As a lifelong sailor (thanks Dad) and boat owner for 8-1/2 years, I have been boarded only once (about 4 years ago) and that was by the Coast Guard in Long Beach (CA) Harbor. I watched them leave a boat nearby and told my sailing friend "they are coming to board us" and "did you stash the contraband?" He had and the only thing that I was unhappy with was the pencil neck geeks leaving dirty footprints all over the gunnel and cockpit of my Catalina 27. Since the installation of the cruise ship terminal, the Long Beach Police Department routinely patrols around the Carnival Cruise Line ships before they depart 2 or 3 times per week. They have never bothered me, but then again, I don't make the fact of my molatov cocktail ;) open beer bottle obvious to them. On a July 4th a few years ago, I sailed by a barge close to the marina breakwater, not realizing it had 2,000 pounds of fireworks explosives aboard. Whoops! Again, no one said a word to me. We routinely sail near moored large freighter ships in the harbor without any hassle. Once I sailed near a huge ship out near the breakwater which had a law enforcement boat running back and forth. Oh, that was one you would want to stay away from since it was for liquified natural gas. Luckily, community sentiment was against building a terminal for LNG anywhere near here. Put that near a nuclear plant, since they are so safe from earthquakes and tsunamis.

I sure am glad that I will soon escape from California and head to Alaska, where the only concern other than bears will be tripping the idiot fisherman who runs up or down stream instead of remaining in place to reel in his or her sockeye salmon. One day will be spent on the ocean fishing for halibut out of Homer in Kachemak Bay. Will law enforcement hassle us? I doubt it.