Is it legal to shoot from a boat?

[Spyder]

This thread has gone wildly offtopic, but its like a reunion in here.

I'm ok with it! Reading these stories is awesome!

[VictorFranko]

Beards? I ran a full beard for almost three years.
I basically was tossed off the Pt. Brower when our new LTJG arrived.
Our old LT wouldn't allow beards, but our new skipper showed up with big, red full beard.
Then he announced that all were allowed to grow beards except Franko and Kensfield!
I was like, WTF? We ran port and starboard crews and Kensfield and I were the DC for our respective crews. LT wanted our OBA''s to deal correctly and even though I proved it would seal keeping the bead properly trimmed, it was a no-go.
I guess I grumbled a bit too much and found myself transfer to San Diego Air.
Being a black shoe on an airbase, nothing could be worse.
I called Bob, the XO at CGSta Channel Islands and told him I was available and he got me transferred up. Great move, CI was a great small boat station. (we had two 82's in San Diego, Bob was the BM on the other boat, the Pt. Stuart, and were all new each other very well)

Thanks for filling us in on who you are Rick, welcome aboard. SanPedroShooter and I have already swapped a few stories.

Did I ever tell you guys about the time a squad of Mexican Marines captured a Polish PT boat, taking the crew hostage, and we (Pt. Brower) were sent to rescue the crew of the Polish PT boat and get the boat back?

I sh*t you not, it's a true story that will have to wait until I have more time to tell it

[Victor Cachat]

I hear you can do it from a surfboard (if you are an actor):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_19nxNfjs

[SanPedroShooter]

Beards? I ran a full beard for almost three years.
I basically was tossed off the Pt. Brower when our new LTJG arrived.
Our old LT wouldn't allow beards, but our new skipper showed up with big, red full beard.
Then he announced that all were allowed to grow beards except Franko and Kensfield!
I was like, WTF? We ran port and starboard crews and Kensfield and I were the DC for our respective crews. LT wanted our OBA''s to deal correctly and even though I proved it would seal keeping the bead properly trimmed, it was a no-go.
I guess I grumbled a bit too much and found myself transfer to San Diego Air.
Being a black shoe on an airbase, nothing could be worse.
I called Bob, the XO at CGSta Channel Islands and told him I was available and he got me transferred up. Great move, CI was a great small boat station. (we had two 82's in San Diego, Bob was the BM on the other boat, the Pt. Stuart, and were all new each other very well)

Thanks for filling us in on who you are Rick, welcome aboard. SanPedroShooter and I have already swapped a few stories.

Did I ever tell you guys about the time a squad of Mexican Marines captured a Polish PT boat, taking the crew hostage, and we (Pt. Brower) were sent to rescue the crew of the Polish PT boat and get the boat back?

I sh*t you not, it's a true story that will have to wait until I have more time to tell it

No you didn't. But I'll wait to hear it.

Just from reading about the whole beard thing, I knew there must have been a good amount of grumbling. At least in private.

[VictorFranko]

Hey Rick, you mentioned the Russian fishing trawler.

The QM on the Brower was from the Midgett and done a few patrols in the Bearing Sea.
While far off the coast around San Diego, we came upon this really huge, what looked to me, a fishing boat with more poles sticking up in the air than I had ever seen.
Roy, our QM, looks through the glasses and says "That's a Russian trawler."
I guess all the "poles" I was seeing were actually radio/surveillance antennas.
Can't remember if we radioed it in and were told to go get it or whether we just headed for it on our own, but as we approached, the trawler turned and ran.
We kept up the chase as best we could (our top speed was about 16 knots) and were laughing and patting ourselves on the back for being badasses and chasing the trawler away.
Just then, from behind, we were overtaken by a Navy destroyer and they had all the fires lit! They were flying after that trawler.

It was about that time it sank in that the trawler was not running from us, but from the destroyer.

Oh well, the thought was fun while it lasted.

[VictorFranko]

The Polish PT boat (I'll try and make it a short as possible);

We were the duty boat, which meant we maintained a 24 hour radio watch.
I just got off the 2300-0400 watch and turned into my rack.
Fifteen minutes later, I hear the engines light off and realize we are getting underway.
Screw it, I'm staying in my rack.
Shortly after getting underway, our QM McNally came and woke me and said the Chief wanted me on the bridge.
I asked Mac, what have we got?
He replied that the Mexican Navy captured a Polish PT boat and we have to get it back.
I told him to go piss off and went back to sleep. (we were always joking around with each other).
A few minutes later Mac comes down and says "No really, Chief wants you on the bridge."

