Lake Shasta Deputies

Has anyone had any problems with these guys. I just got back from Shasta and am really debating on going back due to the deputies. No, I did not get a ticket but was stopped twice by the same deputy two days in a row and given a break but with a warning stating that if he caught me or anyone riding without a coat gaurd approved vest that he was going to give me a big ticket. Then said the last guy he warned rode with one after the warning and he came back and hammered him with a 1800 dollar ticket. I said thanks for the warning and got off the lake. The other time he stopped us we were in Holiday Harbor heading to the gas pumps and my brother was sitting on the back end of the boat. I know you arent supposed to to that but we were going 2 miles an hour and he had a bumber in his hand getting ready to tie off to the dock. The deputy saw us from the main body of the water and hauled balls into the no wake zone to stop us. Told me that the guy on the back is a misdameanor and to not make any wakes. What the hell. I dont think I would have such a problem but I work corrections and have worked the street before. I was never like that.

looks like you got a tough break never had a problem up there and we have been caught sking way past sunset

The guys at the boardshop told us to make sure we are off the water at 8:25 PM. When I went out with them one night they had a watch in the boat just to make sure of the time. It was crazy. They said the cops dont give any breaks on that either. Just left the lake dissappointed. I only got four runs in and I was on the lake for five days.

Thats funny you posted this because this BS just happened to us on Friday. We were pushing our runs into the late late evening. I was the last one being pulled and I was about done because it was getting so dark but sure enough. 13 minutes after offical sun down which was 8:07 sherrif pulled us over, no warning and slapped my friend who was towing me with a ticket, no one was around and we were being totally safe. I asked him also when the 15 mph rule takes effect he said now and we pointed out 2 fishing boats breaking the rules. Damn sherrif said one ticket at a time. I was also told by another person about the non CGS vests. Starting to get a little more strict on Shasta. Whats also funny is that I think there was an off duty water cop on the boat with the sherrif in his civilian clothes behind the drivers seat and what did he have in his hand drinking a F****** Bud Light. Sherrif was pretty rude also quoting phrases like "Come to Shasta on vacation go away on probation". Overall we had decent water and mostly everyone had a good pull, it just sucks not being able to get a warning.

It just sucks to go all the way to Shasta and deal with that BS when I dont have to deal with the strict "letter of the law" and "black and white" cops on my lake. The deputies on lake berryessa leave you alone unless you are doing something really stupid.

Okay, that ticket or warning about the person sitting in the back.

The following law under RECKLESS OR NEGLIGENT BOAT OPERATION item 1 says: Riding on the bow, gunwale, or transom of a vessel under way, propelled by machinery, when such position is not protected by railing or other reasonable deterrent to falling overboard; or riding in a position or manner which is obviously dangerous. These provisions shall not apply to a vessel’s crew in the act of anchoring, mooring or making fast to a dock or another vessel, or in the necessary management of a sail.

The last sentence applies to you. Apparently the deputy must not have know the law very well.

Copied from: http://www.dbw.ca.gov/Pubs/Abc/oplaw.pdf

The sherrif has given us warnings and tickets in the past every year when we go......... but you are breaking the laws!

That deputy deserved to be urinated on. Same to the guy who said come to shasta on vacation, go away on probation. What a small man.

Myke I agree we were breaking the law but were not doing anything recklessly or driving drunk. I know for a fact their was a lot people drinking and driving and a lot more jet skis driving way to close behind my boat for him to worry. We were teaching 4 girls to ride at 12 miles an hour. What is so bad about that. Getting a break or not it was BS for him to stop me both times. Didnt even have music on.

Got stopped comming out of Jones Valley on Friday afternoon. Older cop was actually very cool. Could have cited us for over 5 mph as we were doing like 25. There is one bouy by the launch ramp that reads no wake. There is a 2nd 5mph like a mile away that you cant even see from the launch ramp. We cleared the first and started out and got light up right away. Apologized and said my bad and he let us go. Never asked about vest or anything. We had 2 riders without CGA Approved vests. Also were wake surfing which I hear is trouble up there. We waived at him like 3 times saturday and sunday and never had any trouble.

