checked out frequently in my RIB, so often in fact, that when a LEO would approach us, we would shout out: "No estamos, balseros!!  (We are not rafters!)  Most of our local LEO's had enough Spanish to laugh; but they checked us out, anyway. 

One year (probably an election year) they decided on having a massive joint operation called "Clean Sweep" involving, the Navy, the Coast Guard, all local police agencies, and the FWC in an effort to sweep up all the drug runners, then running rampant.  There were ships steaming back and forth, helicopters with massive search lights and flashing lights all over the water, almost out to the horizon.
Unfortunately, during a really primo night, for fishing for Kingfish.
Even while fishing, we had no problems moving out of the sweep patterns of the search area, since the bright lights made fishing nearly impossible. 
And the results of all that  manpower, technology, and fuel? 
Four marijuana cigarettes and two under-sized lobster. 
Yeah, Major Sweep. 

On the Columbus Day Cruising Regatta weekends, the Coast Guard Auxiliary would perform safety inspections right at the dock, before you were ready to set off for the race.  It was widely understood that the "Courtesy" inspections were not mandatory, but if you DIDN'T and blew the guy off, you were liable to get stopped as soon as you cleared the harbor.  Besides, you got a cool Safety sticker to put on your port lights. 

The ONLY time being stopped, really frosted me,    was sailing out of Port Everglades one Saturday morning, with my young grandkids.  Seas were about 3 to 4 feet and winds were 10 -15, so there were no real problems being out in the Atlantic Ocean.
EXCEPT, for a green Lieutenant JG who had decided to conduct a USCG boarding-at-sea training exercise for his guys.
Using MY boat. 
With my grandkids aboard. 
I offered to heave to and he declined and then came up alongside and announced his intention to board me, with one or two of his crew.
I explained: "No way in HELL!  In these conditions, on this size boat (18 feet) with my grandkids, me and two or three of your guys moving around in various parts of the boat, the conditions are just not safe!" 
I continued: "You want to transfer my grandkids over to your boat, then have two guys board and inspect the boat, feel free, but if you have that little Common Sense, not to risk my grandkids safety, I don't know what you think you're even looking for, or will know what it is, even if you find it! 

Some of the crew were trying not to laugh out loud at their C.O. and the bosun was whispering quietly to the Lt. that maybe it wasn't a bad compromise, so Lt. Greenhorn, relented and we transferred the grandkids over to their RIB.  The grandkids LOVED it!!    Grandson immediately ran over to the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, to "play" with it and had to be intercepted by one of the mates. Granddaughter ran over to the steering wheel and was similarly intercepted. We tend to breed for Spirit, instead of Obedience in our family. 
The Lt. and a trainee came aboard and I moved from one part of the cockpit to another, as required in those conditions, to keep the hull level.   BTW, they found NOTHING wrong and finally left.  The only high point of that whole episode, was the bosun, whispering softly: "Bravo Zulu." As he handed off the last grandkid.

Boarded and inspected SOOOOO often, that I eventually covered my whole port side dead light with safety stickers from FWC, USCG Auxiliary, Fort Lauderdale police, Miami-Dade County Police and couldn't see out of it, any more!! 
When questioning my friends, I found out they also get stopped and occasionally inspected, but not NEARLY as often as I do.

Gotta be the face.
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Charles Brennan

[Brian N.]

Charles - thanks for sharing your experiences. I read your narrative with a smile and a feeling that you had enough encounters that did not go so well. I never felt the CG or Bay Constable were overstepping their authority, but I've witnessed at the dock a couple of nasty encounters with fisherman returning (over the limit, undersize catch, unregistered boat). However, more often than not they are helpful to boats in need of assistance, rescuing kayaks and paddle boards who venture too far out, and once even warned me to turn around as conditions were too rough out in the Sound. They aided a friend of mine who hit some debris, holed his boat. They towed him to a shallow area where he could let the boat rest on the sand, and do some repairs and bail. They helped the same friend when another boat in the marina broke loose and was crashing into his boat.

[Riggerdood]

Out here on the Left Coast, of course the USCG is pretty much everywhere, but I've not yet had any direct interaction with them. I hope it stays that way, knock on wood! Most of the harbors and bays have their own patrol boats, usually affiliated with the local sheriff's department or lifeguard agency. I've really only seen them mostly patrolling the anchorages, and that's a good thing. We always smile and wave as they go by, but I've never been approached or boarded by one. In the anchorage at Mission Bay, where we often go ashore, I'll always hail them and let them know when we plan to go ashore and for how long, so they don't think we're an abandoned vessel, and they seem to appreciate that.

[pgandw]

Here in western Albemarle Sound, the CG would have to trailer and launch in our area, instead of making the long run from Elizabeth City.  The CG Auxiliary flotilla in the area closed up shop and merged with Elizabeth City.  Besides the eastern part of the Sound has the ICW, where the big boats and the traffic and (truth be known) the girls are.

So once a year we get a wave the flag patrol from North Carolina Fish & Wildlife.  Now commercial crabbers and shrimpers aren't above reporting (or taking matters into their own hands) a recreational crabber or shrimper if they perceive a law violation, with catch limits being as low as they are.

But that's life in rural NC, where cotton is still grown but the only field hands are John Deere and International Harvester.

Fred W

[Charles Brennan]

Brian,

I read your narrative with a smile and a feeling that you had enough encounters that did not go so well.

Well . . . . . . . there WAS that time I was arrested by the FBI, for "Piracy on the High Seas" . . . . . . . 

Charles Brennan

[tjspiel]

I was reminded of this thread last night. I was rafted up with two other boats late in the evening and we were grilling some dinner.

We were not too far away from a beach where they rent paddle boards, kayaks, and these paddle boats in the shape of swans that are lit up at night.

Right before we were ready to sit down to eat one of the paddle boats comes up behind us with two older women in it.

One of them yells: "This a Coast Guard Swan! How many life jackets do you have onboard?"
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[Riggerdood]

That's pretty darn funny Tom!

[Wayne Howard]

On one of our trips between Freeport, TX and Pensacola, FL, we stayed overnight at Taylor Bayou just west of Port Arthur, TX. The next morning, we checked in with traffic control to head further west by going up the Sabine River to the next ICW land cut. It's a beautiful but calm Saturday morning so we are motoring along at about 6 knots when the CG comes past us and makes a u-turn and starts chasing us. When the CG pulls up, I ask them why they were boarding us. "Speeding" with a grin to let us know he was joking. We just happened to be the first pleasure boat they saw that morning. We got a cool inspection and a piece of paper from them that prevents re-inspections for a year. 

But that was nothing compared to the time we were boarded after being off shore for a while. The kid who inspected us remarked that we didn't have the Y valve wired down. So I immediately got a zip tie and zipped the valve which satisfied his requirement. After they left, i told the Admiral that I had indeed zipped the valve but did not inform the CG that the valve was in the OVERBOARD position. I did go back below and get everything squared away and retied the valve in the correct position just in case they came back.