GL: Our Southern Reputation

[Rich Gano]

Seems I saw a reference here to the dangers of getting entangled with
"rednecks" down here like it was a unique and southern malady.  I am afraid
that the Burt Reynolds movie "Deliverance" did a lot of harm to our
reputation down here.  Note, I was born in a Naval Hospital in a "border"
state and am glad the North won that war, but I do live down here and have a
certain ambivalence toward stereotyping of the region and its inhabitants.

I have never given serious consideration to or worried about somebody coming
aboard my anchored and occupied boat in this part of the country -
especially in the "boonies."

I would probably be more concerned in the more populated areas of this
country on the theory that the more people you put together, the more
troublemakers you have.

I would be interested to hear from any person on this list who has direct,
or even secondhand knowledge (meaning YOU talked to the victim face-to-face)
of an occupied vessel at anchor being boarded south of the Mason-Dixon Line
by the dreaded, armed, bearded, farmer-John dungaree-wearing redneck.
People are just not that dumb down here.  I think that any person who would
be insane and dangerous enough to violate an occupied and anchored vessel's
security in the dead of night by boarding it needs their head examined,
right after it has been detached by the boat's crew.

One of my favorite thoughts about a certain type down here comes from a joke
concerning the "Ten Rules for those moving South."  Rule 2 was as follows:

If you get lost on some lonely road and stuck in a ditch down here, don't
panic, don't leave the car, and don't scramble for the cell phone.  Relax,
because pretty soon a BIG pickup with large tires and a couple of rednecks
will pull up behind you.  As they silently survey the situation and then
mumble a few unintelligible words to each other, don't talk to them or
interfere as they calmly attach a large rope retrieved from their front
bumper and yank you out of there before sending you on your way - they live
for this.

My biggest concern in any anchorage is being shaved at very high speed by
smart___ bass-boaters or jet-skiers with the intent of intimidating my out
of their waters or just because they can.  It's happened more than twice.  I
don't like it and consider it endangering the "skinned" vessel and its
occupants, but by the time it has happened, the idiot is usually beyond
range of any retribution I might like to inflict (If you threaten me with
lethal force, I consider it my right to respond in kind - where's my M79
grenade launcher?!).  I will bet these kinds of encounters happen in all
waters of the nation and are not necessarily characteristic of boaters in
southern waters.

Overall, I think boaters new in the South should expect to enjoy a their
stay in these waters and be far more concerned about mechanical failures in
their own vessel than any breakdown in the social fabric.  Lest this comment
influence a mass boat migration this way, remember Hurricanes Opal, Charlie,
Francis, Ivan, Katrina, Wilma, Rita, etc, etc.  :)

Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42 #295)
Southport, FL