We were out there also Rick, Friday evening and Sunday. That seems to be a common issue, people don't see the second set of buoys at the opening on the channel, I saw a lot of people take off and get on plain after the first set of slow buoys by the marina.

when we were there in june, we got stopped once for surfing with people on the sun deck, after that first night i never got stopped and only saw another cop way in the distance

Shasta Lake for some reason is one of the deadliest lakes in California. There are more accidents there than on the Delta... not sure why.

I can see to some degree why they would be on edge but some of that sounds ridiculous.

The cops have always been nice to us. We've deserved tickets and only got warnings and we where way illegal.

You got a warning and you even admitted you where wrong so why are you complaining? Be happy you didn't get a ticket. According to your thinking if you're going 90 MPH on I-5 but no one is around and you're being safe you should be allowed to go as fast as you want.

"No, I did not get a ticket but was stopped twice by the same deputy two days in a row and given a break "

That sounds like a great deputy, and a reason to actually go back. Sherrif A-Hole at the delta would have given tickets for sure.

Man I love Canada............

I think with the sherrifs, its hit or miss what will happen. When we got pulled over on Friday Sherrif A-Hole already had his ticket box in hand ready to write and we were not even docked to eachother. We tried to convince him just to give us a warning but no dice.

Ya, I don't know that I would have made a post to complain about the Shasta Deputies in this instance. Especially when you were in the wrong, admitted to being in the wrong, and then ended up getting a warning. It seems like you should be complimenting them (maybe thats a stretch).

"I know you arent supposed to to that but we were going 2 miles an hour"

Don't give them a reason to stop you in the first place. Once they stop you they will probably find something else wrong if they look hard enough(that goes for anybody on the water).

I think when I become a boat owner I'm going to keep a binder with all state boating laws. That way when they try & bust me I can break out the rule book & say, "actually sir, you are wrong, law____ section____ says I can do this". Anyone wanna bail me out? I'm sure they will find a way to arrest me after that little smart ass move.

Thats pretty good, for us it was a matter of 13 minutes which I think is really lame. It was still light out barely. I'm not admitting to doing anything wrong, especially when people are now expected to know when sunset times are.

13 minutes is way late and yes you should know when sunset is if your going to be on the water.

Did you have your lights on?

"It was still barely light out" what are you complaining about anyway. It sounds like you where wrong both times and your still complaining.

yes sir!

Myke you go to shasta yet? were hittin up Melones this weekend if you wanna ride, I could use some pointers on my W2W since I dont think I am getting the speed I need. Maybe justin will give you saturday off, chalk it up to customer service. On another note most lakes I have been to you are lucky to see even one sheriff, it would be nice to see ones actually upholding the law and not harassing us. Also always wear a CGA vest, its just smart

yea the cops on shasta are a bunch of jackasses. last year when i was there we were jumping off the railroad trustle by antlers and a cop saw my buddy go off the rope swing and actually got off the boat and chased him down with his buton. it was crazy, the cop went nuts, it was funny bc we got away but damn, for a rope swing.lol

YesI had my lights on and no 13 minutes is not way late. The sun just went over the hills and I would say it was dusk like. And good for you to check sunset times.

This weekend at a Norcal lake I saw a boat surfing with three dudes on the back beck, and the surfer w/o any jacket at all. This is the kind of thing that gives surfing a bad rap. That guy should have gotten a ticket for being stupid... They lucked out though because the Sherriff did not see them.

I say keep the peeps in the boat and where a jacket. This will keep the Sherriff out of your boat!

The past 3 fridays, we have been checked by the Sherriff on the Sac river. The first time we were definately short on Coast Gaurd vests, but just held up the outlaws and the Sherriff counted them. He gave me a new flag because mine was faded, but that was it. We were stoked he counted the outlaws.

The next 2 Fridays we were asked to show vests again. The last time my crew forgot theirs and luckily I had put in some orange ones because of what happened the week before. After 7 years riding the Sac, I was never stopped, now I have checked 3 times in 3 weeks. I think are getting way more serious!

