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#81
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
"Calif Bill" wrote in message news:ZhiOb.14775 ....Only gun mount on a aux boat, may be for a shotgun, the owner owns. .....and that shotgun will not be aboard when under CG orders. JG |
#82
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
"James W. Sloan" wrote in message link.net...
It's bad enough when the Power Squadron/USCGA types confront you at every boat ramp and marina for permission to snoop around your boat. Ok, this has come up twice in this thread...I've been boating all my life and have never been "confronted" by anyone from the USCGA or US/PS at any time. I have, on occasion, been approached in a polite and neighborly manner for boat safety checks. This is absolutley voluntary! In addition to enhancing everyone's safety, vessels that are found to be properly equipped get a decal that gives the regular Coasties notice that you're operating a safe boat...thus decreasing your odds of an on the water stop & check. Where. pray tell, is the problem in that? James I see it not much different than inviting the police into your house so they can look through your rooms, closets and stuff. Besides the sticker does not ensure you are operating a safe boat. All it states is that you have certain minimal equipment on boatd. The operation of a safe boat is entirely up to the vessel's captain. No big deal. I just say no when approached. It is annoying when the same guys ask every other weekend, though. |
#83
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
" I see it not much different than inviting the police into your house so they can look through your rooms, closets and stuff. Apples & Oranges Mad Dog. When my local Aux. folks check a boat, they hardly even even get in the thing. They ask to see the jackets, flares, turn on the nav lights, etc. All done while standing on the dock or alongside the trailer. Perhaps your experiences differ. Besides the sticker does not ensure you are operating a safe boat. All it states is that you have certain minimal equipment on boatd. The operation of a safe boat is entirely up to the vessel's captain. Agreed. It does, however, tend to reduce the stop & checks from the Coasties and DNR. No big deal. I just say no when approached. It is annoying when the same guys ask every other weekend, though. Say yes and get a sticker for the next years worth of ramp visits...its really not painful at all. Regards, James Sloan Saint Simons Island, GA |
#84
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
"Mad Dog Dave" wrote in message
om... "James W. Sloan" wrote in message link.net... It's bad enough when the Power Squadron/USCGA types confront you at every boat ramp and marina for permission to snoop around your boat. Ok, this has come up twice in this thread...I've been boating all my life and have never been "confronted" by anyone from the USCGA or US/PS at any time. I have, on occasion, been approached in a polite and neighborly manner for boat safety checks. This is absolutley voluntary! In addition to enhancing everyone's safety, vessels that are found to be properly equipped get a decal that gives the regular Coasties notice that you're operating a safe boat...thus decreasing your odds of an on the water stop & check. Where. pray tell, is the problem in that? James I see it not much different than inviting the police into your house so they can look through your rooms, closets and stuff. Besides the sticker does not ensure you are operating a safe boat. All it states is that you have certain minimal equipment on boatd. The operation of a safe boat is entirely up to the vessel's captain. No big deal. I just say no when approached. It is annoying when the same guys ask every other weekend, though. Where ARE these auxiliary guys, anyway? Send them to Irondequoit NY, please. With breath analysis kits and 1911s equipped with silencers. I'll give them $100 for every corpse that lands in the water. |
#85
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security One more time.....NO!I DON"T NEED NO %##@%% INSPECTION
One more time.....NO! I DON"T NEED NO %##@%% INSPECTION
1. USCG-A examiners NEVER report the findings of a courtesy inspection to law enforcement. 2. Inspections are strictly voluntary. The captain is under no obligation whatsoever to get his / her vessel inspected. 3. Inspections save lives. 4. Some inspection results. A. Mechanic had installed automotive carburetor, starter and fuel pump on marine engine. Skipper declined to have the units replaced with approved, marine grade units. Results: 2 weeks later, engine caught fire, damaged boat, adjacent boat and dock. Insurance company inspectors refused to pay on that basis. B. Vessel inspected and life vests, flares and other safety equipment found defective or grossly out of date. Battery cables found frayed and worn. Battery out of date. 3 months later, boat lost power offshore of Grand Bahama Island. A thunderstorm begin filling the boat with rainwater and wave water. Swimmers sighted passing vessel, but flares would not fire. 1 person drowned when life jacket straps tore off overnight. Rescue was delayed due to lack of operational flares. Passing private aircraft sighted Mae Wests in water and notified Coast Guard. Every captain worth his or her salt knows a safety inspection is one of the few FREE help items available to the boating public. It is also one of the most valuable. The examiner is not there to punish you, but, to give a trained, certified examination as to the condition of your boat and its safety equipment. What you do with that information is strictly up to you. No report is ever given to any agency, government office, or law enforcement official. We "Coasties," noticing a lack of sticker, will ask politely if you would like a safety inspection. Yes. But, we won't force you to save your own hide by having one. We will always try to fish you out alive, after your preventable disaster occurs too! Capt. Frank www.home.earthlink.net/~aartworks Mad Dog Dave wrote: "James W. Sloan" wrote in message link.net... It's bad enough when the Power Squadron/USCGA types confront you at every boat ramp and marina for permission to snoop around your boat. Ok, this has come up twice in this thread...I've been boating all my life and have never been "confronted" by anyone from the USCGA or US/PS at any time. I have, on occasion, been approached in a polite and neighborly manner for boat safety checks. This is absolutley voluntary! In addition to enhancing everyone's safety, vessels that are found to be properly equipped get a decal that gives the regular Coasties notice that you're operating a safe boat...thus decreasing your odds of an on the water stop & check. Where. pray tell, is the problem in that? James I see it not much different than inviting the police into your house so they can look through your rooms, closets and stuff. Besides the sticker does not ensure you are operating a safe boat. All it states is that you have certain minimal equipment on boatd. The operation of a safe boat is entirely up to the vessel's captain. No big deal. I just say no when approached. It is annoying when the same guys ask every other weekend, though. |
#86
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
Hey DoUg!
