I recently traveled the ICW from Charleston, SC to North Myrtle Beach. My trip was after the fourth of July and appeared to be an uneventful trip except for the fact that my generator decided for the 1st time not to start, leaving me without air conditioning for my voyage northward. The run took me 12 hours of leisurely cruising and placed me unplanned about 1.5 hours past sunset before I arrived at my destination. The trip was fine until 10 PM when I passed the SCDNR about 1/4 mile from my destination when I did not see a poorly placed and unlit no wake sign. Once I noticed it with my bow spotlight, I immediately went to idle speed from 3 knots before passing a SCDNR boat and verbally apologized to the officers noting the unlit stretch of ICW I was trans-versing was difficult to see. To late.... after I continued for a while the SCDNR boat was aft and ordering me to stop my boat for boarding. It was relayed that I felt unsafe to stop at that point due to the poor lighting condition, a narrow channel and low tide with limited maneuverability of a 40' Carver. Never the less I was ordered to stop for boarding so I did. As soon as the officer boarded, my vessel had drifted and I became entangled in fallen trees below the waterline to Starboard and had a large tree about 10 feet off my bow that the tide and entanglement were placing me near. The officer immediately ordered me to reverse the boat and had the second officer manning the SCDNR boat move away. When I attempted, my props struck something hard so I was unable to move. I then asked the officer if they could throw a line to my aft end to pull me free with no further damage but that was refused as they said they could not. The officers then offered to call for a tow while the one asked for identification to issue a written warning, the other appeared to disagree and wanted to issue a citation for excessive wake.

The problem here was that the SCDNR placed my vessel and family in an unsafe condition as they determined the time and location of the stop. I am a career retired law enforcement officer, and whether you are on the road or on the water the initiating officer assumes all responsibility for your safety when a stop is initiated. This includes your re-entry to the flow of traffic as well. As an example, if an officer stops your car and at the conclusion of his/her business turns emergency lights off and leaves you on the side of the road, and you are involved in an accident re-entering traffic. The officer is negligent as they did not take proper action to protect you after placing you in harms way. Same on the water. In my case, I advised the SCDNR boarding officer of this when I identified myself as a retired L/E Officer. While he did not disagree with me, he stated that he was just going to forget the warning and/or citation this time and once my boat floated to a position where I was able to clear my running gear. They were off the boat and heading south. I believe by not documenting the stop, this was done so that no paper trail of the contact was documented in their records.

Public safety officials play a crucial role on a waterway responding to distress calls and other emergencies. However poorly trained officials, or ones that feel they are beyond reproach only increase the dangers to the boating community with bad decision making lacking a common sense approach to those they are sworn to protect.