"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 14:44:22 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"Gary Warner" wrote in message
...

Was in BoatUS the other day and picked up a free copy
of "Federal Requirements and Safety Tips for Recrecational
Boaters". Nearest I can tell the publishing date was 7/2001.

Anyway, two notes:


It says all vessels (even recreational vessels) that
have "propulsion machinery" (en engine) must have "a capacity
to retain oily mixtures on board and be equipped with a fixed
or portable means to discharge these. On recreational vessels,
a bucket, oil absorbant pads and heavy duty plastic bag, bailer
or portable pump are some suitable means that meet the
resuirement..." ~ I'd never known of this regulation before.
Guess I'll throw a large "contractor" bag with some oil
absorbant pads into some unused corner.

This makes perfect sense.


It says impropper use of the (VHF) radio "is punishable by
a $10,000 fine, imprisonment for two years or both." It says
about negligent operation such as having "bowriding" that
you "mayb be fined up to $5,000, imprisioned for one year
or both." But about Boating Under the Influence it says,
"...violators are subject to a civil penalty of $1,000, or a
criminal penalty not to exced $5,000, one year
inprisonment or both. ~ Hmmmm.....so swearing
over the radio is worse than being negligent or drunk ???

Anyway.

The "improper use" clause makes sense, but the relative fines are a bit
odd.
But, maybe they want to leave the major DWI penalties up to the local
authorities. If a township or county is too stupid to apply the same
penalties as automotive DWI offenses, they deserve what they get.

Got a better one for you. In CT, the DUI limit is .08 for cars,
trucks, boats, etc. They finally got that all straightened out last
year.

However, the fines are different for boaters than drivers.

Gotta wonder, huh? :)

Later,

Tom


Let's see: If you're DWI in your car, drive too fast past a parked car, and
don't hit it, nothing happens to the occupants. If you boat too fast past a
stationary boat, but don't hit it, you might capsize that boat and
kill/injure people. I'm assuming the fine's LOWER for the boating DWI,
right? :-)

After visiting museums as a child, including Mystic Seaport, I'm reminded of
a colonial-era tradition that should be reinstated for use on stupid
lawmakers: the pillory.