LETTERSan eyebrow and inquires as to the basis of the quoted lawand the status of all the vessels here. He replies, “The threedaylimit applies only to ‘liveaboard boats.’ “What the heck is a “liveaboard boat”? Good thing I liveon an Islander.(Referring back to your Jeffersonian response: Is it“Constitutional” to have one set of rules <strong>for</strong> “liveaboards”and another <strong>for</strong> “absentee, careless owners of floatingpieces of shit”? Next thing you know, we’ll have rules thatwill make some races subservient to others. I digress.)Another conversation overheard earlier this very day:Tanned, short-wearing, t-shirted, unshaved, long-haireddude on end of long concrete Gulfport fishing pier (yellingout onto water): “Maaaaaarrrrrrk. Maaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk.”Mark, a multi-year liveaboard in Boca Ciega Bayaboard a 25-foot sailboat with no engine, a broken outboardand absolutely no sails, responds, “Hey, Theo.”Theo: “Where’s my boat, man?”Mark: “Right there,” pointing at the water just in frontof his “home.” (This is the resting place of a 20-foot woodenpowerboat that sank in storms associated with Alberto,over a week earlier.)Theo: “Has anybody been on it?”Mark: “Sure.”Theo: “I suppose they got the solar panels then.”Mark: “Yup.”Theo: “Did it break free?”Mark: “Nope. Sunk right there.”Theo: “Oh, well. That’s life.” (Shrugs shoulders withpalms up. Turns and walks up pier. Vessel remains navigationalhazard.)After hearing this exchange, I have come to the conclusionthat “boats don’t cause anti-boating legislation; idiotswith boats do.’’Kevin HughesS/V Windigo III, Boca Ciega Bay (<strong>for</strong> two more days…)Kevin,Well put. It is the minority who rule sometimes, at least in theseanti-boater laws.Thanks <strong>for</strong> your comments on my struggling skills as an editorand defender of the Liberal (as the word was then used) idealsof Jefferson, among others.Don Nolen wrote a great letter, and his views really bring usall down to earth from our lofty ideals to tell us that we reallymust work to resolve these issues, not just orate about them. He isright as you are in your so aptly-put comment, “Boats don’t causeanti-boating legislation; idiots with boats do.”Un<strong>for</strong>tunately, the Gulfport pendulum of boaters’ rights hasbeen swinging wildly in response to the derelict boats off theirshores. City leaders responded recently with so much boaterhatred that I thought they were going to pick up the whole community,land and all, and move it inland away from the water.Rename it “Landport.” They have now recently, through theactions of some boater-friendly and energetic citizens, begun towork at solving the problem at hand—these derelict boats—withoutturning their backs on boaters in general. We are still waitingto hear the outcome of their story, but it appears the community isprogressing towards a more boater-friendly atmosphere.EditorE-mail your letters to the Editor:editor@southwindsmagazine.com12 October 2006 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com
<strong>News</strong> & <strong>Views</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Sailors</strong> SOUTHWINDS October 2006 13