I prefer a 37mm myself. It leaves less corpse to deal with. Capt. Frank Doug Kanter wrote: "Mad Dog Dave" wrote in message om... "James W. Sloan" wrote in message link.net... It's bad enough when the Power Squadron/USCGA types confront you at every boat ramp and marina for permission to snoop around your boat. Ok, this has come up twice in this thread...I've been boating all my life and have never been "confronted" by anyone from the USCGA or US/PS at any time. I have, on occasion, been approached in a polite and neighborly manner for boat safety checks. This is absolutley voluntary! In addition to enhancing everyone's safety, vessels that are found to be properly equipped get a decal that gives the regular Coasties notice that you're operating a safe boat...thus decreasing your odds of an on the water stop & check. Where. pray tell, is the problem in that? James I see it not much different than inviting the police into your house so they can look through your rooms, closets and stuff. Besides the sticker does not ensure you are operating a safe boat. All it states is that you have certain minimal equipment on boatd. The operation of a safe boat is entirely up to the vessel's captain. No big deal. I just say no when approached. It is annoying when the same guys ask every other weekend, though. Where ARE these auxiliary guys, anyway? Send them to Irondequoit NY, please. With breath analysis kits and 1911s equipped with silencers. I'll give them $100 for every corpse that lands in the water. |
#87
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
It's bad enough when the Power Squadron/USCGA types confront you at
every boat ramp and marina for permission to snoop around your boat. Ok, this has come up twice in this thread...I've been boating all my life and have never been "confronted" by anyone from the USCGA or US/PS at any time. I have, on occasion, been approached in a polite and neighborly manner for boat safety checks. This is absolutley voluntary! In addition to enhancing everyone's safety, vessels that are found to be properly equipped get a decal that gives the regular Coasties notice that you're operating a safe boat...thus decreasing your odds of an on the water stop & check. Where. pray tell, is the problem in that? James James: Exactly the definition of the purpose of the VSC program. Voluntary, and no law enforcement reporting are involved. See the VSC manual, available at: http://www.cgaux.org/cgauxweb/manual...al/vsc_man.pdf For those not wanting to read the whole manual, here's the definition taken right from the text: "The mission of the Coast Guard Recreational Boating Safety (RBS) program is to minimize the loss of life, personal injury, property damage and environmental impact associated with the use of recreational boats, through preventive means, in order to maximize safe use and enjoyment of U.S. waterways by the public. The Vessel Safety Check program fully supports this mission. The VSC program helps to achieve voluntary compliance with federal and state recreational boating safety laws, particularly regarding the carriage of safety equipment. It also raises boaters’ awareness of safety issues through one-on-one contact by volunteer vessel examiners. Using the information in this manual, vessel examiners will educate boaters through direct, face-to-face boating-safety information exchanges. With this knowledge, it is hoped that recreational boaters will become more involved in maintaining and operating their boats in a safe manner, taking boating safety courses to increase their knowledge and skills in boating, and promoting safe boating to others. The Vessel Safety Check is intended to serve as a “prevention through education, outreach and volunteer compliance� activity and to help recreational boaters gain a respect for the boating environment as a result of the Vessel Safety Check encounter. Vessel Safety Checks are generally performed on recreational boats under 65 feet. Vessel Safety Check requirements parallel federal and individual state regulations regarding equipment and safety conditions of the vessel. A VSC is not a law enforcement action. No official report is made to any law enforcement authority. A Vessel Safety Check is performed only with the consent of the owner or operator, who must be present at the time of the examination. A Vessel Safety Check does not circumvent the right of any federal, state or local law enforcement officer to verify the presence and condition of safety equipment." In regard to the last paragraph above, the State of Michigan has passed legislation recognizing the VSC program. If the vessel has a current VSC decal it is no longer legal for a state LE officer to stop and board a vessel to check for required safety equipment without cause, other than to ask the operator to display the required number of PFDs. The State DNR and Michigan Sheriffs will also, in the near future, offer the exact same VSCs through their officers, who will be trained in the program initially by the Auxiliary. They will then issue the same decal, instead of the myriad of county sheriff decals and the DNR decal. On the subject of the original post, in our district we've had no uprising relating to the new security check requirements. No one at our last flotilla meeting expressed any reluctance to comply with the mandate. If one wants membership not operationally-related, the requirements only add fingerprinting to what was asked at enrollment- namely, that the prospective member was a U.S. citizen, over 17 years old, and had no felony convictions. I'd imagine that the only way to check on the felony issue is to have fingerprints to verify identity. Semper Paratus. Bud (9CR 10-05) |