UJ

Discaimer- Im a cop.

Just spent a week at Shasta, on July 21-28. 26 family members, on two houseboats. Two wakeboats one pontoon. And four standup jet skis. We got stopped six times. It started to get embarassing, and frustrating. I have never had any problems with another cop untill this trip. It finally got to the point where I told the deputy this Bull$**t is getting real old, real quick. Ill spare you the story of every time we got stopped. But once, while we were on an evening cruise, lights on, not breaking the speedlimit, the deputy told us to return to our houseboat. I asked why, and what we were doing wrong, his reply was "Because I said" Ive been a cop for eight years, and have never treated somebody, maybe other than a gangbanger, like that. The only ticket that came out of it, was my uncle was in a five mile an hour zone, doing about 3, but was still standin on his ski, the deputy said if you are standing, you are obvioulsy doing over five. Keep in mind, everybody in my family rides stand up skis, and has raced, freestyled etc. I can ride a stand up jet ski, and not be moving/putting out a wake.

Most everybody in my family is from So-Cal, and spends a lot of time on Lake Powell. Several of them said they would not return to Shasta because of our experiecne with Shasta S/O. Again, Im a cop, and I try to explain to people why things happen. I have no excuse for this. It was bad. Just my .2

By the way, all the stops were in the Squaw creek arm, never got stopped up in the Sac arm.

That is what I am trying to say. I worked the street also and now in corrections and that was the point I was trying to get across. At my lake there is nothing like that happening. I never told the deputies on the lake what I did because I hate playing that card but the whole thing was stupid and no reason for it. People break the law everyday but there is thing called letter of the law and spirit of the law. There are other people that should be stopped and harrassed that are doing alot more dangerous things. I am greatful I got no ticket but when you work this profession and know how professional cops interact with normal people this kind of crap is frustrating!!

Biggest thing that gets me, after what happened on Friday on my boat and reading other posts is how these water cops can get off treating people with no decency, I can understand that they probably have to deal with drunk people all the time but come on. Once and a while you will get a nice cop but lately I swear they have been cracking down much harder.

Call the Sheriff's Office on the lake and complain about them if it was so bad. Even cops aren't above the law when working and if you think you where being hassled then the supervisors need to know.

Folks, there is enough info here on this thread to make me concerned about whether there may be a deputy on Shasta that needs some supervisory counselling time. SCA I hope you got an ID or a badge number or something on this guy, you clearly have had an experience that his Sergeant needs to hear about.
Kevin, sounds like you did too.
People, if you run into a less than professional cop, and are doing nothing wrong, and don't get treated with respect and in a legal fashion, then get a badge numbe or name or both from the cop and follow up on it, and file a complaint if you don't think you can get the problem resolved any other way. If you run into one of these characters, also remember that trying to go toe-to-toe with the person right then and there isn't going to work. You will lose. Cooperate, be businesslike, and don't give them anything to extend their behavior beyond what they are already doing. People tend to give what they get. If you have a loudmouth, a drunk or other self-appointed expert on board, or just some guy trying to show off for his girl, it would be in your best interest to keep them quiet while business is being done. They won't help your cause one bit. Take up your complaint afterwords.
Now, if you are boarding just a little after dark, or just a little short of lifejackets, or were just standing on the swim deck for a few minutes or on a plane for just a sec in a no wake zone, etc., then the strength or your standing shrinks a bit, because the law is the law. However, there is still a professional standard of behavior to be met, and I've written a lot of tickets, and made hundreds of felony arrests in my 25 years where no complaint arose because there was no basis for one, so I know it can be done.
But if you are under way, after dark, legally lighted and otherwise operating within the law and get told to go back to camp "because I said so" or have a similar experience then we all would benefit from this cop getting some guidance.
Like Kevin said those of us in the business(and those like me who spent their working life in it trying to do it the right way) have much more to gain from weeding out those who shouldn't be in the profession, and training those who need it.
It makes our jobs much easier when we all do it right.

