This past weekend I went for a ride on my friend's sailboat while we were visiting Galveston Island for mine and my son's birthday. We had just taken a quick cruise down the shipping channel, we had turned around, turned on the motor and were taking down the sails..... the ride was basically over.
I noticed a red ship coming up hot behind us, but didn't think much about it until they were right next to us, asking to board our boat. At this moment my friend Alma had taken the wheel to drive the sailboat while her partner Brian took down the sail. He had to abandon the sail and take the wheel to address the armed men boarding our boat while she jumped downstairs to grab their baby.
We had no idea what was going on, other than we were in the middle of the shipping channel, their boat riding so close it was making it hard to steer, with 4 children feeling afraid and hungry (we were just minutes from turning into our marina , prepared to get lunch). They told us this was for a safety check.
I want to say something before I continue - I appreciate the life saving activities of the Coast Guard. I do not support the way they are funded (taxation is theft), or the involuntary boarding of a boat (pirate behavior).
For 45 minutes these men boarded the boat with weapons at face level of our children. My daughter even asked if they were going to shoot us (She has grown up hearing about police shooting dogs and people on the news). Alma had to drive the boat with a sleeping baby in her arms while the men inspected for fire extinguishers, flotation devices, etc... (Mother of Year for that one!) The loose sail was making it hard for her to drive to the point that the Coast Guard noticed and helped Brian put it all the way down. We explained that their safety check had in fact made us less safe, they didn't seem to see the correlation.
It was also hard for her to drive because their red boat kept coming as close as a few feet away, causing big waves for a mama who is not used to driving a boat, and steering with one arm as her baby slept in the other arm. The men on the boat called the Coast Guard boat away from driving so close several times, yet the boat continued to creep up, making it hard for Alma to steer. We had to drive past the marina instead of turning in and letting the kids off, they said if we parked that there would be even more paper work and take even more time. No violations were found, but 45 minutes of our time was lost.
I video taped the entire encounter, but have struggled to get it uploaded due to wifi connectivity.
I began to get a headache on the way home to my converted school bus, a two hour drive. A headache so bad I actually took Ibuprofin, I had to take 4 and fell asleep in lots of pain. When they boarded our boat, all the sudden we had to pay attention to many more things at once, keeping the kids calm and unafraid, video taping, watching their very close boat to keep from hitting it, the men who had boarded us, the conversation they were having, the other boats in the channel, the loose sail, etc.... It was a lot to handle, I think we were graceful.
The most interesting part is how Alma has been attacked online. People have literally wished her dead and her boat sunk, those threads got shut down. She sent me a few screenshots, you can follow the thread on her Sailing Bangarang here: https://www.facebook.com/SailingBangarang/posts/186895691928673
What do you think? Should we be grateful to have armed stranger board our boat at a very inconvenient time? Do you see how this created actual safety hazards for our two families? How can we move toward VOLUNTARY safety on the waters? We were told point blank the boarding was involuntary. This is not freedom or liberty in my opinion, yet we are raised to be told this is the freest country in the world. Don't like it, move somewhere else they say.... So she moved to the ocean and was boarded by pirates.
If that's how we treat people in a free country, are we really free? Like it or get out? I feel like there is room for discourse here, about our rights as sovereigns and the role of such entities as the Coast Guard. Lets talk.....
It sure don't take much to get a boot licking competition going. Fuckin' statists...
Right?!
Well, welcome home and happy birthday, huh?! Double sheesh. 💐
I am not at all familiar with sailing culture/ethos, but I guess there are marine customs of some sort?
Seems like your families, @catherinebleish and Alma, have a much stronger sense of self-ownership and property rights, than the average sea-farer does :-)
It makes sense to me that you'd disapprove a forced, or poorly timed, boarding of your vessel. I would, too! (Now, I would. But not back in my dark days when I still believed in authority.)
Meanwhile the folks on that FB thread show a strong sense of USCG tribalism, that's probably sprinkled with patriotism. And they are GRATEFUL for forced boardings, and invaded privacy.
It would take a very special analogy/metaphor/psychedelic, to help them SEE. That's what helped me, anyway. lol
Yes, its such a trip to read the comments, wishing ill on people for being alarmed that we were boarded by force. We were not super combative, or causing trouble. We definitely expressed how we felt, but very calmly and rationally, we were surrounded by kids!!!!!!!
Why are you guys still on FB? Trolls are very active over there. We are a more friendly bunch here. I wouldn't be thrilled to be boarded that way either. Kudos to everyone for keeping their cool. And any mama who can steer a boat and hold her sleeping baby rocks in my books!
We are decentralized, lots of people on lots of networks, you will notice I have posted to facebook 2x in over 2 months and to steemit almost 2x a day in that time...
Wow, I am just floored by how rude people can be. Why would anyone use those horrible terms to describe a peaceful human being? I grew up sailing with my parents. We would go sailing instead of camping. I feel like the Coast Guard Could have waited until you were in the Marina and they should have taken more care to make sure the boat was being steered safely. I'm sorry that this happened to you. Yes, this is a normal thing that happens, but the idea that it is Voluntary, is a joke. Thank you for sharing your story.
What an awesome way to spend summers! I haven't ever gone sailing like this, I am so excited for Alma and Brian that they are LIVING this way! I definitely want to try a week on a boat sometime and see how it goes!!!
Sorry this happened to yall. Glad our kids get to see through their parents objections that this is not normal behavior.
It was a learning experience for us all!
Sorry for the trouble.
Sounds like a terrible inconvenience, and the copsucking statists made it even worse.
You're treated as guilty until proving yourself innocent, and "muh thin blue line" is completely out of line for supporting it.
That's exactly it! Treated as guilty!
Those comments painfully reminded me of the days when I would have probably said the same things, as a mindless supporter of order-followers (I myself have been one)... reading them it seems that in order to have your life saved at sea you'll also have to comply with thuggish abuses of authority, that really doesn't make sense at all!
They are not mutually exclusive, that's for sure!!!
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@catherinebleish Pirate greetings! I'm from Russia and I want to tell you. Do not you dare come to this country on a yacht from the Black Sea, you will get many problems with the military. When I had a choice to put up with it or leave away, my choice was obvious. My mission to Steemite is to unite the sailors, so that we can see what is happening around us.