Stepped-Up Security on Hudson Angers Boaters

Seems the "law officer" quoted needs some boating help himself. One does not need to carry flares on a boat.
 
The law enforcement on the little 6,000 acre lake I boat on has gotten ridiculous. I was stopped while idling out of a cove last week. They are basically stopping everybody.
I lean toward "leave me the hell alone unless I'm doing something wrong" mentality.
 
Sounds like tons of Homeland Security tax bucks being well spent. Every jurisdiction in the area probably got a bunch money and now they get to go play on the water. Excuse me, do high priorty security checks.
 
Four Suns said:
One does not need to carry flares on a boat.
Click to expand...
Wrong, unless they're carrying an orange distress flag for daytime use and an electric distress light for night use. Here's a linky to the USCG Regs: http://www.boatingsafety.com/boats/cgvisuals.htm


Visual Distress Signals


All vessels used on coastal waters, the Great Lakes, territorial seas, and those waters connected directly to them, up to a point where a body of water is less than two miles wide, must be equipped with U.S.C.G. Approved visual distress signals. Vessels owned in the United States operating on the high seas must be equipped with U.S.C.G. Approved visual distress signals. The following vessels are not required to carry day signals but must carry night signals when operating from sunset to sunrise:
  • Recreational boats less than 16 feet in length.
  • Boats participating in organized events such as races, regattas, or marine parades.
  • Open sailboats less than 26 feet in length not equipped with propulsion machinery.
  • Manually propelled boats.
We face the same increased patrols on the rivers here. We have three counties (total of 6 boats) plus Fish & Game and USCG. They don't seem to bother the bigger boats, just the smaller ones.

I had one of the sheriff's deputies give me a safety equipment inspection a couple of weeks ago. They said it was the first documented vessel they had checked, and I had to clarify a few things for them on the equipment requirements for bigger boats. As an example they thought the white stern nav light had to be at the highest point on the boat. Nope. It has to be clearly visible from astern, but not at the highest point. They also didn't know about the requirement for the Documentation Number to be somewhere on the inside of the hull. They had not heard of that requirement. The inspection went well, I got my sticker so now I'm a happy camper.....err, boater.

GFC
 
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How am I wrong? There is no mandate or requirement to carry pyrotechnics/flares. The orange flag alone will get you past a USCGA safety inspection... There is no mandate to carry night signals (essentially a flashlight) if you are not out at night which is why I think they are a joke for the most part. I'm sure being 20 miles off shore that flag is really helpful.

Actually, are you even allowed to have a flare gun in and around NYC? I thought they were illegal there.

We had this discussion a few years ago with people pounding on the table that flares are required. Night time distress signals are only required if you are out at night (the article didn't say that) and they don't have to be pyrotechnics. It can be a cheap light with 4 candle power that blinks ...---... If you don't go out at night, you just need the silly little flag... that most people don't even know what it means.

Here ya go:

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=72508&pdesc=Orion_USCG_Approved_Distress_Flag

7 bucks... and you pass your safety inspection. Assuming you have your Trash Disposal Plan though.
 
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A year ago I hit something submerged and trashed my outdrive on the 21' Monaco. This was on "Chain of Lakes" in northern IL. Got out the distress flag. Waved it for almost 1 hour before someone would stop. Had many people go by and look at me but none stopped at all. Had a fisherman come straight at me to within 100 yards before turning to start trolling. Really upset me the level of incompetence of the people on the water.
 
What the actual rules or requirements will be very different than what is written. This is true world wide, not just at home, more monitoring/enforcement results in more power for those doing the monitoring.

So if an enforcement officer wants people in their area to carry flares, I'd suggest flares.

Are they needed? Well we have one example posted suggesting they, or maybe a radio, is required. Legally in a court of law it could be very different, but increasingly that means less and less in the real world.

I cross borders often and everything is on the line with every interaction. Very frustrating when each border guard gets to make up the rules but that comes with the path chosen by those in power.

What other practical choice is there but to carry flares or whatever the local enforcement demands?

Other than to very tactfully point out the obvious contradictory demands, sometimes that works, sometimes not.
 
The Hudson River is insane. Not only do you have the USCG, you have NYPD, Homeland, Fire, Aux CG, DEP, Harbor Master. Then you also have like 90 little town water police, both NJ and NY. They'll all stop you and they'll all have their version of the law. One will write you a ticket for not having a flare, 5 min later you'll go to jail for having a flare gun. One state requires a boating license, the other doesn't. Each town has different laws, some will even measure the distance you are from a beach... If you're fishing, then you can add another 4 or 5 agencies to your boating nightmare. If you're fishing on the south shore of LI, you better also have a license for the LI sound if you cruise through it with your catch. If you're cruising up the Hudson, you'll also need an inland fishing license but no one seems to know at what point that is.
 
I would question if the peace and security people feel is really worth the cost but I do know that when it comes to fishing for me it is not.

We are careful to never appear to be fishing, attempting to purchase fish, or otherwise draw the attention of those many enforcement agencies. We have been boarded often enough, both on inland waters and offshore, that no matter how much we might like to fish while cruising it isn't worth it to us.

As pointed out some areas require multiple licenses, have over lapping regulations and agencies, each believing it has primacy, and too many view people who are fishing as military targets. The only time we've considered fishing is when we have been in an area long enough to get a feel for what to expect. Of course by then we were on our way, lol.
 
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