They kind of edited my comments in that article. The Coasties were young
and nervous but they were courteous and professional. When they found that
one of the crew was from the same home town as one of the boarding party
they got down right friendly. That didn't stop them from making a detailed
inspection of our log and charts, checking the whole boat from chain locker
to lazerette and using a chemical wipe on all the surfaces. The cutter
tagged along for another half hour while they ran tests on the wipe.

Evidently the USCG has an enforcement agreement with Haiti and at the time
the South coast of Hispanola was a major drug route. Had the French owner
been on board he might have objected when we were hailed but I was not going
to get on the VHF and claim French sovernety with my South Georgia accent in
the face of that big cannon on the cutter's foredeck.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
news:1119634116.4bda1948b3517220db2fffefd0dfa380@t eranews...
"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 08:40:17 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
said:

Does the US Coast Guard have the authority to stop, search or do a
"routine"
safety check on a vessel of US registry or US state registration fully
within US waters and obviously not suited for long offshore travel
without
cause?

http://www.jcrobbins.com/documents/boarding.htm


Interesting read. Also, interesting that one paragraph seems to indicate
that their are limits while others say their aren't. Also, interesting
that
all limits are ambiguous.

Of course the biggest arguement about the value of their warrantless
searches and lack of need for cause it is also valid for private homes on
dry land. Not legal, but valid.

Amazing that with the various changes in our country in many ways we are
becoming worse and more oppressive in than the country we fought so hard
to
make ourselves independent of over 200 years ago.

--
Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com