Author Topic: Do you have to obey a state park ranger, lifeguard or a Coast Guard officer?  (Read 5355 times)

Badger

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If you see a boat marked "Coast Guard Auxiliary", you can completely ignore them.

They will often pretend like they are the Coast Guard but they have no more power than any other boater.  They are usually made up of volunteers with very little on water experience.

The Coast Guard symbol on their boats makes them feel big.

They've tried to stop me from doing things a few times. At first I thought they were actually part of the Coast Guard so I did what they told me. Now I'm wise to them and I just tell them to beat it.

This is really bad advice.  Although the CG Auxiliary are not law enforcement officers, they are often on patrol in direct support of Coast Guard missions and if you blow them off, they will call the real Coast Guard to enforce the law.

Yes, if you are breaking the law, they may call it in as could any private citizen.

Each time the auxiliary spoke with me, I hadn't broken any laws.

Once I was sailing my boat in a cove where the chart showed rocks. The CG auxiliary people ordered me three times on their loud speaker not to enter the cove. They were so ignorant of the area and our tides that that they didn't understand that there was plenty of water there at high tide. I finally just gave up and left. I should have just flipped them off.

Another time I was anchored in another cove sitting inside my boat. I heard a loud blast of a horn. It was the CG auxiliary boat. They had snuck up quietly and were right along side. They said a boat was reported overturned and they were investigating. They proceeded to ask me a long list of questions, many irrelevant like how much is my boat worth. Then the guy in charge arrogantly told me I couldn't spend the night there because it was a very shallow area and I might end up high and dry. I told him it was low tide, I was in eight feet of water and I only draw three feet. The dope was clueless. I didn't have to talk to them. I should have told them to take a hike.

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Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

 


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