John I've got to reply to a few points, which I hope you'll accept in the spirit
offered.

John wrote:

Hi Jimmy,
I am a canuck who had his sailboat in Seattle and took a trip in my
dinghy up through the locks into Lake
Union. I was accosted by two incredibly rude Harbour cops

Sorry about those guys. Prickly as Hell.

who hassled
me big time over no registration
numbers on my boat and the fact I was a foreigner didn't make any
difference to them in the slightest.

As it shouldn't, right? Putting aside the interpersonal difficulties, you
*were* driving an unregistered boat through the locks. No case could be made
that the boat was performing as a tender. Can't agree with you on that one - it
was pretty blatant.

I can't imagine some American being smiled at and given a 'tsk tsk' for being a
mile into WG when it's active, can you? OK, not completely comparable, but
rules and laws about these things in the US aren't created to hassle Canadians,
of all people.

You can't go anywhere other that from your boat to shore by the shortest
possible route in an unregistered
dinghy.

Not strictly true, at least here in WA. We can do the odd setting of crab pots
and exploring a harbor. I suppose that the law may be as you state it, but I've
never heard of being hassled for that 'near boat' stuff.

That was about 10 years ago and I haven't been back and have
no plans to ever go again.
That country is simply not worth the hassle between the border guards,
coasties and harbour police.

If you
really want a treat.... go to San Diego and try anchoring. Harbour
Nazi's decend on you in droves.

Large cities tend to be that way. San Diego has had a horrible problem with
anchored boats and they have been aggressive in trying to keep it under control.
One can't anchor 'just anywhere', for a variety of very good reasons. But
San Diego doesn't have exclusive hold on 'harbor nazi-ism'.

Two years ago a friend who spends a lot of time anchored in French Creek
(Vancouver, CA for your easterners) was busted big time, hassled for hours, made
him report here and there, and fined in the hundreds for "Trespassing", which is
the charge they laid when he overstayed an hour or so at a moorage on Granville
Island. He admitted his error, but felt the reaction and treatment were out of
line. Frankly I couldn't believe he was talking about Canada. But cities are
strange animals.

But did you check any source, whatever, to determine where you might anchor? If
not, why not? You certainly can't drop into Vancouver Harbour or Victoria and
anchor anywhere. Or Esquimault, which begins to compare to San Diego with its
huge and varied Navy presence, right?

One of the most valid criticisms of Americans I hear from my Canadian friends is
that some of them, sometimes, act as though 'Canada were just another state' and
fail to recognize that it is a sovereign nation. That's a fair judgement and
embarrassing to us who do know and respect the distinction.

But, reading your message, I wonder if perhaps you didn't act a little bit that
way even if, on reflection, you knew better.



Good luck going south but myself and many others won't ever go south
again. Hope this helps.
cheers John