Once on the bridge, I get the scoop.
An American flag vessel, named "The Polish PT Boat" was commandeered a gunpoint by Mexican Marines and were being held against their will.
The boat was an old WWI wood-hulled Navy mine sweeper that had a top speed of about 9 knots, it looked like a tug boat.
It seems an American fishing boat had overstayed their 30 day permit and when the Mexican Marines went out in their small boat to seize the violators, the violators had already left.

So, the Mexicans thought they would just take a larger American boat and use it to hunt for the permit violators.
We were all armored up (it was my job to hand the two calibers up through the forward berthing area hatch. Damn those things were heavy).
When we arrived on seen, the Mexicans tried to outrun us.
We'd get close and they turn hard starboard. We'd circle and they would turn hard port.
Finally Chief told us to fire a few rounds in front on the boat, but for God's sake don't hit anything, LOL.
That still didn't make them stop.
We yelled over to the owner of the boat and told him we were going to throw him a line, to pull it in and get it on his Samson post as quick as he could, which he did.
I think the Mexicans were a little overwhelmed or in a little shock and just watched him put the line on the post.
Once the line was on, we just overpowered the mine sweeper and got it on a very short tow. The line was out of the water and singing!
The Mexicans tried to pull the line off post at this point, LOL, no way that was going to happen.

After towing them awhile, we stopped and pulled them alongside. With our machine guns, M-16's, shotguns and pistols aimed at them, the Mexicans never moved a muscle and kept their M-16's slung.
We brought the Mexican's on board and explained that we were taking them to San Diego, left the owners on the Polish PT Boat and resumed the tow.
Chief figured as long as the Mexicans were cooperating, we wouldn't disarm them, but we kept them on the stern under very watchful eye. We offered them coffee and cigarettes.
We towed the Polish PT Boat into San Diego were directed to go straight to the Harbormasters dock on Shelter Island.
What a scene awaited us!
We basically fired on foreign soldiers, in Mexican waters, and then kidnapped them to San Diego.
The State Department was at the dock (it looked just like a scene from a movie, suits, walkie talkies, blacked out sedans and Suburbans) awaiting us where they took the Mexicans in temporary custody. The State Department had a large "speed boat" at the dock that they used to transport the Mexican Marines back to their small base on the Coronado Islands. I think they had the Mexicans en route within fifteen minutes of our arrival.

Probably the single weirdest call in four years of SAR.

[SanPedroShooter]

Wow. That's a good one.

We chased some Canadians across the border once. The M16 even came off the bridge...

Not quite the same thing.

Just as an aside, I assume the magazine was in the same relative place on the 82's. Just aft of forward berthing. We would drag the 25mm ammo through the hatch below the gun. The cans were extremely heavy. Some clever GM stenciled the word 'light' on them.

I still have a couple. They're light now cause they're empty.

[VictorFranko]

The M-2 50 cal were kept in the forward berthing area. The topside hatch to the berthing area was right between the 50 cal mounts.
The M-16's and the sidearms were kept in a locker behind the CO's cabin.
With God as my witness, I can't remember where the munitions locker was!
The ammo cans must have been kept elsewhere because I sure don't remember passing those up through the hatch.
After handing up the M-2's, I assumed my station as DC.
Getting old ain't for the faint of heart..................

[SanDiego619]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to set sail tomorrow morning and do some shooting. I will update the post on Monday, to let you know how it went.

How did it go? Did anyone bother you?

[The Gleam]

Can I take out a sailboat and do some target/skeet shooting?

In San Francisco? Market street maybe?

You'll be fine. Might even win an award.

---

[G-forceJunkie]

How did it go? Did anyone bother you?

Dude, the OP hasen't logged in in like 7 years. Doubt your going to get an answer.

[Dan_Eastvale]

As a kid we visited Catalina many times by their old seaplane service.
We would go out by boat to see the flying fish. The wild boar would always come down to the beach. Would have been easy pickings for hunters if it had been legal.

[BrokerB]

There was some morons I think just last summer shooting rifles off Catalina they could hear him or see him on the Eagles camera

[BB1776]

Hemingway used to do it all the time. Here he is with a Tommy gun in full auto.

[M1NM]

Cruise ships used to offer skeet shooting from the stern.