#88
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security One more time.....NO! I DON"T NEED NO %##@%% INSPECTION
"Capt. Frank Hopkins" wrote in message
ink.net... Every captain worth his or her salt knows a safety inspection is one of the few FREE help items available to the boating public. Even for a captain like me who's anal retentive about safety equipment, a second opinion can always be useful. Sometimes someone sees a better way of mounting a fire extinguisher that makes it easier to reach, but less likely to smack you in the shoulder as you walk by. This doesn't sound like an Orwellian inspection to me. |
#89
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Coast Guard Auxiliary and Homeland Security
I served on a 180' buoy tender in the late 1970s (USCGC Blackhaw, San
Francisco), and we had a couple 50 caliber guns. Because of the numerous missions of the Coast Guard, all the cutters have guns. Buoy tenders don't just tend buoys; they are used for search & rescue, drug interdiction, and any other mission that comes along. In some places, buoy tenders are the only Coast Guard presence so they have to be prepared for anything. On the larger buoy tenders, like the one I was on, there is a billet (i.e. a required crew member position) for a Gunners Mate. I was on the buoy tender for about two years and in that time we never went on a drug patrol, but we did get the list of suspect vessels to watch for. If we had come across a vessel suspected of carrying drugs and boarded the vessel, that would have been the most likely scenario for breaking out the 50 cals. If maintaining aids to navigation is at some point removed as a CG mission, I suspect it will done by contractors, not by federal employees. In the case, I highly doubt they would carry arms. "Hewel" wrote in message ... I was looking at some photos of Coast Guard vessels. I'm puzzled, why do Aids to Navigation vessels like the Juniper Class buoy tenders have "provision for 25mm Bushmaster" chain gun? That's a lot of gun! I'd bet every one of them is armed with the 25mm and then some, right now. I've seen other buoy tenders, icebreakers and tugs with 12.7mm machine guns and/or 7.62mm machine guns as well. Keep in mind these ships were commissioned before the Department of Homeland Security in most cases. The Coast Guard while having some military and law enforcement missions was under the Department of Transportation. I look at a buoy and think why would you need to shoot it? I can see that those non-military and non-law enforcement responsibilities returned to the DOT as civil service jobs at some point, but would that mean these boats would have to become unarmed? They don't let other civil service employees have weapons. Where does that leave the Auxiliary? I wonder if it will end up becoming militarized at some point. I hope not. It would be an easy step for someone to take in Washington, kinda like a floating militia. The job of the Coast Guard has become very complex. Perhaps there are elements that should remain as military units and some that should be pushed away from their military ties? Capt Lou wrote: When the Coast Guard was transfered into the Department of Homeland Security, so was the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Now all auxiliarists have to be fingerprinted, and if they want to volunteer as crew or for other jobs, they have to pass a security background and criminal check. I know an auxiliarist friend of mine who had long hair and was told to cut it. Does anyone feel that the government is going a little overboard for civilian citizen volunteers? What about the auxiliarist who has been volunteering for the past 15 or 20 years? Is he or she a security threat? Maybe it is time to consider the U.S. Power Squadron and tell the USCGAUX enough is enough! I hear that 60% of the auxiliarists in my division will not submit to the fingerprinting. That's a lot of dues paying members dropping out! "Listen to the live broadcast of 'Nautical Talk Radio' with Captain Lou every Sunday afternoon from 4 - 5 (Eastern Standard Time) on the web at www.959watd.com or if you are in Boston or Cape Cod set your radio dial to 95.9FM. |
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