Ticket for no whistle in dinghy??

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by Chotu

So what would I use a whistle for in communication while maneuvering?

I have a 100 ton master with sailing endorsement. I’m a little rusty, but I don’t recall any section where I’d be in an 8’ inflatable raft communicating passing agreements with other vessel traffic while puttering 1/8 mile over to a ding dock from my boat.

Further, if passing agreements are what I’m supposed to be communicating, a VHF is the normal and accepted way to do it. Bridge to bridge. The super tanker I cross paths with on the way to the dinghy dock probably would not see me or hear my whistle. Ha ha.

Or... is that to blast off 1 long and 3 shorts to indicate I’m leaving the dinghy dock under astern propulsion ?

I wish I was a resident of that town, since I’d start doing just that. The cop boat shares the dinghy dock. I’m sure they’d enjoy the proper sound signals coming from my dinghy as I leave the dock.

Effing ridiculous in this situation, but that's the reasoning...

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by Chotu

So what would I use a whistle for in communication while maneuvering?

I have a 100 ton master with sailing endorsement. I’m a little rusty, but I don’t recall any section where I’d be in an 8’ inflatable raft communicating passing agreements with other vessel traffic while puttering 1/8 mile over to a ding dock from my boat.

Further, if passing agreements are what I’m supposed to be communicating, a VHF is the normal and accepted way to do it. Bridge to bridge. The super tanker I cross paths with on the way to the dinghy dock probably would not see me or hear my whistle. Ha ha.

Or... is that to blast off 1 long and 3 shorts to indicate I’m leaving the dinghy dock under astern propulsion ?

I wish I was a resident of that town, since I’d start doing just that. The cop boat shares the dinghy dock. I’m sure they’d enjoy the proper sound signals coming from my dinghy as I leave the dock.

Again, you have to draw the line somewhere. Should we have the current law which has some pretty clear demarcations of "boat >x needs this and <x needs that" or do we need pages of "As long as you're puttering less than x miles to a dingy dock you need this, but if you're ....." I'm guessing if they actually wrote the laws to encompass every possible permutation you'd be the first to complain about overly complex, incomprehensible laws (I would be). You either get completely fair and reasonable and massive and incomprehensible or you get simple but requires you to do a few things that require little to no effort and cost on your part even if they don't make sense in every case. I prefer the latter, but then that comes from actual experience struggling with formulating these things. Much easier to throw stones from outside where you don't actually have to come up with solutions that satisfy all the stakeholders.

[peghall]

Sounds like a cop with an advanced case of Barney Fife syndrome and too few opportunities to exercise it.


--Peggie

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by dannc

The GFC, the predecessor to the FWC, had under cover operations and unmarked vehicles back in the 80's. Likely had it prior to the 80's.

The GFC were state law enforcement officers and that did not change with the merger that formed the FWC. As wildlife officers, they have state wide jurisdiction and enforce all laws of the state of Florida. They have had that responsibility/duty/power for many, many decades.

Later,
Dan

That is true of all Game Wardens in I believe any State, Ga for instance and yet you won’t see them downtown handing out speeding tickets.

Never seen or heard of an undercover Game Warden, you go undercover for one reason, and that’s to increase ticket counts, it’s not to prevent wrongdoing, you do that by being out in plain sight, you go undercover to boost your revenue and or are out to prove you need even more officers and boats etc.

The whole increase in LEO’s got crazy after 911, All kinds of new agencies and more levels of Cops with god knows how much money being spent on every little single airport being fenced with gates etc. and hiring of airport cops and giving them Humvee’s to patrol the fence, etc etc.
Been a few years ago when was at Oshkosh where the CBP was showing off one of their new fleets of Reaper drones. What do they need with those? Where can they even fly them? Unmanned aerial vehicles are prohibited from the National Aerospace as they cannot see and avoid, etc, etc.
We are over policed, there is just no need for all these numbers of Cops flying around burning 80 to 100 GPH in high powered speed boats. Those boats cost way over $100,000 ea I’m sure, huge waste of taxpayer money.

Yeah, the CBP needs a fleet of Reapers.
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/fi...tor-b-2015.pdf
Only about $20 million a piece but that’s without ground stations etc, so at least double that. Actually Time Magazine says over 100 million per airframe, but I’d expect their number be inflated

[MicHughV]

true, boarded by the USCG is one thing...but I've also been boarded by the Custom and Border Patrol folks....a different thing altogether....
they came at me from nowhere on a dark night...all of a sudden I have a gazillion candlepower spotlight trained on me to the point where I couldn't see diddly squat...
They didn't ask to come aboard, just pulled alongside in their blackened quad powered go-fast... and jumped on....armed to the gills...with additional guys in the boat armed with what looked to me like machine guns...I didn't know what to make of it all.....
they proceeded to invade my boat looking everywhere...what they were looking for, who knows...drugs..illegal immigrants....no idea...I was at the wheel at the time, my girlfriend of the time, was below, scared the living crap out of her...
off course, they didn't find anything, and just like that, without so much as a thank you, they were gone again...
never experienced anything like it before or since...

