quote:

Going way back - the entire ban on entering the water dates back to a 1980s era death in the boat crew program. It happened in Texas. I still haven't been able to discover the Auxies names but that one incident is the only deaths I have been able to find in the boat crew program. It lead to the Do Not Enter The Water Prohibition and the Do Not Enter The Surf Zone Prohibition.

There was more than 1. The surf zone issue was caused by 2 Auxies off the California coast near Santa Cruz.

quote:

Originally posted by Ancora:
Ain't gonna happen as this guy is the district ATON honcho.

Tango Sierra

Well,

If the guy has done a lot for the Auxiliary and he had a mishap, perhaps we should be a little sympathetic towards his plight. (That's a hell of a nice looking boat!)

I appreciate what the Lietenant from the Coast Guard said on his behalf.

Actually - now that I think of it - he probably is doing the work of over 500 regular auxiliarists as he is actually on PATROL doing something for the organization.

I hope that the matter is quickly resolved and that he is alllowed to reamin with the AUX.

Geez, I hope he's able to remain in the AUX. His Coxswain skill and ability may become suspect, especially if; as another poster has alluded to, "Touching bottom" ain't nothing new to him.

"Back in the day" when I was on AD and a coxswain, you "touched bottom" or did worse, The OinC of the STA would be waiting in his office with yer coxswain letter when ya "RTB'd", and that little meeting usually ended up with you getting ta watch the OinC tear up yer qual letter. Something that VERY fortunately I didn't get to experience. Although I did get to power slam the stbd rail ofa 44MLB into the bottom(sand) once. Big Wave in shallow water= theres the bottom!!!

Is there any follow up SITREP on this?? I've searched a couple times and can only find the orginal linked story-JRC

I know some AD cox'ns that have done some fairly odd things and gotten spanked rather than have their qual yanked. This fellow should perhaps have some remedial chart reading- area familiarization work, which would probably rankle a bit but not be overwhelming. After all, it's his boat.

I agree!

I understand that he may have had a problem. I also understand that this may have happened before - so maybe some remedial work with the gold side would not hurt.

Perhaps they could offer to help him on a remedial class in chart reading or take the time to help hone his skills a little more.

It sounds like he has done a lot for the aux in that area. Too bad the reporter did not take the time to find out what the aux does. Saves live and property - you know - unimportant stuff like that.

Come to think of it - why was this a news story to begin with? Boats get in trouble all the time in and around San Francisco as well as other coastal areas. You generally do not see full page spreads like this unless someone is hurt or killed - not something that happened in this case. I wonder if someone has an ax to grind with the Coast Guard. Makes sense if you read into it.

I volunteered at Yerba Buena in the JIC during Cosco Busan. All the reporters questions centered around "how bad did the Coast Guard screw this up?" It really is too bad - these reporters do not seem to care an ounce for this country and they feed off any sort of tragedy or mishap like a bunch of cockroaches on garbage. Disenheartening. I guess they forgot to cover the story about how many SARS the guy did or the fact that it was his boat he put in jeopardy to perform public service FREE OF CHARGE.

Someday there will be another Katrina or another event like it and it is then that I hope that the reporter that wrote this peace is in a world of hurt and the good people of the USCG AUX or other good americans that try to help others are unable to come to his/her aid.

Maybe on that day he/she will realize what the collective responsibility of being an American truly is and how volunteers like the guy who jacked his boat up to help others really is not so bad.

Sorry. had to rant.

so maybe some remedial work with the gold side would not hurt.

Perhaps they could offer to help him on a remedial class in chart reading or take the time to help hone his skills a little more.

It isn't the Gold Side's job to babysit and/or train the Silver Side. The Aux is fully responsible for that. The Gold Side does get to set the punishment, if any.

For starters, maybe he needs to be made to sit thru the Aux course How To Read A Nautical Chart. Since the course costs the flotillaa money he should have to pay for it and if the course has any exam maybe he should be made to pass it with a 90 or 95 and with a proctor present.

Then before they unclip his coxswain oars maybe a few (not just 1) rides with a couple of different QEs to pass him on his skills with emphasis on navigation, crew communication and TCT.

