"We boaters know there is one thing that stands between us and death and that's the USCG."
PLuuuuuEEEEEASsssE, can you lighten up on kissing coastie A$$?
Because, we SAILORS know there is one thing that stands between us and death and that's our own determined seamanship.
What can I say? You SAILORS are a different breed. If I had a dollar for every sailor plucked from the ocean by the USCG I'd be a rich man. See, some of us power-boaters know you can do everything right and still be in mortal danger and there's only one organization that will assist no matter what the conditions.
While A$$ kissing certainly isn't required... I'm very surprised to see the level of hatred for the USCG that I've seen so far on this thread. It's discouraging.
There are few examples of any agency that does *more* with *less* and does it with uncommon professionalism, than the U.S. Coast Guard. The NYPD is a larger organization than the USCG, and they must patrol an area many thousands of times larger. Yet they seem to do a pretty damn fine job of it.