Rick Cortese wrote:

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.

Rick,
First - Thank you for the Clear Lake reference, I had heard of it and
nothing more. Yes - Rule 6 should apply here, but LEO protect their own
when well they should not.

I got roped into teaching classes to potential marine patrol officers.
(As attached in a prior sig, I am a licensed mariner.) I have also been
involved in law enforcement. Many were expecting a "get paid for
sleeping through the rubber stamp course". They were upset when they
were expected to actually know the rules of the road. I didn't get
invited back.

You might go back and read the thread before Hal got involved. There
was a lot of tongue and cheek humor (whooshed on Hal) about how to make
your presents know to an incapable (and possibly inebriated) power boat
operator. In six decades on the water, I have been hit (racing under
sail doesn't count here) eight times. On three of those occasions, we
saw burden vessel alter course to collide. In one of those cases, (it
was a second encounter) I had a 12ga flare pistol ready. I fired a
white star directly over the windscreen of the oncoming vessel and got
not response.

While I understand your sentiments, the camera will be lost, the flare
gun didn't cause him to alter course and the pepper spray won't do you
any good as he is speeding away laughing about what he has just done.

A result of all this is that I do carry devices on board my small boats,
like a hundred feet of black polypropylene to trail aft. I have also
been know to look up the registration and then locate the owner and go
see him with a badge conspicuously hidden and the back strap of the
holster in plain view. I don't worry about where I carry. I have been
licensed to carry for many years and know all about the laws.

Unfortunately, as said in a prior note, all you need to get out on the
water with too much horsepower is a credit rating. Until that changes,
the situation won't change.

It is a shame, there have been many days that I would have taken my
grandchildren out in my day boat, but the weather was just too nice and
therefore dangerous.

Situations like Clear Lake don't help at all.

Thank you for your interest.

Matt Colie