NEWS

Avast! Prepare to Be Boarded!

By Scott Hargis
Published: April, 2007 

A quick search on the internet news services for Coast Guard returns mostly disaster stories: lost sailors, boats stranded in heavy seas, capsizes, and sadly, body recoveries. Added to this are high-profile headlines about drug trafficking, Caribbean refugees and Homeland Security.

But the Coast Guard has another less exciting mission taken as seriously as any other: preventing incidents before they become headline news.

On any given day, there are as many as eight Defender Class Response Boats cruising the San Francisco Bay. Purchased after 9-11 to help provide port security, these boats are capable of 40-45 knots! They conduct randomly scheduled patrols to secure important infrastructure like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Port facility, Pier 39 and the like. But additionally, these small, fast boats conduct routine safety inspections of private and commercially operated vessels anywhere within U.S. controlled waters.

Since maritime activity is federally regulated, the Coast Guard does not need probable cause to stop and inspect a vessel on the Bay, unlike police and highway patrol pullovers. Just as liquor stores are regulated (and subject to inspection by) the ATF, boaters are under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard and must comply with boarding requests at any time.

A typical boarding will begin when a Response Boat displays flashing blue lights and comes alongside the vessel. They will instruct the boat’s skipper to hold his course and speed, and inform him that he will be boarded. Pulling alongside, a boarding team composed of three trained officers climb aboard, while the Response Boat continues to cruise alongside, cutting back and forth to keep a close watch on all sides of the vessel.

After conducting a safety inspection and a review of the boat’s licensing documents, a quick look at the life jackets, lifeboats or other life-saving equipment is made. Violations of safety regulations can result in warnings or even fines in severe cases.

After the visit, a form 4100 ‘inspection acknowledgement’ is mailed to the boat owner, with a summary of the inspection and results. Typically, the entire process takes about 15 minutes.

To boat owners like Rick and Leila Minnis, who operate a charter cruise operation out of Oakland, these random inspections are more of a nuisance than anything else. Their boat, the Coincidence has been boarded twice in the past year. The purpose of the boarding isn’t clear, says Minnis. We don’t know what they’re looking for, or why our boat was singled out.

Minnis, like many boat owners, finds these inspections especially rankling because he and his wife live aboard their 49’ yacht. This is our home, says Leila, and having it invaded at will doesn’t seem right.

According to Mission Technician First Class Brendan Rogers, many boaters equate their boats with their home, and feel that their Fourth Amendment rights are trampled during boardings. He points out the fact that coastal waterways are regulated differently, but also that the Coast Guard takes pains not to invade the privacy of staterooms, desks, and other areas of boats that aren’t directly safety-related. Most boaters are just happy to know we’re out there doing our job, he says.

Petty Officer Second Class Phillip Null, whose primary role is as a Boarding Officer, says that most inspections are low-key, friendly encounters. Almost everyone is missing some piece of safety equipment, he says, but in most cases fines aren’t necessary. Our role is to educate boaters and make sure they don’t get in trouble later.

Why such a big deal over a little thing like a flare, or a life jacket? When a group of Boarding Team members was asked this question, the room fell silent. Finally, Officer Rogers spoke up. We’ve all seen the results too many times. We pull too many bodies out of the water, [people] who died because they didn’t have basic safety equipment aboard that could have enabled them to survive.

The rest of the group concurred. Stories of drunk boaters, involved in collisions, lacking flares, radios, or first aid equipment are too numerous to recount.

Although the Defender Class boats are able to respond within three to five minutes to a call, and can be almost anywhere on the bay in less than 30 minutes, if the boaters themselves aren’t prepared, it can be too late.