USCG Auxilliary Authority ?

[cabo_sailor]

FWIW I have wondered the same thing. I live on a waterway in NC and see, usually on a pretty w/e, the nice retired gentlemen in their spiffy uniforms heading out for a three hour tour. I have never seen them do anything other than drive around. If anyone ever needs assistance Tow/US is called. I find it all a little silly but if it makes them happy. I certainly would not allow them to interfer with any of my boating activities. I quess the inspections are useful to some. My question is, is the taxpayer footing their gas bill? I certainly hope not.

Look everyone, it appears I've opened a can of worms. I was, and am, curious. It would appear that in some locations they do a world of good, for that I am glad and grateful. In other areas, such as mine and from the person from NC, its a social club for retirees. I don't mind the fuel, or the other expenses, I was just curious. I would suspect that the line budget for all these groups would hardly support a single cutter for more than a few weeks. In the way that govmnt groups go, a mere pittance.

To all, thank you for your response and opinion, fare well.

Rich

[SvenG]

I have also wondered who supervises these wannabes (sincere apologies to those in the CG-Aux who actually want to serve boaters).

Every weekend (not on weekdays), every 20 or 30 minutes, channel 16 is interrupted by "attention all boaters, attention all boaters, this is coastguard auxiliary radio Oceanside, this is coastguard auxiliary radio Oceanside. Channel 16 is for hailing and distress only, channel 16 is for hailing and distress only, all other traffic is ... " and the written script goes on for 10's of seconds !

The occupation of channel 16 by these wannabes is almost never in response to a misguided radiocheck that we can hear. I assume that they are transmitting on high power from a high elevation so that they both hear and blanket a large area way beyond the presumably offending channel 16 trespasser.

Apart from abusing channel 16 and making it a nuisance to monitor as a responsible captain, it actually interferes with legitimate traffic. The one time when it really got me angry was the day a few weeks ago when a father thought he'd lost his free-diving son and a search was being coordinated to get as many boats as possible on scene. I don't know if the wannabes' vanity-calls actually interfered with the attempted rescue but they sure didn't help when they drowned out all other traffic around us on 16 for what seemed like a very long time. In that instance the real coastguard actually moved the ongoing emergency traffic to 22A but maybe not in response to the vanity-calls. (The son was found alive and well after about 20-30 minutes!).

Once again, apologies to those in the CG-aux who are there for the betterment of the community.

</RANT>



-Sven

[s/vfootloose]

I used to see the CG-aux a lot. Not so much anymore. I go out Pt. Everglades. Since 9/11 it 's like running the gauntlet going out or in; USCG station at the inlet, Ft.Laud. police, Hollywood police, Fl. Marine Patrol, FWC plus a couple of Boat/US-Seatow boats waiting in the inlet. If I don't see 8-10 water cops it's unusual. I can't see how the CG-aux could help to much now. As a side note we generally sail in the inlet get out of traffic in the turning basin and drop our sails before going under the 17th st. bridge. When we got our current boat we hadn't had a sailboat since prior to 9/11. We followed our usual routine and sailed into the turning basin. I went foreward to drop the sails and all of a sudden 2 boats with a bunch of guys pointing machine guns at us yelling at us to leave the area. My wife freaked out pushing the throttle but forgot to put the clutch in. They were getting rather agitated. I finally ran back saw the problem and got us out. Funny now but a definate brown shorts moment at the time.

[First Mate]

gotta wonder which is better, to volunteer and not do a very good job, in the eyes of the righteous, or to not volunteer and sit around and give the volunteers derogatory names and find an instance that supports your overall criticism.

WOW, gotta vote for the USCG aux, thank you very much and good night.

[AK_sailor]

Originally Posted by SvenG

...... In that instance the real coastguard actually moved the ongoing emergency traffic to 22A but maybe not in response to the vanity-calls. (The son was found alive and well after about 20-30 minutes......

If I am not mistaken, 22A is the standard working channel for the USCG. It would seem entirely appropriate that they moved the emergency traffic to 22A, so as not to tie up the hailing and distress channel (16) with rescue traffic.

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by AK_sailor

If I am not mistaken, 22A is the standard working channel for the USCG. It would seem entirely appropriate that they moved the emergency traffic to 22A, so as not to tie up the hailing and distress channel (16) with rescue traffic.

You may be right but in all prior emergency traffic we've monitored the coordination has been moved to 22A after the situation was under some semblance of control. In this instance it caused problems because the father wanted to stay on 16 to hear other offers of assistance from nearby boats while the situation was definitely still evolving and in real flux.



-Sven

[AK_sailor]

Originally Posted by First Mate

gotta wonder which is better, to volunteer and not do a very good job, in the eyes of the righteous, or to not volunteer and sit around and give the volunteers derogatory names and find an instance that supports your overall criticism.

WOW, gotta vote for the USCG aux, thank you very much and good night.

I totally agree. But then I am obviously biased, since I volunteer as part of an onshore wilderness SAR group. While we get some equipment support from the State of Alaska (hand held radios and such), we buy our own personal gear (which often gets trashed on missions) and give up many evenings and weekends for training. The real deal call outs almost always come at the most inconvenient times, but we go anyway.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by SvenG

In this instance it caused problems because the father wanted...

No offense, but it doesn't really matter what the father wanted. Once the Coast Guard gets involved they are going to move the traffic to 22a, so that 16 will stay mostly clear for hailing and any other emergency that might come up.

Imagine, for instance, if you were some other boat and had a sudden life threatening emergency, but couldn't get through on 16 because the on-going search for this guys son was tying up the channel. Not a good thing!

There is a very good reason why conversations--even emergency conversations--get moved off of 16 as soon as they can be.

This, of course, does not justify the local USCG Aux constantly tying up channel 16 with announcements that no one else should tie up channel 16! That is just stupid. They need to be reminded that their transmissions tend to blank out all other transmissions over a very wide area.

[First Mate]

Originally Posted by First Mate

gotta wonder which is better, to volunteer and not do a very good job, in the eyes of the righteous, or to not volunteer and sit around and give the volunteers derogatory names and find an instance that supports your overall criticism.

WOW, gotta vote for the USCG aux, thank you very much and good night.

The husband, HerbSeesMoore, accidentally made the above post under my username. We use the same laptops, and I accidentally have done the same to him in the past.

I've received thanks from Coast Guard auxiliary folks, but hey it was Herb who wrote that. We think the same though. I am 100% with Herb on the above post.

Many thanks for all that the CG auxiliary volunteers - and CG military - do for the rest of us. It's nice to have someone watching out for us recreational boaters.