[Rhodes22-list] Connecticut outlaws sailing

[The Rhodes 22 Email List]

Peter. 
I am grandfathered in for Ohio and there is a 10 HP threshold anyway.   Does anybody know how state rules affect trailer sailors?   I know I'm okay for Kentucky but this might limit our destinations.   Just for fun I took the Boat US Foundation free online class.   Its accredited for my state and KY.   Much of it was pud, but I learned a few things.   Gray water from my sink is a problem in OH and KY, except on Erie.   (I was thinking of adding a T, valves, and connecting with the marine head.   Any thoughts regarding the head pump?)   I had just stuck camp soap on the shelf, but that isn't legal.  I'm not used to navigation aids, especially on rivers, so that section was very helpful for me.    
Regarding the rules you describe....I don't recall that section in my online course.    (too much Rum?)   No way to keep the Buccaneer 18 upright in a breeze without riding on the gunnel, using the hiking strap and heaving most of my bulk overboard.   I'm imagining some idiot officer arguing with the dude bounding over his 420 in a trapeze.  I really hope the officer has a body camera so we can watch that confrontation.   There is a solid argument that there are no passengers on small sailboats.   Everybody is rail meat.    Has Connecticut decreed that crew are not allowed to perform their duty to preserve the vessel?   "Officer.  She was trying to plane and the cockpit scupper was pulling water.   I had to stick the girl on the foredeck."   Alternately: "I was on port tack, she was looking out for boats hidden by the jib.    That bikini is standard uniform for my foredeck crew.   She had to lay down to reduce windage.   Suntan lotion was recommended equipment in the safety course."
As in business, many rules are written by idiots that have neither clue nor clew.  They are either not enforced by those that do, or used by those without to annoy the remainder.   Some DNR in the midwest don't even know the mast has to come down to trailer!    Aside from checking the sticker date they have left me alone, perhaps afraid I know more then they do.   The only exception was when some do gooder called 911 on me after a turtle.   Indiana DNR showed up a couple hours later, after I swam the boat half a mile to shore, righted it, and bailed it.   They required me to accept a tow and gave me a safety inspection.    I had my flashlight (Bucc 18) and was just waiting for the wind to die at sunset.   They had to call headquarters to check on the flashlight rule. They also refused to wait for the dog to come back, I was finally able to rescue him a couple days later.  Buzzards.      
Alex Cole 

> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 22:29:37 -0500
> From: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Connecticut Outlaws Sailing
> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Message-ID: <F84D97DD-6C3A-4FAC-B0E4-F66C797338F1 at sunnybeeches.com>
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> In preparing for my first season of sailing in a very long time (about 44 years), I happened to stumble across the fact that I am required by the state of Connecticut to take a boating safety course in order to legally put my boat in the water.  On a conceptual level, I have no problem with this.  Some of the details of the actual implementation though, I do find at least a little bit annoying.
> 
> Technically, there are two levels of certification.  There?s the basic ?Safe Boating Certificate?, which is the minimum requirement, and then on top of that there?s the ?Certificate of Personal Watercraft Operation?. So, in theory, you don?t need to worry about the latter certificate unless you intend to operate a PWC.  In practice though, the state only offers training courses that cover both certificates. On a positive note, the combined course and associated test is offered by the state in a variety of places and times either free or for a very modest cost.  On the other hand, if you want to skip the course and just take the test, it will cost you $75.
> 
> But, in sitting through the course, I find the most annoying part to be that the course material barely manages to admit that sailboats actually exist.  Of course it makes perfect sense that the course would focus almost exclusively on power boats and PWC, since that?s where most of the problem is, but who is going to teach me to watch out for the unintended gybe?  The instructor, who claims to have 40 years of experience on the water (and I actually believe him), admits without the slightest hint of embarrassment that he has no idea how sailboats work.  Though on a positive note, since from his perspective sailboats act in seemingly random and irrational ways, he advises all of the power boaters in the class (everyone but me it would seem) to give them a wide berth at all times.  
> 
> Helpfully, the course comes with a booklet which students can take home and study.  I?ve been going through it in preparation for taking the last section of class and the exam tomorrow.  It?s actually pretty well written, so it?s not that tough a slog.  But I came across a section that really gave me pause?
> 
> The title of this section is ?Unlawful Operation of a Vessel?; so the things listed below here are things that are unlawful?
> 
> ?Riding on the Bow, Deck, or Gunwale is allowing passengers to ride on the bow, gunwale, transom, seat backs, seats on raised decks, or any other place where there may be a chance of falling overboard.?
> 
> I won?t quote the whole thing, but there?s subsequent language that says that this doesn?t just mean you can?t hang your feet over the side, this applies even if your feet are inboard.
> 
> Now this is not the actual statue, this is an interpretation and simplification of the statue for the general public.  And I find the use of the term ?passenger? interesting.  The captain isn?t a passenger, is he?  How about the crew?
> 
> So obviously I intend to ignore this, as will every other sailor in Connecticut, until such time that the powers that be arrest us all for sitting on the gunwales or seat backs in order to properly balance our sailboats. I think the Captain?s Seats would be legal, so maybe those of us who don?t have them will have to upgrade.
> 
> Peter Nyberg
> Coventry, CT
> No Boat Yet
> 

> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:46:41 -0500
> From: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Connecticut Outlaws Sailing
> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
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> 
> Peter.
> 
> Over the years misguided stuff like this has come up that mistakenly 
> nets in sailboats; and ends up overturned, if it is challenged.  The 
> captain makes the rules on his boat and if he feels the safety of his 
> crew is best served by ballast on the port rail, so be it.  If a life is 
> lost because of following a state's desk top engineering instead of the 
> captain at the tiller, the state will end up with the burden.   I think 
> NJ was the last to try controlling sailboats from the state capital 
> until the sailboat community got them back on course.
> 
> stan
> 
> Of course we do have swivel seats packages on sale for the one percenters.
> 
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