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A first - stopped by USCG
Was out on Lake Washington in Seattle yesterday watching the Navy Blue Angles fly as part of the annual summer Seafair airshow and unlimited hydroplane race. It's boater crazy...in prime viewing locations you can almost hop from boat to boat to boat when the Angles are flying. As you might expect, the event also has a huge law marine enforcement showing with just about every law enforcement service and municipality represented. All the local police jurisdictions (four or five "cities" boarder the lake and have their own marine patrols), the county sheriff, Seattle Fire and the US Coast Guard. It's good sport to watch the bidiots (boating idiots) and try to guess which ones will get picked off by the patrols.....
So my daughter and I were on our way back to our moorage after the show...just running along the north tip of Mercer Island at about 20 knots doing nothing special...when this US Coast Guard launch speeds along side with it's siren and blue lights on and indicates we should heave to. As we wait for them to pull along side, I'm furiously trying to think about what rule I may have violated to get stopped. Can't think of a thing.....
The guardsmen get along side and tell us we have been stopped for a safety inspection. Ah-ha. Ok. So they start asking us to display or demonstrate various items. Lifejackets. Various documentation. Federal oil discharge sticker.. Engine spark arrestor. Horn...stuff like that. So we were mostly good. My current boat reg was in the glove box of the truck but I had last years copy. And my horn...oh man...if you might remember I FINALLY fixed my horn this spring after a long battle with a harness gremlin...I go to demonstrate the horn and...%$(*&^#^...the wiring problem is back. I was CRUSHED;. And no...no backup signalling device. But the guardsmen where cool about everything and I was issued a warning for not having my current registration and no working horn. I didn't have the oil discharge sticker and I'm not sure why they didn't include that. And it was funny to see them study the fully shrouded Excalibur engine and then decide no they really didn't need to see that spark arrestor.
While they were along side, I asked them where they were from thinking that they might give some town they grew up in. Instead, they volunteered their boat unit was over from Honolulu working Seafair in conjunction with other USCG units brought in from LA and other jurisdictions. I was totally surprised to learn they traveled here. They knew nothing about the local waters...the general area or the Seafair event. So we shared a few stories before we departed.
So...another (unplanned) bucket list item achieved. And a reminder to get a few bits including various compliance stickers in order. Total respect for the guardsmen.....they were great and we all left with smiles.
So my daughter and I were on our way back to our moorage after the show...just running along the north tip of Mercer Island at about 20 knots doing nothing special...when this US Coast Guard launch speeds along side with it's siren and blue lights on and indicates we should heave to. As we wait for them to pull along side, I'm furiously trying to think about what rule I may have violated to get stopped. Can't think of a thing.....
The guardsmen get along side and tell us we have been stopped for a safety inspection. Ah-ha. Ok. So they start asking us to display or demonstrate various items. Lifejackets. Various documentation. Federal oil discharge sticker.. Engine spark arrestor. Horn...stuff like that. So we were mostly good. My current boat reg was in the glove box of the truck but I had last years copy. And my horn...oh man...if you might remember I FINALLY fixed my horn this spring after a long battle with a harness gremlin...I go to demonstrate the horn and...%$(*&^#^...the wiring problem is back. I was CRUSHED;. And no...no backup signalling device. But the guardsmen where cool about everything and I was issued a warning for not having my current registration and no working horn. I didn't have the oil discharge sticker and I'm not sure why they didn't include that. And it was funny to see them study the fully shrouded Excalibur engine and then decide no they really didn't need to see that spark arrestor.
While they were along side, I asked them where they were from thinking that they might give some town they grew up in. Instead, they volunteered their boat unit was over from Honolulu working Seafair in conjunction with other USCG units brought in from LA and other jurisdictions. I was totally surprised to learn they traveled here. They knew nothing about the local waters...the general area or the Seafair event. So we shared a few stories before we departed.
So...another (unplanned) bucket list item achieved. And a reminder to get a few bits including various compliance stickers in order. Total respect for the guardsmen.....they were great and we all left with smiles.
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