Reply With QuoteWhat jerks! If your gonna write me up, do it without making me into a criminal. I will then do what I need to which is fight the ticket. :skull:
Before I launch into this story, let me say that I come from a boating family, and we've been going to Lake Castaic (near Magic Mountain) my entire life, and I've been taking my own boats there since I was 16 years old. It has always served as the local lake of choice when a trip to Havasu wasn't convenient, and up until recently I've never had a problem there. All of that has changed after yesterday, however, and I'm never going back.
After working double-time for the past few weeks, I finally started to burn out and decided to take the day off yesterday and spend some time relaxing and playing with my boat. The plan was to work on my motor, but at the last minute I discovered that my block needed some extra machine work, and it needed to go back to my machinest in Valencia. Since I had to drive all that way anyway, I called my dad and asked if he wanted to take a few hours off work and take his new flatbottom to Castaic for a little fun. He agreed, so we met at his house, loaded my block in the truck, and hitched up the boat.
Once we dropped the engine off at the shop we headed up to Castaic, where we found out that the launch fee is now $22. Fine. We paid the fee and started launching the boat. Now for a little background, this boat is called a BeeDee Marine, and is essentially a 16' fiberglass splash of a 1950s era Glen L. It is very nostalgic looking and very low-performance, and power comes from a bone stock 390 Ford spinning a Casale V-drive with 5% gears and a 12x15 prop. The exhaust consists of water injected manifolds, and we estimate top speed to be somewhere around 50mph on a perfect day.
As we started to launch the boat a lifeguard came down and asked if we had baffles in the exhaust. We told him we did, and he smiled, thanked us, and went back to his truck. He was only doing his job and couldn't have been nicer about it. Once we got the boat in the water we headed towards the back cove, because the wind was blowing about 10mph and kicked up some pretty nasty chop and we were getting pounded pretty hard. I hopped in the driver's seat in the cove, and I noticed a yellow and white L.E. boat in the back corner of the cove so I kept my foot out of it. As I left the cove the waves started slamming us around pretty bad, so I locked the plate down and started cruising at 1,800 rpm, trying to keep the boat on a plane but not going fast enough to punch through the waves with the bow down. Next thing I know a black and white boat with a lightbar comes blasting towards us from the launch ramp area, with full lights and sirens going. I shut the boat off (and waves start coming in over the sides), and the "officers" proceed to give me hell about breaking the speed limit. I couldn't believe it! I asked if the limit was still 35mph, to which they replied "it sure is, and if you know the limit why were you speeding so bad?"
I asked how fast we were going, and he proceeded to explain that he had us on radar going 53mph! To be honest, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or yell, so I just sort of stammered. My dad explained that this boat probably doesn't even go that fast at full throttle, and certainly wouldn't go half that speed in chop with the plate down. The cop got pissed off, telling us "Radar never lies." At that point I told him that not only was I watching the tach and I know we were cruising at 1900rpm, but that I purposely wasn't going fast because of the water conditions and the police boat in the cove. That's when the sh!t really hit the fan. He said there is no police boat in the cove. I replied that I was looking at it right then, as we were speaking. He turned around, looked at the yellow and white boat, and then started to yell at me, saying "Can't you tell the difference between a cop and a lifeguard?!!!" With the exception of a few fisherman we were the only boat on the lake, and I think these guys were just looking for somebody to mess with, because they were getting really pissed off, and we never even raised our voices.
At that point I suggested that I would get on the police boat, and one of the officers could ride with my dad or even drive the boat, and they would see for themselves that the boat wouldn't go 53mph in chop. Heck, we even asked them to radar the boat while it was happening to prove it. They weren't interested. They proceeded to tell us that they're sick of "people like us" breaking the rules, then they wrote up a $180 speeding ticket for going 53 in a 35, and reminded us to please read the flyer you get when you enter the gate that explains the speed limit on the lake. These a-holes were obviously lying, and if I had actually broken the rules I would gladly pay the ticket. The problem is, I know I wasn't even going close to the 35mph limit, and they were fully flaunting their authority in our faces and there was nothing we could do about it. They flat-out LIED. At that point I was so steamed I didn't even want to drive, and my dad figured we had already gotten the ticket so we might as well do the crime, so we headed back towards the ramp as fast as the water conditions would allow.
We plan on fighting the ticket, because this was just plain wrong. It is getting harder and harder to find a place to take a hot boat anymore, and its obvious that castaic doesn't want our business. I'm fed up and disgusted. Sorry for the ridiculously long post, but I just had to get this out.
Dan
What jerks! If your gonna write me up, do it without making me into a criminal. I will then do what I need to which is fight the ticket. :skull:
That suuuuuucks. Just another tale of the crackdown there. I personally never had problems there. Maybe your pipes sounded like 53mph.You were like an 64 Impala on Daytons driving through Bel Air. You stuck out like a sore thumb and no one else was there. Who else were they gonna pick on? That was the problem. They were trying to pick up on their mid-week violations. Lay low, buy a Bay Liner.
I feel you pain having been harassed plenty of times at all the local S CA lakes. Comeon out to TN...its a "NO Assh0le-ranger Zone" and its free to use the water....and there is plenty of the crystal clear wet stuff, let me tell you.
That is total BS, I can't believe it. It sounds like it's your word against theirs, there must be a way to get this taken care of. BoatCop ?????
Too bad you didn't have a GPS set for top speed to show. It probably would have pissed them off more.
This sounds like total BS. I have learned that you can and have the right
to ask to see the radar reading. Correct me if I'm wrong, But, I was told many years ago that there not to clear the gun untill all parties have moved on. ???
BD
Those guys at Castaic are A holes. It was also the last day of the month. I can't believe it's 22 bucks now.
boy I love the ocean
I feel you pain having been harassed plenty of times at all the local S CA lakes. Comeon out to TN...its a "NO Assh0le-ranger Zone" and its free to use the water....and there is plenty of the crystal clear wet stuff, let me tell you.
Preach on Brother. We do have some "Jack Booted Thug" river cops but any Bayliner can out run them. Not that I would suggest that
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