Fucking Rocket boat...
Okay, story time. So, my brother was a law student in SF. He had a class on maritime law. They took at field trip to the Mare Island DHS office (I think) to learn more about the implementation of all the law they were learning.
So, they learned, in response to the Cosco Busan oil spill (I think), DHS decided to put in a warning system that would track all the boats in the Bay and then alert the DHS office if any of them were going to crash into Frank's Crab Shack again. Look at the trajectories, guess the time, send out an alert to the whole office. Years are spent on this system, millions of dollars, lots of studies, yadda yadda yadda.
The warning system they decided on, because this is the government and they know about lawyers, is that the whole office is going to have red flashing lights and a very loud voice come over the intra-office speakers saying 'CRASH IMMINENT". And then it'll just blare that notice until the S/W decides that the crash ain't happening anymore.
So, my brother there and they are taking the tour and the alarm goes off and ... no one does a damn thing. And he's thinking that this is really strange. And the tour guide they have looks at the group of law students and explains the above. And then the tour guide goes and says ' but they forgot about the fucking Rocket Boat'
So, in the Bay at that time, there was the Rocket Boat tour. You get on at Pier 39, you go on a tour at really high speeds, bumping your clam chowder out along the way. And to scare the tourists at the end, the pilot heads straight for Pier 39 and then turns away at just the last second. Tourists are scared, but happy, a bit wet. Everyone has a good time.
Except for the DHS office and their automated crash system. Every. Single. Time that the Rocket Boat decided to scare the tourists, the alarm system would sound.
So, since this is the government and you certainly cannot turn this millions of dollars system off now, nor can you really really be certain that the Rocket boat driver didn't actually just pass out from all the beer-only lunch he just had, the workers at the DHS office just had to endure the booming alarms and lights. Multiple times a day, nearly every day, all year long.
So, I think an automated system is a great idea. But, for the sake of all the DHS drones: Please, make the system smart enough to deal with the Rocket Boat.
Why don't they just fine the shit out of that rocket boat company every time they pull that outrageous prank? Or throw someone in jail. Who thinks that is in any an ok prank? Can you imagine someone doing that in a car? Its just a prank bro!
I mean, I'm not the lawyer, my brother is. But I'll speculate all the same.
I don't think that they are actually doing anything illegal [0]. It seems to be perfectly fine to pilot your boat anywhere you want to. Even if that means it looks like you're gonna run into the pier. It's not like they ever actually did run into the pier anyways.
Also, per other conversations with my brother, maritime law is not like 'normal' law. When we say that the US constitution is the supreme law of the land, that isn't just a turn of phrase. That literally mean 'the land'. Not the ocean. Maritime law is, from what I remember, the oldest law we have. And as such, things in maritime law aren't what you'd think.
Like, if you want to impound a boat, they have these really really comically large boat-cuffs that you have to use. And you have to do these strange legal gymnastics to actually impound a boat. Because, well, it's a boat. You can just take it over the horizon and effectively the captain will just never be seen again. It's not like the land where it's hard to get to another jurisdiction. In a boat, it's really easy. That's kinda the point of a boat.
Things like credit and ownership also work really funky too. Like, if you own the boat, but aren't actually on the boat when it goes out to sea, you're really just kinda hoping that the captain comes back. Not just due to freak storms, but also you really have to trust the captain. So things like credit and how money works on the sea are just different. Because it's so damn easy to just not come back.
If any real lawyers want to join in, please do. Again, I'm not a maritime lawyer, my brother is.
[0] To note here, the Rocket Boat company went bust in 2019, apparently. They're trying to bring it back, but seem to be struggling with the aftereffects of covid and whatnot.
What you describe sounds like international waters, close enough to the pier to matter would be within US territorial waters. So if the relevant laws are not there it is purely a domestic issue.