Coast Guard Thread

[Cacia]

I am hoping we can discuss the Coast Guard, their responsibilites and role here in Hawaii. I am sure I suffer from some misconceptions, since the only things I hear are from boat captains.

Anyone knowledgable about coast guard procedures, any experiences, etc. Hope it will be constructive and informative.

1) I rarely ever see them in Maunaloa bay. What types of things do you all see enforced?...not enforced

2) Do you have any experience with them in a rescue situation?

I am concerned that boat traffic with repeat offenders are driving through/over divers near Turtle Canyon.

[Wildcard]

I have battled with the coasties for many years. Some areas are great about responding, some suck. Hawaii sucks. Broken down and drifting out to sea in a 14 foot inflatable halfway between and just outside Kahoolawe and Lanai, I call for assistance. Amost two hours later I fixed the problem, they informed me they were still waiting on permission to launch there boat. Ft Bragg CA ( no it's not a typo, it's a town) one night, call on the radio, boat loose in the river in heavy surge. In the time it took me to go to the store 1/4 mile away, get a salad and a beer and drive back by, the coasties had manned two boats and there quarters are several miles away, only the radio guy on duty, tied of to the errant fishing vessel and were trying to get it under control.
Kodiak AK, I left my boat running while I went to the ship supply, as I cam back to thedock I notice lots of red diesel in the water and a coastie RIB there. Im thinking someone is in big trouble! The close to my boat I got, teh thicker the oil became. I had broken a fuel return line and had pumped 50-100 gallons of fuel in the harbor. Just then the coasties motored through it and didn't say a word.
Homer AK. Thanksgiving night, -20 with 30kts of wind. We had a dinner on the island and as I had the only big boat amongst our group, I was the taxi. SOmehow, both hooks slipped and my boat, the only boat on the island drifet into the night. Called the coastis and was told it would be 4-6 hours before they could muster a crew! Local water taxi came and got me and we found my boat anchoe in rocks 20 yards from a crashing shoreline.
Homer AK, November 2001 Three japanise war ships are found anchored in Kbay. The coasties ( just after 9/11, mind you had just recieved a bunch of money to fight teror) solution to the problem of forigen vessels in out waters, war ships non the less was to call teh harbor master and ask who ther were!
Homer AK winter of 2000, -20 with 100kts gusts of wind just around the corner. A 32 foot boat made it through all that then rolls in calm water due to ice build up. Coasties finaly made it out, called in divers (did you know the coasties dont dive) teh diver on teh radio said there is no way anyone could be alive so lets just get this over with. They found a "dead" body in a hatch and called it good. Keep in mind the boat is still floating. In 30 kt wind and 10 foot seas a 110 foot cutter decided it was too rough and anchored up for teh night. No marking on the boat, just left it. Next AM a local knowing the currents went looking for teh boat and found in in the first place he looked, aground. He tapped on the hull and some one taped back. He took his boat out and awoke the sleeping coasties. They tried to cut through several inbches of fiberglass with a battery skill saw. Same local went and got his chainsaw and gave it to them. They refused to use if out of fear of hurting someone. He cut a hole and pulled the still alive fisherman out. His brother who was also aboard had just recently died....I ripped them apart in the paper for that one!
So wat was it you wanted to know?

[Wildcard]

SOme typos, I'll fix later, gotta run now.

[mrjimboalaska]

Catherine,
Back in the 2nd week(?) of December, there was an incident involving a y oung soldier that was going to hook up with some club members that were diving and he was on his jetski. Needless to say, this kid took off on his own, luckily, the one club member looked for him, actually found his jetski floatingout past the pinnicles, he called the Coast Guard, Fire Dept. and some boat owners in the club and gaught the search started.
Well, the coastguard was searching where the jetski was found and towards Barbers Point(wind blew jetski mmore in that direction). After several hours of looking, two of our club members decided to follow the current instead.
They found him(shear luck due to windy and rough chop) 6 miles from where the CG was conducting their search. The kid was not wearing his Life jacket, said he took it off to swim to the jetski, was not able to catch the jetski due to the wind blowing it one way and the current taking him another. He tread water for 3 hours and was pretty well turckered out when found.
The Air Force gave the chief that found him, as well as the other member on the boat and award, and it was mentioned in the Kukooni(Base paper).
Bottom line.........I dont think the CG would have saved this kid.....
Jimbo

