I keep hearing about all the United States is doing to guard our coast. Does this ever affect catamaran sailing in the Gulf or along the coast?

Jonathan

The Canadian border rules have changed. We used to be able to stop in Canadada for a beer break by calling their customs on arival and just return to the States without a worry. Now, on the return, we have to stop at a designated port and be put on camera. There is an incredible amount of customs agents driving the shores in the Western New York area.

Jonathan, I don't quite understand your question. Are you asking whether the Coast Guard ever hassles small, recreational boats or restricts their sailing areas?

Down in South Florida, the Coast Guard is occupied primarily with intercepting drug boats coming into this country. I have not heard whether they are making an effort to keep small boats away from sensitive areas, like nuclear power plants, the Space Center at Cape Canaveral, and military bases like Camp LeJeune. I do know the Worrell 1000 boats are required to stay a certain distance offshore at Cape Canaveral, but I do not know whether it is patrolled by the Coast Guard or some other service.

Hi Mary,

Yes, that was my question - I just wanted to know whether anybody was hassling catamarans along the coast.

Thanks for the reply!

Jonathan

OK, I'll bite.

Just exactly where do you cross over into Canada? I hope you go around the long way...

Jonathan

Start sailing around with this thing on your boat and we'll see how long it takes the CG to catch up :P

http://www.west.net/~lpm/hobie/archives/v1-i2/humor.shtml

They were good!!

I found this article somewhere on the Internet:

Helicopter Gives Coast Guard Stopping Power for Drug Enforcement...
TheDay.com Wed Oct 9 12:58:00 EDT 2002

New London -- During his first 14 years with the Coast Guard, Aviation Technician 1st Class Mike Stenberg would dangle out the door of helicopters to help rescue a swimmer or recover a litter in a medical evacuation.

These days he hangs out the door with a .50-caliber machine gun, or a Robar sniper rifle with a laser sight that's able to consistently put a half-inch-diameter bullet into a dinner plate at more than a half mile. Night-vision goggles and an infrared spotlight allow him to spot smugglers in go-fast speedboats on a cloudy night.

“It's a definite phase shift,” Stenberg said with a grin. The machine gun is to fire warning shots into the path of drug runners, when they fail to respond to radio and hand signals to stop.

“A reasonable person would think, 'this guy just shot a wall of water in front of me, he means business,' ” Stenberg said. But some of them aren't reasonable, and the Robar is to put a slug in the engine block and disable the boat if they keep going.

“I need to be very focused,” Stenberg said. “We're going to have people standing four to six feet away from where I'm shooting. But I don't feel we're putting people into harm's way. ... I'm not going to miss an outboard motor.”

Stenberg, Lt. Mike Campbell and Ens. Michael Salemi of the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron 10, or HITRON 10, in Jacksonville, Fla., visited the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday in their MH-68A helicopter, the newest and the only armed aircraft in the service's lineup.

Campbell said the unit, established just two years ago, is still unfamiliar to many people in the Coast Guard, so after picking up their aircraft from the Philadelphia factory where it just came out of a refurbishment, they were given approval to make stops at East Coast air stations and the academy before heading for home.

For most of the afternoon visit, the MH-68A was thronged by cadets hoping for a chance to peer into the **** or ask a few questions of the crew.

“I was really looking into the Jayhawk, because I like the search-and-rescue thing, but flying off the coast of Florida in this would be pretty cool,” said Cadet 3rd Class Nick Anderson. The MH-68A has about as much power as the Jayhawk, but is 3,000 pounds lighter, making it faster, with a top end near 200 mph, and is more maneuverable.

“I got to fly on a Jayhawk last summer in San Diego, and it was a lot of fun,” said Cadet 3rd Class Jon Jablonski of Tampa, Fla. “But this is a pretty elite unit, because there are so few of them.”

Several of the cadets and staff asked whether the MH-68A is likely to play a role in homeland security. Campbell said that is still under discussion, but some of the onlookers observed that the same capabilities that make the helicopter effective at stopping the flow of drugs into the country could be used to stop the flow of even more dangerous contraband.

The MH-68A is based on the A-109E platform developed by the Italian aerospace company Agusta. The first two were delivered in 2000, with an option for six more that was quickly exercised because the aircraft have proved so effective. In their first 11 attempts to stop drug runners, the HITRON crews were successful every time, seizing almost 20,000 pounds of cocaine and more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of some $660 million.

The MH-68A doesn't have a nickname yet. Originally it was going to be called the “Mako,” until someone realized that was the same name of the NH90 helicopter used by NATO.

Salemi, who is originally from Haddam, flew the Kiowa helicopter for the U.S. Army for eight years as a warrant officer before earning a commission in the Coast Guard 18 months ago.

“This is a very different mission, but equally exciting,” Salemi said. “It's basically a new concept for the Coast Guard, but with the help of the other services, particularly the Special Forces, we've developed tactics for interdiction over the water.

“The Coast Guard is a humanitarian service, and the last thing in the world we want to do is shoot anybody, so we go through a series of signals to get them to stop,” Salemi said. But if they don't, Salemi's job is to hover over the suspect, flying sideways at 40 or 50 mph to allow his gunner a clear shot, and holding the speed as close to the boat's as he can to prevent “collateral damage.” The MH-68A is up to the challenge, he said.

“It's a real sports car,” Salemi said. And the rocket-armed Kiowa? “That's a very heavily armed sports car,” he said with a grin.