Ever been boarded in open ocean?

[captjohn360]

i was boarded in the bahamas and they damaged my boat.they filed a damage report and paid for the repairs took 3 weeks for a cheque if you treat with respect you get respect. the coastguard has a hard and dangerous job .when your in trouble they do there damdest to help....jt

[Connemara]

why would you drop sails? Heaving to slows you to a crawl (in my case less than half a knot) and keeps the boat relatively steady in a seaway. Surely any official folks would have no trouble boarding a hove-to boat.

Connemara

[Weyalan]

Not all boats heave to as well as others. Yours might be steady, mine, for example, definitely wouldn't be.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Trim50

... We were boarded by a bunch of 18 year olds with guns.
When I went to help them on board they yeld at me to stand off. I yeld back at them that I didn't give a damn about them and that I was trying to protect my new paint from their stupid inflatable...

It doesn’t seem prudent to me, to take an aggressive attitude, and yell at 18 y/olds with guns.
One might be better off taking care to appear non-threatening & compliant.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Trim50

to ultimately site me for not having a posted trash disposal plan.

Different worlds...........

[Therapy]

What about using your own fenders?

[Holding Pattern]

We just took a tour of Oak Island, NC CG station and according to them (which is BS) they will not board unless it is for a law enforcement operation...they deny doing safety checks.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Holding Pattern

We just took a tour of Oak Island, NC CG station and according to them (which is BS) they will not board unless it is for a law enforcement operation...they deny doing safety checks.

I get boarded once a year for "safety checks" - their term, not mine. Often while at anchor. They will come in and go from boat to boat doing this. Sometimes multiple times each year - ignoring the yellow form I was given to prevent multiple searches. Some are nice, but some are downright nasty, arrogant and rude.

Pisses me off. If they want to do training exercises, ask for volunteers - there will be quite a few, including me at times, who will help out. And don't hand out fines for stupid things like improperly placed stickers, etc. Never understood why they have the right to board without even a pretense of having cause.

I live at the base of the coast guard academy and at certain times of the year the hassle is so great that many boats simply stay in harbor when the CG goons are swarming about.

And I have never seen the CG pull over any of the yahoos actually operating their boats illegally or unsafely each weekend.

There was a time when I respected them and their job, but things have certainly changed with homeland insecurity.

Sorry about the rant...

Mark

[FrankZ]

A couple weeks ago while listening to the VHF there was a idiot that was calling out for a radio check on 16. The CG came on and explained, quite firmly, that 16 was not to be sued for radio checks. About 10 minutes later there was a boat hailed and when the boat answered it was the same guy. He was told to expect a CG visit within the next couple of minutes. He did sound just a slight tad drunk.

It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall for that I think.

[swagman]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

What are the legal issues if your boat is damaged during a boarding.

Scenario: You have a new paintjob with non-repairable Awlgrip. Whilst boarding a 5ft scratch is made down the boarding side. Since both boats are underway, who is responsible for the damage?

Why assume Awlgrip is non repairable?

I've recently seen quite large painted areas resprayed - and you'd not have noticed the repair had even been done. And that was not in a high tech location. Antigua.

But sorry - don't know who picks up the tab if damage is caused during an offical boarding.

JOHN

[Pblais]

But sorry - don't know who picks up the tab if damage is caused during an offical boarding.

You file a complaint and get in line. The bureaucratic process injects enough delay that you eventually give up or have to leave. Since you don't show up at the hearing the claim is dismissed. All properly documented and handled.

You just go through the paper work and hope for the best. You can file complaints about anything. Sometimes it makes a difference. They don't make you sign a waiver before they board but they don't carry checkbooks either. Theoretical scenarios are just scenario's where you can write your own ending. What if the police car runs over your dog? Lots of scenarios you can come up with.

We were boarded in rough weather but the boat was a small rubber boat that held only 3 people. Two boarded easily and the third kept our speed along side with the automatic weapon at the ready. The real peril was all theirs not ours. I wouldn't think jumping boat to boat with any type of rough weather.

[Trim50]

Originally Posted by GordMay

It doesn’t seem prudent to me, to take an aggressive attitude, and yell at 18 y/olds with guns.
One might be better off taking care to appear non-threatening & compliant.

Gord, picture yourself with new $10,000 paint job less than two days old having a boarding party of 18yo tell you to "Stand-off" as they approach your boat at 15 knots. Sorry man..you will not be able to appear compliant.

I certainly didn't take any aggressive attitude, I simply made it clear that I have a new paint job and I was trying to fend-off their rapidly approaching inflatable. If you had been there you would have thought they were a Navy Seal team rushing an Iranian gun boat. It was totally unnecessary.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

If you let them know your concerns before hand, they will comply concerning damage to your boat..
Been boarded a dozen times and I always welcome them aboard and then tell them as they are comming up next to me, this is a glass hull and dont wreck it, they'll through out a few fenders and watch what they're doing.
Comming up the river from San Francisco, I past "Port Chicago" and not only were the coast guard out there, but the federal police in boats flashing blue lights.
One of the boats hailed me on the radio and instructed me to move to the north channel as I was infringing on a safe zone while they were loading a ship.

I replyed that The north channel didnt have enough water depth acording to the charts and If I was being forced to move to the other channel, someone was going to have to take responsibility for my boat, a documented vessel.

After a minute of pause, a deeper voice came on the radio,(I suspect a superior officer) and told me to hold my corse through the restricted area and they would escort me...
Didnt have my camara but it was a sight to see TWO armed boats with me as I sailed past with all my sheets up.......

I was stopped and questioned a couple times there a few years back as well.

That's when they were removing the last of the conventional weapons and nuclear weapons from the Concord Naval Weapons Station. They did indeed have great concern at that time. They did and still do have temporary buoys along the north edge of the channel where the water is deep enough except for ships. Its in Notice to Mariners that boats are supposed to transit along this channel...still.

If you are concerned about your hull paint then ask the Coasties on the radio before they board to be very cautious with your hull paint. Its always been my experience that the Coasties are cautious with the hull paint when boarding.

[David M]

Originally Posted by swagman

Why assume Awlgrip is non repairable?

I've recently seen quite large painted areas resprayed - and you'd not have noticed the repair had even been done. And that was not in a high tech location. Antigua.

But sorry - don't know who picks up the tab if damage is caused during an offical boarding.

JOHN

I think what Pelagic means, and it is true, that you cannot just brush out or buff scratches out of Awlgrip. It must be resprayed to make it look good as new again...and you cant just patch spray it either, you must do the entire side of the hull.

[Pelagic]

There was a little known incident in San Francisco a few years back where a Super yacht was damaged by a boarding despite the captains repeated request that it was unsafe to come alongside for a transfer. Damages were done, both cosmetic and structural to the yacht’s bulwarks.

The owner of the yacht (reportedly a retired US Secretary to the Treasury) rightfully sued the coast guard for costly damages.

How do I know this? ….I arrived about a month later and the Coast Guard commander was enforcing SOLAS type inspections on every super yacht as a form of punishment. It became an international incident as under worldwide conventions, the US Coast Guard does not have that right.

I found them very petulant to deal with.

BTW cross thatched Polyurethane (Awlgrip) is not a buffable paint so if you do a patch repair and buff out the tape lines it voids any warranty for gloss retention. Note: a 50m yacht’s complete paint job will be about USD900k so warranties are important!