(Message edited by sam8 on August 21, 2007)

For the record I did not write this to get any cop in trouble. I know some people take their job seriously and sometimes a little too seriously. The only point to this thread was to see if anyone has issues with the Shasta deputies. Camping at Shasta I just never thought I would run into this issue. Went camping last year and and never was stopped. I just wanted some feed back on other peoples stories to see if it was an isolated incident or not, and appearantly it is not. Such a shame that some people are like this. I just thought after the first time the deputy stopped us he realized that there was no alcohol on board and just a group of polite and respectful people on board just trying to have a good time in Shasta. Water under the bridge and it is in the past. Just posted for some feed back.

We will be at Shasta next week. What is the letter of the law regarding a CG approved vest while behind the boatwakeboarding or surfing. I have been able to find the boater pamphlets, but not the actual text of the law. I have heard that there is an exception for training for a tournament. That exception is not mentioned in the safe boater pamphlet. Any help is appreciated.

Begin Hi-jack' Peter, how are the boys riding this week? Hi-jack over

Randy- I'm sending you an email.

Peter the guy I was with the day of the non CG approved vest pullover told the deputy he is training for a tournament and the deputy shot him down saying it is only legal at the event. the deputy said their was no exception at all. The reason he used for pulling us over was that he say our vests looked a little thin?? He drove by us 10 minutes before that then came back right to us and made us tie off with him. Blake was an instructor at the board shop and was in a wakeboard event over the weekend and told the deputy who he was. It doesnt matter. Make sure you have the CG approved or they can really screw you. Deputy said $200 per person not wearing CG approved and another $200 ticket goes to the driver for allowing the vest wearing. I cant imagine what the ticket would be if you counted those vests as a vest for someone in the boat if they came in to check. It would really ruin your trip.

you guys simply amaze me sometimes you break the law and expect police not to react.

just a thought. police typically use a minor infraction to pull over a vehicle. then they do a bit of exploring to find out if a larger infraction is occuring. on the water about the largest infraction is dui. a driver that is impaired is more likey to let people sit on the gunwales, ride after dark, wear non cga vests or break laws themselves. oh yeah a drunk boater is also more likely to run your ass over after you fall.

i cant believe he had the audacity to tell the deputy he was training for an event. do you think training for an event will be covered by that event's insurance if he were to die while wearing a non cga approved vest while training for the event? id like to see that claim.

break the law expect to approached. especially on the water and especially when there isnt alot going on out there(i.e. non holiday weekend).

Whoa Whoa whoa. Have you read anything on this thread Alan??? "police typically use a minor infraction to pull over a vehicle. then they do a bit of exploring to find out if a larger infraction is occuring. on the water about the largest infraction is dui." First off it wont be an infraction it a straight arrest and to the county jail. I know why they do this and I know that is the reason. My problem was the first time we were pulled over and he saw that we had no alcohol on board and that we were respectful. And as a matter of fact the first time we were pulled over we werent breaking the law at all. The guy who told him he was training for an eventwasnt even riding but he did have an even that weekend. He was asking the question He was teaching our boat wakeboard lessons. Breaking the law I know police react and they should but a few of us that are on this forum and do this line of work dont agree with some things that happened. There was enough other things going on in the cove we were in. EX. wakesurfer cut infront of our boat not paying any attention with no flag person. Wow nothing else to do but drive up to us and say our vest look a little too thin. I THINK NOT! Ok Alan here is something for you. You had 1 or 2 beers one night and you drive home. You are under the limit and your driving is not impaired. On the way home your tail light goes out. Uh OH you are breaking the law now. Cop pulls you over and smells some beer on you and makes get out of the car. you end up blowing a .04 but the cop is the letter of the law guy and still brings you in for driving under the influence which they can do just wont be as stiff as a being over the legal limit. Wow you broke the law for not having a tail light and the cop really pulled you over just to investigate but it just so happened that the cop was a letter of the law cop and one gives his own mom a ticket!! Tell me you wont be mad about that. Some people simply amaze me.

Just because you don't drink one day and you're nice doesn't give you a pass the next time you do something wrong.

And yes if you have a couple of beers and get pulled over for a broken tail then yes you deserve the ticket that goes along with it.

