Dear Editor:

As the former Chief of Operator Compliance and Chief of the Regulatory Branch of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Boating Safety in Washington, D.C.; also the founder and first director of the National Boating Safety School at Yorktown, Va. where we trained federal, state and local maritime law enforcement personnel, I have a solid background in boating safety and recreational boating law enforcement.

As implied by one of the commentors on the Boothbay Register's website, one needs a Ph.D. in maritime affairs to know what is what about safety on the waterways and law enforcement.

As background for my qualification to comment on what follows: I co-authored the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, which is the law for all recreational boaters in all 55 U.S. jurisdictions (look them up yourself as that is not a typo). I also co-wrote 33 CFR, Part 100, Regattas and Marine Parades, such as governs the Windjammer Days and Lobster Boat Races. Boothbay Harbor is a joint jurisdiction area so these laws and CFRs apply. They also apply to sole federal waters, but not sole state waters.

To read such misinformation and lack of knowledge by the general public when it comes to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary makes me well aware that not much has changed on the waterways of America and her jurisdictions. Before you complain about the heavy hand of Coast Guard Law Enforcement and the very dedicated Coast Guard Auxiliary personnel who have no law enforcement authority, get your facts in order.

While there are laws to protect you, there is one thing the United States Coast Guard cannot do and that is to legislate "common sense." Get informed, keep informed, take a Safe Boating Course sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary or U.S. Power Squadrons, and be thankful all Coast Guard personnel are "Semper Paratus" — "always prepared" in case you are not!

CDR Bill Wilson, USCG (Ret)
East Boothbay