The US Coast Guard has the program they call the Vessel Safety Check (VSC). With this, you can volunteer to have a Coast Guard Auxiliary member stop by your boat and go through all the safety checks they would do if they boarded you ("pulled you over") while on the water. There are advantages to both the boat owners and the coast guard in doing it this way. They can use their auxiliary force to do the VSCs and boat owners who pass get a sticker that goes on the boat. The patrols out on the water know this boat has passed and will generally not bother you.
Joe from nearby Hazlet was assigned to do my inspection (you can see a photo of him from last year here). I had to wait a bit for him to arrive, so I used the time to finally mount my fire extinguishers and get all the items together.
One thing Joe has been helpful in suggesting is that I invest in the signal light and distress flag (upper left) so that I don't need to keep buying and recycling the flares (upper right) which can only officially be used for a few years even though evidence says they last much longer.
While I was waiting for Joe, I got bored so I put together a GoPro rig and decided to see what lies under the water in the Keyport mooring field...
Obviously, not much in terms of visibility.
So after the VSC, we caught a launch back to KYC...
Where I noticed that a tidal wave was about to hit the clubhouse...
It seems like the kid's party was on, so I found the Millers and chatted with them for a while watching their kids play with their cousin and try their hand at crabbing from the dock..
So even though I didn't leave the mooring field, it was still a great day on the water!
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