Highspeed Marine Patrol pursuit with shots fired

Today I did ride time with the New Hampshire Marine Patrol on Lake Winnipesaukee (sp). The weather gave me a break and we only got a little bit of rain in between sunshine and bluebird skies. But just kidding about the high speed pursuit and shots fired, that didn't really happen. I was introduced to Officer Callahan at the dock this morning and realized suddenly that this was really the police service, in terms of professionalism and seriousness. They also carry guns and have arresting powers. Officer Callahan was casual though and told me to call him Jimmy. We boarded his boat and he asked me a little bit about my boating background so he knew how much I could help him. He was happy to learn that I could help him with quite a bit (thanks Ocean Classroom). We checked the fluids, instruments, and various equipment, then he pulled out his chart and showed me his AOR (area of responsibility) and the various hazards and POIs (points of interest) in the AOR. The lake is 72 square miles and is divided into three AORs. We pushed off and headed to Camp Lawrence to inspect their vessels. Jimmy was very friendly and professional, he makes a big effort to know as many people as possible around the lake, the waters near their property, and the layout of populated islands. In his 5 years on the Marine Patrol he responded to multiple medical calls at Camp Lawrence and another fairly serious call for the Police. I helped Jimmy with the paperwork for the inspections. After that we went to Camp Nokomis on a different island where my friend Morgan from Proctor works in the summer. It started to rain so we left and rolled down the the covers to the cabin of the center console. Thankfully the downpour was short lived. Jimmy wasn't afraid of the throttles and we cruised around the AOR at 40 - 50 miles per hour. (that is considered high speed on the water) The vessel we were on had two 200 horse power outboard motors and a special hull that is partially an air cavity and partially foam. We went to Meredith and got lunch, then went to Wiers Beach in Laconia. Along the way we pulled over several vessels for warnings for no registration stickers and then inspected them too. We were at a marina in the Wiers filling out inspection forms when a boat flew by in the no wake zone headed towards the lake. We were far from the patrol vessel in the marina and Jimmy quickly finished the form and we dashed to the patrol vessel. I cast us off and we headed towards the speeder who was now far away. We were only planing for a second and the bow dropped, we were doing 50 mph and I had to put on my sunglasses so my eyes wouldn't tear. When we did get astern of the vessel Jimmy hit the siren and we had to jump its wake. "Hold on" Jimmy said and we bounced over the wake, getting some air, and circled the boat so it came to a stop and we could come alongside. After that excitement we went out into the broads (widest part of the lake) where Jimmy showed me some high speed maneuvers since I got such a thrill from jumping the wake. He pulled some really tight turns with the right combination of different speeds on each motor. It was quite the thrill. We patrolled the AOR more, slowing done to look at the houses and businesses on the shoreline to make sure everything looked okay. After that the shift was over and we headed back to headquarters. I stopped at Gilford Fire on my way home to pick up a coat light that Jason left in their air trailer earlier today. I brought that back to Franklin Fire on my way home and dropped it off. It was a fun day and probably an experience I won't forget.