You generally do not see full page spreads like this unless someone is hurt or killed - not something that happened in this case.

The involvement of the Aux takes this out of the class of any ordinary boater. The fire department (or someone else) was called raising the visibility even more. And it might even have been a slow news day and it was an interesting story and photo to fill the pages. There is no need to read anything sinister into the coverage.

All the reporters questions centered around "how bad did the Coast Guard screw this up?" It really is too bad - these reporters do not seem to care an ounce for this country and they feed off any sort of tragedy or mishap like a bunch of cockroaches on garbage.

I see that you are one of those 'good news only boys', and anyone with any other side of the story to tell is unpatriotic. You will have a fine career in the Aux. The fact of the matter is that people, ordinary people like you and me, love bad news. Watch the crowd gather around any traffic accident, building fire etc. Why do you think there are 'rubber necking delays' in rush hour traffic when accidents happen.

Bad news sells - that isn't a media creqation - it is human nature. Don't blame the reporters for giving the people what the people want to read and see on the news.

And if you really are that adverse to bad news, you should only read SitRep - they only report good news.

As far as the news media was concerned it was a Coast Guard boat sitting high and dry. It's part of how the world sees us. If it was an L.A. County Sheriff Marine Patrol boat the article would have been about the same.
Had it been Joe Sixpack's boat the article would probably have been funnier than hell.

quote:

And if you really are that adverse to bad news, you should only read SitRep - they only report good news.

quote:

And if you really are that adverse to bad news, you should only read SitRep - they only report good news.

KaPow!

quote:

All the reporters questions centered around "how bad did the Coast Guard screw this up?" It really is too bad - these reporters do not seem to care an ounce for this country and they feed off any sort of tragedy or mishap like a bunch of cockroaches on garbage. Disenheartening.

Personally, I would find it amusing if a boater ran aground in his/ her boat. An expensive one would be funnier. And when a trained "professional" does it, its even more comical. In this case, it appears that more training is needed, not the chastisement of American media. Don't shoot the messenger.

Of course, the laughter comes after learning no one was hurt.

Is there any follow up SITREP on this??

I haven't found an update either. I did find a story with a different view of the incident. This one gives a vastly different picture of the surroundings. It has been reported that this guy is the supposed ATON King of the District or something close to that. And supposed distinction that may let him dodge the bullet headed his way.

Well if he is such an ATON King, can you explain the position of the boat relative to all the clearly visible warning bouys? It looks like he was about to run over one before his automatic bottom finder worked and saved him the embarassment of running over a bouy and having to report that to the USCG.

Nothing is more fun than eating your own, I suppose.

This gets even funnier. Here is the same story but with yet another set of pix from a different angle.. This latest set shows him headed nearly dead on for the bouy he was about to run over and another buoy is clearly visible off his stern.

Maybe he thought he was doing the PWC slalom test in a 51'er?

quote:

Originally posted by FL51D7:
Well if he is such an ATON King, can you explain the position of the boat relative to all the clearly visible warning bouys?

I guess those PATONs that were marking the shoal must have been spaced way too far apart! :-)

I couldn't tell from the pix, were those the new PARALLEL PARKING buoys?

I know this guy. I have patrolled on this boat.

He does allot of things I personally do not agree with but what am I going to say? It's his boat and if I don't like it I don't go. (by the way it's been years since I have been on this boat.)

I can say the same about many of the folks that are owners who coxswain their own boats. In my experience the most egregious violators of policy are those coxswains on their own boats.

Is it true that the vessel has white rugs and crewmemers must remove their footwear before going below?

crewmemers must remove their footwear before going below?

If that is true, how many of his crew do you think wear the clodhoppers with the ODU? Either they don't wear them or they do a lot of unlacing/lacing or weeing over the rail.

We do not allow the storm trooper boots on our OPFAC either. A pleasant side effect of this is not having to put up with wannabees in the crew.

I knew a facility owner that handed each crew member a rag saturated with WD-40 and told them to stick it in their back pocket and wipe their fingerprints off whenever they touched his stainless steel rails.