Matt Colie wrote:


Hal wrote:

much snippage

There has never been anyplace that I have been where there was effective
law enforcement on the water. Please don't tell me to leave it to them.
That will start another set of really dreadful stories I have
accumulated in years of cleaning up after people such as yourself.

Thank you your opinion.

Have you followed the Clearlake incidence in California? Latitude 38 has
been good in their coverage and presentation of the two sides. Most of
it seems to be in the form of letters to the editor, the following
http://www.latitude38.com/letters/200708.html
about 1/3 of the way down is the pertinent letter/response.

I mention it to illustrate what I see as a certain level of bias on the
part of authorities. For instance eye witnesses were told their
testimony was not needed. This included at least two people that one saw
the sailboats running lights on and another who said the saloon lights
were on. This is apparently an effort to support the Deputy's version of
events where he says the boat was unlit.

While I don't agree with Hal's reaction to your going armed, you might
want to think about it since there is a presumed guilty against you by a
large segment of the population if you are armed. Yes there are Yahoos
that would think it funny to try and swamp you with their wake or
otherwise ruin your boating experience. Thing is they succeed in
drowning you, the presence of a gun on your carcase would just make
people think "He was probably a crack dealer" or something equivalent.

There are laws against brandishing a gun so the ability to do what you
think you can do is dubious. That is, jail time for you vs. a ticket for
the person who precipitated the incident. Unless you are in your own
home, you may have the "duty to retreat" in your state. This means if
someone is harassing you, you have to leave the area. I'm as serious as
a broken leg about this, you have to leave or you will be charged with a
crime.

Carry a camera, flare gun, and pepper spray. If you are in an area that
doesn't allow excessive wakes or speed, the sight of a camera taking
their picture should be enough to deter knucleheads. If you do carry a
gun, don't bring it out unless someone is threatening you with deadly
force.