Boarding a Boat in a Marina w/o Owner

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by detav007

I have helped many people out in my life, sometimes at both legal and physical risk. It's just the right thing to do...

Indeed!

[PAR]

It seems many on this thread live in a lot more fear then I do. I've found that hassle, litigation, etc. is the rare exception, not the expectation. Much more often then not, people do hand back an over charge at the cash register to the clerk. Folks do stop and change flat tires for an old couple stranded on the side of the road and fellow live aboards know full well what's going on around their boat and marina. If something is amiss and threatening someone, something, maybe even your stuff, then it's handled. It a matter of course, righteousness and just plain common sense. The wise man may not mention it unless asked, in today's environment.

I don't think closing hatches is proper, let them learn the same way the rest of us have, but a running generator in an unattended boat, well this is a judgment call and likely based on what you know (or don't) about the owner and their boat.

In the end, most do what is right and don't bother with folks that have issue with this. Nor do these people let this sort of thing bother them personally. One of the most common threads among live aboards is self reliance. It naturally applies to personal attitude and your surrounding as well.

When I first sailed into Marco Island (before it was a city) I promptly ran hard up on the bar just before the Jolly bridge. The tide was on it's way to the gulf and I was screwed. I prepped her for the wait and she eventually flopped over on her flanks, anticipating the tide's return. Slack was near sundown and pretty sky was behind me, when I noticed a guy with a camera on the bridge. I figured he was after the lovely sunset. Nope, the following morning I'd floated off, cleaned up and found a berth to lick my wounds and while getting a coffee at a near by restaurant, I found the cover of the days local paper. Sure enough, caption read, "Forlorn Sailor Awaits Tide". I wasn't forlorn, though I taken on some damage I wasn't tickled about and I missed a hot meal at supper time, I was in fairly good spirits with only minor issues to contend with. I enjoyed the stay on the bar, mostly being buried in inventing stop gap measures to fend off the inevitable beating I would endure in just a few hours. Ever notice how long a tide takes when your waiting outside to make a run through a pass, but how short they are when your lieing at 50 degrees on a bar and "you're not ready yet!"

This is the mark of live aboards and most sailors. There's stuff that has to be done, politically correct, polite or not, it still has to be done. We get over it and move onto the next set of problems we have to tackle.