FROM THE HELM
STEVE MORRELL,
Trawlers in a Sailing Magazine? This month we start a new section on trawlers. I was recently contacted by Chris and Alyse Caldwell, a couple who have lived aboard their trawler for over 12 years and currently instruct boaters on trawler living. They also give seminars around the country at different boat shows and TrawlerFests. When they contacted me, they told me that half their students are sailors who are moving over to what they call “the dark side”—because they’re getting older, or for some other reason. I asked them if they were interested in doing a monthly article on trawler living and we came to an agreement. We’re calling it “TrawlerTalk,” and it starts with this issue. I personally have one treasured memory of trawlers. With the help of a friend, I was moving my 38-foot sailboat from Charleston, SC, to Tampa Bay in 2002. We were just leaving Charleston, going down the ICW. It was about 8 a.m., and it was raining so hard that you could barely see the bow from the helm. We both had foul weather gear on, and I went forward to stand on the bow to see the markers, best I could, so that I could direct my friend at the helm. Even with foul weather gear, when it’s raining that hard, you get a bit wet. As I am standing there, looking forward, trying to keep the rain out of my eyes, a trawler passed us on our starboard side. I could see a couple at their helm, inside, both drinking coffee. We all waved at each other and smiled. As much as I love inclement weather—the cold, the heavy rains and the elements (and I really do)—I said to myself, as I looked at those people in their trawler, drinking coffee inside, all nice and warm, “There’s something to be said for that.”
Ohio Boaters Could Outlaw all Unwarranted Boardings Information on this was taken from TradeOnlyToday.com It seems that in Florida, the FWC can stop and inspect your boat on a whim—even if they just don’t like how someone looks. But in Ohio they’re proposing a law which Floridians would love to have.
EDITOR
It appears that there is great resentment brewing over a recent increase in random boardings of pleasure boats in Ohio’s waters. TradeOnlyToday reported that boardings have become so frequent that some boaters say they get stopped multiple times in one summer, and sometimes it happens more than once on the same day. Boaters have called for a law that prevents such boardings. Ohio boaters are citing a law in Michigan, which goes into effect in November, that prevents any random stopping or boarding of a pleasure boat displaying a safety inspection decal unless there is a clear, documented indication of an ongoing illegal act. Ohio boaters want the same law in their state, and a law was recently proposed in Ohio that goes even further than Michigan’s. The proposed law would allow law enforcement to stop a boater only upon reasonable suspicion of illegal activities or as a part of an authorized checkpoint. But Ohio’s law would not even require the issuance or display of any decal. There is strong support throughout the state, and I am hoping that this law would spread throughout the nation. Wow! If that happened in Florida, Florida boaters would throw the biggest party in the state’s history, and the cheers would be heard throughout the South. How the FWC and many local water police would react is another thing. I know this much: Many FWC officers and local police would not be very happy, and some would probably call it a communist conspiracy and the end of civilization as we know it—although I don’t call being allowed to stop a boater whenever they want, “civilization.” Three cheers for Ohio boaters. May this law pass with flying colors. Next we need a movement in Florida along the same lines.
Marco Island Changes Anchor Law After six years, the City Council of Marco Island finally got rid of its controversial anchoring limit law that was defeated in court and raised a stir around the state—and ended many local municipalities’ efforts to limit anchoring. Read about it in our “Letters” section.
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November 2012
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