dogfish

Here is lies a problem for NH. A Mass resident who is not required to take a boating test goes to nh to boat on a lake and probably has no idea about anything nautical. except maybe he's a knothead. Goes to show you all you need is money to get behind the wheel in Massachusetts. In the case of this Kayaker I surmise he' did not wear a life jacket - it may very well have saved him, you would not be able to go under in a life jacket.

From the State Boating Law Administrator Liason for NH. ################ I have been able to contact the proper authorities to confirm the conclusions which I was already aware of but wanted to double check to be sure. It is true that if you just refer to the NH Boaters Guide, it does not spell out all the laws and rules and the specific RSA's etc. SAFC 403.16 lists the requirements for an all around white light for kayaks, canoes (paddleboats), etc. from sunset to sunrise and periods of reduced visibility in the territorial waters of the state of NH. These waters extend from any land mass in New Hampshire out for 3 statute miles. The 6 miles in the discussion comes from the fact of the Isles of Shoals territory abuts the waters extending from the coast, i.e.: 3 miles out from Rye and 3 miles back from the Isles of Shoals. As far as enforcement. The USCG does not enforce NH laws, only federal ones. In cases where the state law exceeds the requirements of the federal laws the USCG is not required to enforce them but defers to the states rights to enforce their own. A very good example is the 12 and under rule by the state for children to wear life jackets while underway. Another rule on the NH books that exceeds the federal requirement is the bell for power driven vessels class II where the federal requirement is class III. I hope this answers your questions regarding New Hampshire requirements. Please don't hesitate to contact me and I will do my best to get the correct information to you. I realize that people might disagree with the laws but they are passed by the legislature and the Marine Patrol is required to enforce them. If people disagree with them have the right to encourage the legislature to change them. Of course they must be voting residents of New Hampshire. ########################### I did say that I would find out. and I was not correct. Coast Guard Auxiliary education staff on in First District have been made aware.

I have forwarded concerns further up the chain so the responsible parties on both areas of enforcement can discuss and hopefully provide an answer that can be published.

The State of NH subscribes to the state boating law administrators guidance and recommendations. As such the earlier mentioned training by: http://boat-ed.com, uscgaux.org, usps and a few for profit entities that may be listed: http://www.egov.nh.gov. Each comply with the rule of law as well as meeting all of the requirements of the federal and the state laws. If there are any exceptions or additions the states have provided that to the boating safety educators for inclusion. The answer keys and appropriate lesson materials are also provided. Most notably the NH portion has a very short compliance exam and Massachusetts has a youth exam. For a vessel under oars a white flashlight is minimally acceptable. Your question of a boat with a motor yes he needed red and green as well as white. For further information about lighting such as feet above the water line, intensity, screeing, etc see http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/NavRules/an...annex_1Intl.htm. Note that the flashlight or torch listed in rule 25 has no specification other than what is listed in the rule itself. So again from a cost and device position I offered you only need a white flashlight. As you can see you could have much more robust and costlier solution if you so choose.

so... 2 Commodores from the Coast Guard Auxiliary, 1 State Boating Law administrator and to round it out about a half dozen boating safety instructors for NH. state that It is true you do need a 360 degree white light lit if you can move faster than 7 knots and you have some sort of machinery connected to you and you dont need it if you are rowing your punt or paddling your yak a white flashlight with do. see rule 25. You can use you white light although it is more than you really need.