[Cacia]

well, recently I made an uninformed comment rather lighlty about the Coast Guard and some one said they were dissapointed in me. I know there are hard working individuals ....what is the problem locally? Because I have to say, I have heard about five different accounts of them showing up and insisting on going upcurrent and not really wanting to accept information from the captains, etc. The truth is the boat captains tell story after story. So, I am just wondering what the reason is that they are all saying "don't even call them". Thats terrible! I think there are some real PR problems at the very least.

I did hear one day a guy begging as his boat sank and the response I heard from the Coast Guard was a huge wake-up call to me. I was shocked.

So....what do you all think the roots of the problems are?

I was hoping some Coast Guard people would post something to make some of this make sense.

[Wildcard]

Two problems, there command and there egos. You have children who most likely have no sea time prior to there enlistment that now think that they are experts and don't need to listen to those that are on the water every day.
The command issue is from my statement about some being good, some being bad.
Ft Bragg CA, Nasty west coast river entry in a west swelll but it's the only port for a long ways. If your trying to get in and it's ugly or foggy, they will come right on out and escort you in, just so they don't have to do a rescue. If you need a tow in the area, they put out a marine assistance broadcast then staart getting underway right away. They don't leave you out there for hours begging for a tow.

[sea nmf]

Yes, this is very,very alarming. What is their mission? Protection? (what about the Japanese war ships in AK?) From just this sample, it isn't rescue.

I did hear a CG rep speak once and they said they search the coast looking for oil spills. This was here in Hawaii. But, WC said his boat leaked fuel and they didn't even bat an eye.

I'm going on their web site right now to see what it says there.

[Wildcard]

There mission is changing. They now do coastal security, which they were supposed to do all along, drug enforcement, oil spill response, marine inspections, and rescue. Mostly I see them polishing brass.
Once after the upside down boat incident when they were being ripped apart in the paper, someone asked what took them so long to respond. Ther reply was " well, we can't just unplug and un tie and take off"...WHy the hell not, every other boat in the harbor can and we don't have 50 people working on it all the time!

[sea nmf]

The following is from their website FAQ page


What is the United States Coast Guard?

The U.S. Coast Guard is one of five branches of the US Armed Forces, and falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard is the nation's oldest continuous seagoing service with responsibilities including Search and Rescue (SAR), Maritime Law Enforcement (MLE), Aids to Navigation (ATON), Ice Breaking, Environmental Protection, Port Security and Military Readiness. In order to accomplish these missions the Coast Guard has 38,000 active-duty men and women, 8,000 Reservists, and 35,000 Auxiliariy personnel who serve in a variety of job fields ranging from operation specialists and small-boat operators and maintenance specialists to electronic technicians and aviation mechanics. The Coast Guard, during an average day, will:


Conduct 109 search and rescue cases
Save 10 lives assist 192 people in distress
Protect $2,791,841 in property
Launch 396 small boat missions
Launch 164 aircraft missions, logging 324 hours
Board 144 vessels
Seize 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine worth $9,589,000
Intercept 14 illegal migrants
Board 100 large vessels for port safety checks
Respond to 20 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 gallons
Service 135 aids to navigation

[Cacia]

I wish we had someone who could sort of explain their side. Because everytime I repeat what I have been told about calling the fire department, someone gets angry at me.
I happen to know that some divers were missing the other day for quite awhile and the Coast Guard was not notified...which is wrong, of course. But it seems we have a problem here on Oahu anyway with relations.