Jaimie has taken up sailing with Forest, a local boy, in his Puffer sailing dinghy. For some reason, they waited until the wind was blowing 15-20 knots before taking out the little boat. Of course, they capsized it, and before they could get a life jacket slid up the mast the boat turtled and the mast was stuck firmly in the mud. Since this happened right in the harbor, there were soon numerous dinghys racing to the rescue and in minutes they were back upright. . They made their way over to a nearby sailboat that was on one of Forest’s moorings by his house in order to fix the halyard, Customs and Immigration came by in a speed boat to ask if they were the kids that had the capsized boat. They replied yes, but they were fine. “Well, the Coast Guard is looking for you”. was the reply as Customs took off. Next thing they knew, a Coast Guard boat approached (with the boat up on a plane). They kept wanting the kids to abandon the Puffer and get on the Coast Guard boat to be taken to land. Apparently this is protocol for “rescues”. But Forest kept telling them that the sailboat they were currently tied to was on his property and technically he was home.
At which point there was discussion amongst the Coasties as to protocol in that situation. Eventually, they just took everyones name, address, and phone number and the officer assured them just before he drove away “We’ll be contacting your parents”.