That is because they couldnt...

ad more crapola.... http://boat-ed.com/nh/course/p4-9_navlights.htm . Most states tend to comply with the requirements spelled out nationally with some exceptions these are taught by the organization providing the lesson, in north eastern mass they teach both NH and MA exceptions and requirements for youth and adult through the coast guard auxiliary. . NASBLA usually has a hand in helping with and approving the course curricula. incidently they are usually the people who enforce boat law and of course teach the courses. The cited section...is or appears to be missing the smaller sized boat listed in the nh boating safety course. Oversight or does it rank up there with tying your mule to the door knob? All you need once again is a flash light.... unless NH wants to say that their boating course is not compliant and their population is not licensed and my guess is probably not. ( does it appear to be expired???) Saf-C 403.16 Lights on Non-Power Boats. (a) Boats propelled by oars, paddles or other human or natural device except sails, operated on any public water, shall, between sunset and sunrise, display one white light in a conspicuous position, so placed as to show all around the horizon. ( Any other type of non-motorized vessel, when propelled by sail alone, shall carry only the combined light or separate side lights as appropriate to its class. Additionally, one white light at the stern so constructed that it shall show an unbroken light over an area of the horizon of 12 points of the compass so fixed as to show the light 6 point from right aft on each side of the vessel. Source. #2351, eff 4-25-83; ss by #3010, eff 5-2-85; ss by #4562, eff 1-3-89; ss by #5936, INTERIM, eff 1-3-95, EXPIRES, 5-3-95 (formerly Saf-C 403.18); ss by #6005, eff 3-24-95, EXPIRED: 3-24-03 New. #7904, INTERIM, eff 6-24-03, EXPIRED: 12-21-03 New. #8093, EMERGENCY, eff 5-28-04, EXPIRES: 11-24-04; ss and moved by #8172, eff 9-21-04 (from Saf-C 403.15) Saf-C 403.17 Diagrams. The running lights set forth in these rules shall be as illustrated in Figure 400-1: Figure 400-1 Running Lights Source. #2351, eff 4-25-83; ss by #3010, eff 5-2-85; ss by #4562, eff 1-3-89; ss by #5936, INTERIM, eff 1-3-95, EXPIRES, 5-3-95 (formerly Saf-C 403.19); ss by #6005, eff 3-24-95, EXPIRED: 3-24-03 New. #7904, INTERIM, eff 6-24-03, EXPIRED: 12-21-03 New. #8093, EMERGENCY, eff 5-28-04, EXPIRES: 11-24-04; ss and moved by #8172, eff 9-21-04 (from Saf-C 403.16)

dont get too complicated. NH subscribes to the federal component as far as I remember. All you need is a flashlight. and it doesnt have to be on all the time just when there is a risk of a collision. Ideally to illuminate you and your kayak

rule 25 again one white light (flash light) to be lit to avoid collision. all it takes is a white light to be turned on in the event that someone MAY run you down. so you dont have to have it on all the time since you need to have another boat close to have the probablity of a collision. best advice . shine it at your boat then at them if they dont get the point.

