What Mike says may be true--but on your boat with a CG cutter or Marine Patrol boat breathing down your neck, you are in no position to argue. As one Coast Guard skipper told me--I can go a safety inspection at sea in 5 minutes or I can take two hours! We once saw a boat which "badmouthed" a coast guard cutter for "waking" him--the boarding and inspection for a 23 foot sailboat took well over an hour. The Coast Guard has the right to board any U S documented vessel or state registeded vessel anywhere in the world including foreign countries (if they have an operating reciprocity--which many countries have.) The fact is despite all court decisions--the officer of the law makes his decision at that time--and you cannot stop them. I had a friend whose new boat was basically destroyed in the Gulf of Mexico by Coast Guard, DEA, Customs and FBI. They had a "tip" that a trimaran was bringing drugs from Belize to Tampa--my friend was enroute from Mobile AL to Key West. They were taken off their boat onto the cutter. The durg dog smelled something in the ice box foam (new foam) and the saws came out while the interior of the boat was taken apart--incuding some dammage to the main beam because the person weilding the saw did not know where he was cutting. My friend finally got an FBI agent to look at the receipt he had for groceries in Mobile Al two days before--when they reconsidered! No appologies. Another friend--the skipper (and his crew) of a megayacht--was taken off the boat in Belize and the boat was searched by Belize federal autorities and U S DEA for over 24 hours while the crew was held in the prison. Nothing found and they were released. Another friend had his boat and property siezed in Panama by Panamian and U S DEA--mistaken idenity--but he was put in prison for over 6 months before being cleared--but the boat was gone. Agree this is nothing new--all of these above happened 3 to 10 years ago. Bob Austin