Had the wife and two kids our for a ride today. We were coming south and just passed by Mouse on the East side at about 1:00. I said to my kids, "is that a coast guard boat coming hard on a NW course?' It looked like he may have just left their Marblehead station. They were in what looked to be about a 42 foot aluminum boat, with a orange padded rub rail area around the entire boat. He saw me running south as he was going north and he hit the lights. I knew I was ok with everything. They pulled alongside in a heavy chop and constant troughs and he said I was doing nothing wrong, he just had to check a few more boats today. He said he chose my 27 foot center console as it would be easy for him to board today in a rocky situation. When he stopped me, what does every boat passing north and south do? They all have to get real close to us to see what is going on. That really made it for a rocky situation. The first question he asked me was if I had any weapons on board. I replied no. HE said he would proceed to board us. There was was a fantastic helmsman who really did a great job preventing his boat from hitting ours. Another member of the team stood on the side of their boat with a large white fender to prevent their boat from hitting ours. Their was a young man standing on the side taking the paperwork that they gathered from me. HE wanted my drivers license and registration. Then he checked my flares, and fire extinguisher. I had my throwable ring above my head in the hardtop, but he wanted it out in in the cockpit and available at all times. My entire family, dog included, had on our life vests, so he was happy with that. WE never step on our boat without wearing a life preserver! It was all good and they were on their way.
I had never been stopped before, and I thought some of you may want to know what they do.