You call a MAYDAY or a PANPAN and if your nominal 5watt fm radio 18 inches above the water can hit a CG asset you will get the standard. Vessel calling mayday -- what is your position -- , what is your boat, what is your nature of distress, the inevitable 'please put on your life jacket' at this time they are launching an asset already. By the way your on channel 16 not 72 or any other one. If they have difficulty spotting you, they may ask you for back bearings - you do know how to do those? or fixes, or a flare or two or three. Dont have that how about a mirror? Dont be surprised if the boat turns out to be a: harbormaster, fireboat, fisherman, auxiliarist, concerned citizen (who monitors channel 16), or anyone else. People who end up paying are people who are not in imminent danger or those that have had a UMIB sent out for them or they have elected to have a commercial tower respond. Admiralty laws apply. Not saying this may happen but this applies to everyone -- a hard grounding is called a salvage operation in which case sea tow or Boat US are now called Salvage contractors who may make a claim against you or your insurance equal to the value of your vessel because you would not have gotten it unstuck without them and they after all dont endanger themselves just to unstick you. Here is more on what the CG does.. State and Local governments may be different..... SAN DIEGO (CG Public Affairs) - For more than 200 years the U.S. Coast Guard has responded to distress calls at sea as quickly as possible as if it were an actual call for help. But every once in a while, some of those calls are found to be false alarms, or hoax calls, sent by people who willingly mislead the Coast Guard and other search and rescue assets for various reasons. What they don’t realize though is that a hoax call could potentially divert valuable search assets from an actual distress case, and put rescuers unnecessarily in harms way while responding to the false call. The federal law concerning false distress calls: 14 U.S.C. 88© makes it a federal felony for anyone to knowingly and willfully communicate a false distress message to the Coast Guard or cause the Coast Guard to attempt to save lives and property when no help is needed. Penalties include up to 6 years in prison, $250,000 fine, $5,000 civil penalty, and the possible reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search. Hoax calls affect everyone, including people who are not boat owners or part of the maritime community. Hoax calls affect: The U.S. Coast Guard by placing our men and women in danger by operating ships, boats and aircraft, responding to these false distress calls; The American taxpayers by wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This is money that can be alloted homeland security and/or additional training; Those really in distress at sea by interfering with legitimate search-and-rescue cases. Anyone who knowingly and willfully commits a hoax or false distress call is fleecing America. The Coast Guard is working with the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice and other federal, state and local agencies to aggressively prosecute hoax callers and recover costs for the federal government on behalf of all taxpayers. Coast Guard Assets and Average Hourly Costs The U.S. Coast Guard, as a matter of both law and policy, does not seek to recover the costs associated with search-and-rescue from the recipients of those services. While we must be mindful to employ a cost-effective response to an incident, response or distress itself must not be delayed or limited by the misplaced concern of “who is to pay the bill.†One of the exceptions to this rule is the perpetrators of false distress calls. One penalty levied on hoax callers is reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the costs of performing the search. This is determined by hourly standard rates for cutters, boats, aircraft and crew. The follow is the hourly rates for San Diego-based Coast Guard assets (amounts do not include personnel and crew cost and are based on 2005 statistics, they do not reflect current fuel costs): More than $480 for a 110-foot patrol cutter More than $280 for an 87-foot patrol cutter More than $770 for a 41-foot utility boat More than $420 for a Coast Guard 25- or 28-foot response boat More than $4,400 for an HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter

A couple things. The boat crew are doing what they are told by the OOD at the station whether it was Portsmouth or Merrimack River. The station could have been told by sector Boston what to do based on the conditions observed and the "relative" skill of all the "experienced" Kayakers that ended up on the wet side of the kayak at sail Boston. The winds and weather you experienced while they may not have been an issue for you, are in the area for a "small craft advisory" and border line "small craft warning" . There are a few of you that use those words to grab the boat and head for the water but the general public and the average boater is what the advisory and warnings are geared for. I am glad you had a good time. You taught the crews well by your appearance on the water, hopefully with all the requisite equipment and with your head in the game. Put it this way. Usually the smart *ss gets asked for the next of kin's name and number.

Most ships will leave between 1600 on Sunday to 2300 on Monday

putting your name and number INSIDE is usually a good thing. Date: July 3, 2009 Contact: Petty Officer 3rd Class James Rhodes (617) 406-9011 Coast Guard searching for owner of kayak BOSTON- The Coast Guard is looking for the owner of a kayak found Friday in the vicinity of Carr Island in the Merrimack River near Salisbury, Mass. The kayak is a yellow, 12.5- foot Acadia Perception, serial number WB1223377G000. It has the words for instructional use only written on the side. The Coast Guard is asking anyone with knowledge of who the owner might be to contact Coast Guard Sector Boston at (617) 223-3201. “With an abandoned kayak you never know if someone is missing,†said Lt. j.g. Brett Gary, command duty officer at Coast Guard Sector Boston. “We would like to locate the owner to answer this question as soon as possible.â€

Apparently the boat captain had a 6 passenger uninspected passenger captain's license. One of the requirements in an accident such as this is to ensure that BUI is not an issue since they are required to submit to random testing.

Attempting to get information regarding water traffic routes, anchorages, no boat zones will post if I get it.