Great electronics don't do much to get a boat on site, which is what is needed to save lives.
I was stationed out of Gloucester, MA. We routinely towed in 70-150' fishing boats with our 41'. Not many whalers could handle that. Nor can a whaler handle much over about 5' seas. The USCG has to go out in all kinds of weatehr, and the 41's can handle a hell of a lot more than a whaler. Besides, have you ever attempted to perform a helo basket hoist off of a whaler?
We did use Avons, 21' rigid hull inflatables for a lot of sar. They were fairly good at towing in pleasure craft, too. Their maintenance was a lot higher, though, meaning they were not available nearly the percentage the 41's were.
Nor did the Avons have firefighting capacity like the 41', 44's and now the 47's. Also, picking up 5-6 people from a sunken pleasure craft is very difficult on a boat designed for 4-5 people.
Similarly, MLE would be more dangerous on an Avon compared to a 41'. They ride much lower in the water, and require the MLE officer to pay much more attention to just geting in, out and around the boat than working from a 41'. Covering the MLE offficer fro an Avon is much more difficlut as well.
As for joyriding, you will have to define that. Sure, we had fun sometimes, but when you put in 80 hour weeks routinely, under some damn stressful conditions for a late teen/twenty something, a little release is to be expected. That is not to say any coxswain would allow their vessel to be used in a reckless way. Thier job and life are on the line.
I never tried to negate your point of electronics until this point, because the point is useless without boats that can do the job properly.
This is pure bull. Electronics help find the victim, which gets the boat to the right place in less time, a difference that can easily offset speed. Such a scenario is even discussed in the article above.
We routinely towed in 70-150' fishing boats with our 41'. Not many whalers could handle that.
And I've seen the Coast Guard tooling around a glassy Oakland Estuary in a 41 doing traffic patrol, which could be done better and safer from a whaler (if there were nice looking women aboard, they got boarded much more often). Guess which use burns up more hours? Guess which one costs more per hour?
Nor can a whaler handle much over about 5' seas.
That's not what I've seen around the Golden Gate and beyond.
Nor did the Avons have firefighting capacity like the 41', 44's and now the 47's. Also, picking up 5-6 people from a sunken pleasure craft is very difficult on a boat designed for 4-5 people.
More strawmen.