Thanks for the intelligent response zboss. If you would read and comprehend the
Boat US document then you will understand the
current law. I did, and I have been visited over 19 times cruising from the Manatee River through
Sarasota county and in Venice by the special bureau of
marine military taser ops units, the Manatee County Environmental
Ranger guy, the Anna Maria Island Lifeguard undercover agents and other special police civilian operations intravenous drug users. Sure you are free to anchor where you like for as long as you like, just as it was meant to be. It is just sad what is happening, the bottom line is that no one has a
legal right to interfere with
navigation, period. Not that the Constitution means anything at all these days. The other side of the coin is a plethora of idiots who will anchor a 30' boat with a clothesline and a mushroom anchor, who live in the same place for 14 years selling Oxycodone never once pumping out, who don't check on their boat for years and finally decide that it isn't a lifestyle they actually wanted, who anchor out
power boats that can easily be trailered away just because they know the laws and can indeed store their boat indefinitely and which, btw, is a sinking unregistered POS anyways (which really makes you wonder) and the list goes on and on. There is a giant clown element on both sides of the issue and good responsible mariners are paying the
price with their freedoms. I have started a video documentary which is a comically dark and tragic essay of my own personal experiences navigating the
west coast of Florida. Whoever you are, you will understand that you have no rights or expectation of privacy when you approach my vessel. Here is one episode: 4th visit by
Marine Unit Officer: "your vessel is a derelict" me: "ummmm not sure I understand, can you tell me more about how or why my vessel is derelict" "well it is not navigable" "well, that is
funny I just motored in here recently after sailing around in the GOM" "you have failed to display your sails"
"failed to display my
sails????, what are you talking about?, do you think I am going to leave my
sails out in the UV so that you know that my vessel is navigable?" long stare session here "can you inform me on the law here sir, do I have to display my sails?" at this point the Officer is visibly agitated as he silently evaluates me, I am now officially uppity. And even more injurious is the fact that this guy just stepped off his Wisconsin lake Pontoon boat and got a job with his mail order law enforcement diploma, employed by the city manager to "get out there and do something about these sailboat bums" We are not concerned with the vagaries of the law here in Nutbush.