Author Topic: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others  (Read 6661 times)

andygere

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I just received the following letter from the Port Director in Santa Cruz:

 
Quote
 Subject: USCG PROPOSING TO REMOVE MILE BUOY

 Attention Santa Cruz Boaters:

The United States Coast Guard is proposing to remove the Mile Buoy and replace it with a mark on the chart. There would no longer be any buoy or other permanent marker in the waters along the Santa Cruz coastline.

The Coast Guard distributed a Local Notice to Mariners describing the proposed removal (see page 2 of the notice). They are requesting comments from all interested parties by Thursday, November 28, 2013.

Comments may be directed to Lt. Melissa Smith at (510) 437-5984 or via email at Melissa.A.Smith@uscg.mil

The Coast Guard is particularly interested in any rationale relating to why the buoy is necessary for safe navigation in spite of the current availability and affordability of electronic navigation equipment (e.g. GPS).

Sincerely,


Lisa Ekers, PE
Port Director

The local Notice to Mariners mentioned in the letter above can be found at this link on page 8 http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm11462013.pdf  The notice indicates plans to remove many other important navigational aids, take a look and see if the one you use is in jeopardy.

The Santa Cruz Lighted Whistle Buoy SC (know locally as the mile buoy) is the only navigation aid outside of the harbor jetties, and it's an important visual and audible marker for all small boaters, but especially for SUP paddlers and others without electronic navigational instruments such as GPS.  SUP paddlers rely on the sight and sound of this navigational aid to safely return to the harbor, identify the boundary of the outer waters of Monterey Bay, to mark distance during downwind runs and as a safe rendezvous point during group paddles. To me, it's insane that the Coast Guard would consider removing such an important tool for safe boating. I can not imagine that the cost of maintaining the buoy is terribly high, and since it's the only one for over 60 miles of coastline, it seems a strange way to try to shore up the operating budget. My guess is that one rescue mission for a lost paddler would eat up many years of maintenance cost savings.

If you are a Monterey Bay paddler, or if you ever use the Santa Cruz Harbor, please take a minute to make a call or send an e-mail to Lt. Smith at the number and address noted above. Even if you are not from the area, please consider a general letter against removal of visual and audible nav aids. They serve all paddlers and boaters, and if this trend catches on, your buoy may be next. Thanks in advance!

SCruzSUPr

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2013, 05:33:51 PM »
Done.  We never venture that far out, but I can see the practicality of having a physical buoy there.... 

Who knows, I may expand my surfing and kelp farming repertoire and get into DW and touring at some point in time....



10' x 32"        Bill Foote  Triton
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11'2" x 32"     Bill Foote 'Geezer Sled'

andygere

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2013, 08:33:40 PM »
Thanks SCruzSUPr

southwesterly

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2013, 11:22:42 PM »
Without the mile buoy, how would we know when to turn?

supthecreek

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2013, 04:22:28 AM »
Wow Andy... thanks for the heads up.... that doesn't make much sense. I wonder if they are doing it all over the country, or just a California thing.

It's amazing what the government will do to save money... and what they WON'T do to save money. :(

Be careful though.... they can solve the problem by simply requiring all vessels (SUPs included) to be equipped with GPS.

Andy is right.... it is coming to a harbor near YOU.
Took a bit of searching, but here are just a few:

U.S. Coast Guard is proposing to discontinue the following:
-Estero Bay Gong Buoy 18
-Fort Ross Bell Buoy 32
-Glorietta Bay Channel Buoy 3
-Lake Tahoe Buoys K, L, M, and N
-Punta Gorda Lighted Whistle Buoy 38
-Suisun Bay Buoy's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8
-Santa Barbara Island Light (2675)
-Santa Catalina Island West End Light (2670)
-Ship Rock Light (2635)
-Catalina Harbor Light (2630)
-Long Point Light (2625)
-Santa Catalina Island East End Light (2605)
-San Nicolas Island East End Light (2590)
-Ano Nuevo Island Lighted Whistle Buoy 24 (LLNR 315)
-Santa Cruz Lighted Whistle Buoy SC (LLNR 4080)
-Moss Landing Harbor Entrance LBB MLA (LLNR 3990)
-Pillar Point Harbor Approach Lighted Buoy PP (LLNR 330)

 Direct any questions, comments, or feedback no later than 16 Dec 13 to LT Melissa Smith at 510-437-5984 or Melissa.A.Smith@uscg.mil.


TRINIDAD- Changes may be coming to Trinidad Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard is looking to remove three buoys from the water.
 
Buoys are used as locaters for mariners, but with the invention of GPS, are they still a useful tool when navigating? That’s what the Coast Guard is working to identify.
 
Buoys are serviced every year and according to the Coast Guard it can cost up to $6,400 dollars an hour to operate the buoy tender that services the navigation system. Curtis Barthel, the Assistant Surface Operation Officer said, "a lot of these aids were put in long before we had the advances in navigation systems, the GPS, the chart plotters, electronic navigation, auto pilots. You know to a certain point they almost get forgotten about, and now we are just evaluating and saying hey is this cost benefit worth it to keep this buoy in the water?"

