Next message: Henry Wing: "lv-ab: Interactions with Law Enforcement Officers"
looked like a homeland security exercise.
Last January I was beginning the move of my new boat from Corpus
Christi to Maine via Mexico and went down the GICW to Port Mansfield. I did
see a marked Homeland Security boat with 4 men dressed for the part(lots of
black, thick soled boots and of course a lot of guns) and quite full of
themselves.
About 200 miles out in the Gulf we had a catastrophic hull failure
which necessitated setting off the EPIRB. One of the crew was retired CG
working under contract out of the New Orleans office and had brought along a
sat phone which he used to call the office. About 45 minutes later a Falcon
jet overflew us and we communicated with him via ship's radio. We indicated
the situation was stable and as long as the weather held we could manage
however there was a strong front forecast to move through the area in the
next day or so. He said we were too far out for helicopter rescue so the
Mexican navy would be out to get us. Well about 8 hrs later a Greek tanker
hailed us and asked if we still required help. Of course we told him of the
plans at which point he decided to contact the CG to verify. The Mexicans
did not bother to get underway as it was too far for them so we ended up
having to abandon ship and took a ride back to Houston on the tanker. The
real pisser about this is not only did we not have any further coms with the
CG but the jet had taken video when he overflew us and it was released to
the local news chanel that in turn lead off with the story on the 6 pm news.
The story was that the CG had dispatched a cutter which had picked us up in
a daring rescue and was enroute back to CC. The cutter in question could not
have left port as the reduction gears were apart. Once back at work the crew
member asked what happened and the backup plan had the tanker not picked us
up was to send a C130 out of Florida that evening and drop us a
liferaft(already had one)and flashlights(had them too).The evening of the
rescue the tanker passed through the front and encountered 10'-12' seas and
40-50 kt winds. The boat was never found.
I could not believe what passed for "homeland security" in Houston
where 60% of the country's refining capacity is located. During the 4+ hr
passage in the ship channel all I saw was a 44' CG boat and 2 Avons with 50
cal machine guns. The 2 Avons followed us in until it was noon and a Marina
appeared on our stbd side at which point both boats turned off and went for
lunch!
I guess the point in all of this is that there is no uniformity
between CG districts and homeland security is just another layer of gov't
sucking up tax dollars that we could use in the cruising kitty. Between
overzealous enforcement, increases in insurance and high dockage fees it has
almost sucked the life out of boating for the middle class - also a
vanishing species.
Boatless Bob
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