Alan-relax!

I simply asked a question about the law. If someone chooses to break the law, they are at risk for whatever the consequences are. Regarding training for an event, I know the "Blake" in Kevin's message. He is very respectful. He was probably merely repeating a rumor that has been going around- the same one I heard and was trying to verify.

I completely agree faceplanter. The second stop just seemed a little thin to be stopping us and making us leave a rider in the water for while there was some other things going on around us that werent quite legal. The boat was going 12 miles an hour and the rider was wearing a CG approved. This is not a wakeboarder VS. a deputy discussion and never meant it to be. This was just started to see if anyone else had some issues with the deputies. I never said I was in the right and the cop was in the wrong. It was something that I didnt expect to deal with in Shasta. I do see positive things coming from the discussion and I think it is cool there has been feed back from both sides. Peter thank you. Blake was in no way rude to the deputy and a lesson to all, as long as you are polite to officer or deputy it does make a difference. It did in our instance. If we had been rude and obnoxious we for sure would have been ticketed. In conclusion I have no issue with the deputies in Shasta. The job is not easy and I know that. No complaint will be filed from me and there is no chip on my shoulder. Just wanted to hear other peoples stories. If people had issues with cops on the lake I ride on I would like to hear about them. Just know alot of people go to shasta to ride.

The law is pretty much cut and dry, a lot of people on this current post want the people with the infractions to own up to breaking the law and get over it. Which is fine, but really I feel like people who travel long distances to Shasta for vacation and/or who don't spend that much time on boats and get slapped with a fine for what I feel is a minor law infraction is lame. Yes, it is the law, but many of these instances could be let off with warnings and if you are caught doing it again, well fine yes you deserve a ticket. It just sucks to be on vacation with family and friends and be under such strict surveylance by the law, and props to them for trying to make water ways safe from DRUNK DRIVERS and RECKLAS BOATERS.

I think that is a valid point that was brought up about getting the officers badge number and reporting non-professional behavior, and I will definitely keep that in mind if that ever happens to me.

In my honest opinion I don't think many of the people who have posted their stories should have received tickets or such non-professional behavior from the Shasta Lake deputies.

I know the law, It is what I do for a living. I obviously dont know every water law, but I have educated myself on at least the most important ones. We were stopped six times. 3 times for riding a stand up within 100 ft of the shore line( where we were was only about 200 feet wide, when boats come pulling down the middle, your gonna have to get within that 100 ft mark, or your gunna get run over.) Once for driving the boat at night, all lights on, within the seed limit. Once for riding a stand up within a five mile an hour, no wake zone. (he was going under five, and making no wake.) And twice for an inspection. I do not abuse my power, and pull the cop card. The last time I had contact with the deputy, I sensed a bit of an attitude. I get attitude with gangbangers, dope dealers, not familys enjoying a day on the water. I told him I was a cop, and what I thought about his way of doing business. keep in mind, the six times we were stopped was in 3 days. We moved to another arm after that, and didnt have a problem. The young deputy we dealt with, was cool, the older guy I dealt with seemed to be the problem.

OK- So here's the straight scoop regarding Non CG approved life vests. This is from California Boating Law- Department of Boating and Waterways.

"(c) Any person on board a personal watercraft or any person being towed behind a vessel on water skis, an aquaplane, or similar device, except for any underwater maneuvering device intended for use by a submerged swimmer, shall wear a type I, II, III, or V Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device. An underwater maneuvering device is any towed or self-powered apparatus that a person can pilot through diving, turning, and surfacing maneuvers that is designed for underwater use. (1) This subdivision does not apply to a person aboard a personal watercraftora person being towed behind a vessel on water skis, if that person is a performer engaged in a professional exhibition, or preparing to participate or participating in an official regatta, marine parade, tournament, or exhibition."

So you see it was not audacious or ridiculous for Blake to ask the Deputy that question. The deputy was either unaware of the law, or was misrepresenting the law.

Nonetheless, the way I read the law, it seems to indicate that if someone is training for a competition, they do not have to wear a CG approved vest. I am not recommending this practice, I am merely pointing out the law.