Yeah... if I was a sailor with an electrical problem, I wouldn't need those buoys at all :-\

I went from New England to The Bahama's and back, using paper charts and a clock ONLY.... time & distance.
I didn't want to RELY on electronic navigational aids... if they go down.... you have no way of knowing where you are, unless you constantly plot your course on a physical chart.

Physical navigational aids will never be obsolete. I always tried to verify my location by locating a buoy.... especially in the fog or at night. They were comforting as well as helpful.


surfinJ

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2013, 05:54:33 AM »
Sadly to say probably unstoppable.

Navigational beacons for aviation are being decommissioned as well.
Said to be obsolete and not worth the cost to mantain, the change effects
only a small group of pilots.  Probably some bush pilots in Alaska have
some similar concerns at the moment.  A small, battery backed up GPS
is what seems to be the future.

andygere

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2013, 10:24:26 AM »
To find out what's planned in your area, Google "Local Notice to Mariners District #" with the Coast Guard District number for your region in the search text.   Here's the notice for Distrct 1, which covers the Northeast.

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm01462013.pdf  Nav Aid changes are start on page 13.

I don't think its a foregone conclusion, especially when we are talking about simple buoys, where the cost of operation is very low.

andygere

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pdxmike

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2013, 08:53:12 PM »
I have no stake and no real opinion about the buoy, but I do find it ironic and incredible that the same agency that's so willing to assume they can take out a safety device because everyone on the water has electronic navigation devices is the same one that makes it a crime for anyone on a SUP to venture even a few feet into a lake or river without a pfd. 

The Coast Guard quoted in the article:

"It does kind of make (the buoy) excess and redundant," Smith said. "It's nice to have it as a great reference spot, yes, but is it really necessary for safety on the water?"


On the one hand, they assume every vessel on the water has a unfailable gps, although not legally required, and knows how to use it; on the other they assume no person on a SUP is EVER capable of using their own judgement in regard to whether they need a pfd.

Only problem with this argument is that I could see the Coast Guard removing the buoy and then requiring all small boats and SUPs to carry electronic navigation devices.

paddlebuilder

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2013, 10:42:44 PM »
I thought I would post this....http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131022_nauticalcharts.html
It doesn't relate specifically to this thread topic but does generally.  We live in a digital world that I both love and hate at the same time.  But I'm fascinated by traditional navigation, rusty buoys and stained old chart included.

andygere

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2013, 11:07:12 AM »
Yeah, it's a little ironic that the Coast Guard wants to remove navigation aids and replace them with marks on the chart at the same time NOAA is eliminating paper charts.  The combined action between the agencies seems to say that if you don't have a GPS chart plotter with a recently updated base map you are out of luck.  Before I had kids, my wife and I did a 10-day kayak tour in the San Juan Islands.  We packed our gear, food, current tables, charts, compass and we went.  Navigation was by map and compass, and for each crossing, we set our bearings, estimated time and current drift, and used visual aids, including buoys, to confirm our location.  We used paper charts printed by NOAA, and navigated with buoys and lights maintained by the Coast Guard.  Elimination of both of these programs not only makes navigation in human powered craft much more difficult, it slowly takes away the skills of navigating by map and compass, and increases our reliability on electronic instrumentation to get around safely.  What's next, highway signs?  Doesn't everybody have a GPS in their smart phone?

all~wet

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2013, 11:14:07 AM »
Even w/ electronic nav/gps/radar etc., markers and buoys are a great tool... straight out of CG literature, good navigation preaches not piloting ones head buried into a screen, but using confirming aids to navigation and landmarks with ones eyes first if at all possible.

Makes very little sense. Countries w/ much fewer resources than ours manage to maintain lights and buoys. At the risk of being overly dramatic, I can't help but think that with our degrading infrastructure and twisted priorities, we are slowly devolving into a 3rd world country.

paddlebuilder

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2013, 02:55:53 PM »
we are slowly devolving into a 3rd world country.

Yep!  And I just have a dumb phone...guess I'm hosed when the road signs go.....

Roundhouse

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2013, 08:16:17 AM »
We lost our 120 mile weather buoy because it broke loose from its 3000 ft. mooring. NASA always paid for it to support Shuttle but now there is no money to put it back in place. I can't even find where they recovered it. Eventually the 20 mile buoy will break loose (they always do) and we will be dependent on Surf Forecasts that will be less accurate. Smaller Federal Government is here.
Naish Nalu, Mana, Glide & Cannibal Assassin

RyanSurfNTurf

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Re: Coast Guard proposes removal of Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and many others
« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2013, 10:32:29 PM »
Couldn't we just privatize these buoys???  Buy them from the CC and Surfline, et al, could send the data?

Not trying to tea party the issue, just wondering if it could work.

 


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