[two-rocks]

Got stopped once, usually for many years I never even registerd the thing. Anyway.

My upper-teens daughter was driving and my wife and I were sitting low with our feet to port and heads on the starboard kind of way. Maybe thought we were kids. We had no paperwork, no anchor, no anything but 3 cheap PFd’s. No citation.

The best part is we were in a no wake zone and almost got tossed out when they approached. They ignored the wake.

[Bruce K]

A few years ago, I was inspected by a NSW Maritime BSO (Boating Services Officer) in my dinghy, with 16y daughter, when asked about whistle or other sound making device, said daughter put two fingers in mouth and whistled so loudly the BSO covered both ears with his hands, and staggered about on his boat, (I fell to floor of dinghy). Luckily I also had a pathetic plastic whistle attached to PFD. We passed inspection. Never been approached by the same BSO again!!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

Us American's love our stupid petty little rules. It's what adds charm to the gilded cages we build for ourselves.

Wow, five pages of comments already. This obviously hits a nerve -- which speaks volumes.

Speaking of rules, and enforcement, I've visited the USA many times over the years, but it wasn't till I spent nearly six months traveling through 17 States that I realized just how ever-present the police and military presence really is. It felt like everywhere I went there was some level of police or security presence. And many seemed to have overlapping jurisdictions.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

It felt like everywhere I went there was some level of police or security presence. And many seemed to have overlapping jurisdictions.

And most of them now seem to be dressed and equipped as though they were military operating outside the wire in a hot combat zone

[a64pilot]

Mike I don’t think you say Military, Military looking Cops yes, far too many of them as it’s just not necessary, but Military is very strictly forbidden to serve as cops, it’s called Posse Comitatus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
National Guard etc are State Forces not Federal and you May see National Guard called out to act as Police after a Hurricane etc, but you will never see Federal Forces, if you do, then something has gone very wrong.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by StuM

And most of them now seem to be dressed and equipped as though they were military operating outside the wire in a hot combat zone

So true. And true here in Canada as well, especially in our larger centers.

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Mike I don’t think you say Military, Military looking Cops yes, far too many of them as it’s just not necessary, but Military is very strictly forbidden to serve as cops,

Yes, I shouldn't imply I observed military members acting as police. It's just that there seemed to be a lot of military bases and installations along my journey. It was probably skewed based on my route. I traveled the west coast to California, then went through the deserts to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and then back up through a lot of those middle states.

[Jammer]

I have never read a report of an accident or close call involving small boats that could have been prevented by the boats involved possessing a whistle.


I have never heard a report of someone successfully using a whistle on a small boat to prevent an accident that could not have been prevented any other way.


While I have never been ticketed I am at the point where I am ready to accept that a certain number of citations for chickens*** violations are part of the cost of being on the water.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I spent nearly six months traveling through 17 States that I realized just how ever-present the police and military presence really is. It felt like everywhere I went there was some level of police or security presence. And many seemed to have overlapping jurisdictions.

Military??? I'm curious - When you say military, are you referring to the USCG? If so, it is not a military branch per se - except in time of war. Normally the USCG is under the Dept of Homeland Security and has maritime law enforcement duties. And yes there can be overlap. Here in Wisconsin, on Lakes Michigan and Superior, Sheriff's, Dept of Natural Resources, and USCG can and do carry out, boat safety checks and can issue citations for boating violations.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by garyfdl

Military??? I'm curious - When you say military, are you referring to the USCG? If so, it is not a military branch per se - except in time of war. Normally the USCG is under the Dept of Homeland Security and has maritime law enforcement duties. And yes there can be overlap. Here in Wisconsin, on Lakes Michigan and Superior, Sheriff's, Dept of Natural Resources, and USCG can and do carry out, boat safety checks and can issue citations for boating violations.

No... military bases. Military signage. Towns celebrating military connections. Banners, posters, pictures of fallen soldiers. Military vehicles on the highways, on the streets. Vehicles, planes, and yes along the coast, ships. It just felt like a common, if not constant, presence.

As a Canadian I'm probably under-exposed to this sort of thing. After all, we're not know for having a large military. It just felt weird seeing all the military paraphernalia.

But this is a minor side line to the real point, which is that there seemed to be a lot of police presence -- much more than military.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I have never read a report of an accident or close call involving small boats that could have been prevented by the boats involved possessing a whistle.

No, blowing the whistle is the cue for people to look at you, and pull out their phones, so that if/when the accident happens, there will be more witnesses. And then we get better videos on youtoob.