Safety or the Environment?

The OPP’s finest have had a fun time on the Lake this summer, running around in their super-charged patrol boats. I’ve been stopped twice and it certainly wasn’t for speeding! At least they were polite and friendly while checking my yacht had the correct minimum safety gear on board for a vessel of its length. (They even checked the flares were inside the 'four years from date of manufacture' requirement). But here’s the eyebrow raiser. Having determined who the skipper was, they then asked ‘What proof of competency can you provide?’ Think about it.

However, the US Coastguard feels it has different issues to check out. While the OPP were concerning themselves with making sure one had a buoyant heaving line no less than 15 meters and a waterproof flashlight on board, amongst other safety items, the US Coastguard dives straight down to the bilges. Are they clean or full of dirty, oily water? And what’s more to the point, where’s the mess going? Not in their waters! And you better not have installed that sneaky little ‘Y’ valve between the head and the holding tank switched to overboard discharge! So, on one side of the Lake, ‘safety’, the other, ‘environmental’. Discuss!