Public Right to Navigate question?

[alant]

And they are in a RIB equipped with two lots of horsepower outboards that can probably outrun my 6 knot cruising speed. When I was stopped in the Channel by Border Protection they were also backed up by a big grey gunboat. But very courteous with lots of 'please' and 'sir' interspersed with their 'requests' for me to stop and allow them to board and search.
I have not yet been stopped and searched myself by the Americans but I find them an emotional contradiction when I meet their Customs/Immigration when entering the US in my own boat. I like the way that they call me Captain both on the radio and in person, but I do not like the fact that they carry sidearms. One of the great things about living in Britain is the fact that the police are not armed, at least the ones I see and meet with the exception of the airports.

All that said I believe that the Border Protection do an important job and if in doing that job occasionally it means I am stopped and searched, that I suppose is the price of freedom.

The last time I was searched was just short of Dungeness and I was surprised how excited they got when flicking through my Australian passport and interrogating me on where I had been they realised that I was in fact returning from such exotic places as Brazil and Namibia. And therefore I must be carrying refugees and if not at least arms. The fact that if I had been I could have offloaded them at my first port of call in the UK, Newlyn, doesn't seem to occur to them. At one stage when I had told them that I had had to go into Brazil as the water in my main tank was foul, I thought they were going to rip up my floor to get a better look at my main water tank. Fortunately they were happy when I was able to pump water out of the tank at the galley sink.

I've been questioned & searched, whilst at a lunch anchor in a school boat at Newtown Creek!
Burly thugs in an incognito RIB, came alongside & rudely frightened the students.
No ID, or anything to indicate who they were.

 

[Saguday]

I believe you are legally entitled to ask for identification, even if you are not allowed to restrict or deny their access

 

[Capt Popeye]

I believe you are legally entitled to ask for identification, even if you are not allowed to restrict or deny their access

Humm, yep you probably have that right, but tis not easy shouting whilst immersed in the water by way of an accidental shove

 

[Triassic]

All officials have a job to do, and at times it's not always easy, but there is never an excuse for not identifying yourself and I would suggest that boarding a vessel without doing so is putting themselves at unnecessary risk. I would be very surprised if it happened in UK waters and be very disappointed if it did, to such an extent that I'd want to know when and where so that it could be followed up.