Pirates in the Carribbean

My only interest is to contribute to the knowledge base of the YF members based on a Master Mariner ticket and 40 years at sea (comes with age). If I can help others learn by my mistakes and experience, then the effort is worthwhile.

I cannot assist the inexperienced, ignorant, and unwilling to learn who believe they can sail around the world and do whatever they want because they are Americans and believe that their boat has some modicum of sovereignty in foreign lands. In reality all vessels are required to obey the laws of the host country as enforced by their Port State Control. Your flag serves only as a clue to what embassy you will have to contact to get yourself out of jail.

Importation of arms is also illegal in the Bahamas as it is in most of the Caribbean and worldwide, although if you have the weapons and ammo locked in separate lockers the Bahamian authorities can be quite accommodating. Other governments, not so much.

Good luck.

Hey, Maybe this could be your headline....

Yacht Owner Killed By Pirates

The couple from St Leonard's, East Sussex were fulfilling his lifelong dream of spending the winter sailing around warmer climes when they were targeted by three Burmese Pirates who swam out to their mooring.

Mr Robertson, 64, was attacked as he tried to throw the amateur pirates off the 44ft yacht, named Mr Bean. The Burmese reportedly slit his throat, and have admitted bludgeoning him to death with a hammer.

As for my headline, a Capt sucessfully defended his boat, killing all 3-pirates. Period

It should also be noted that a properly secured weapon will seldom be of any use in an attack since most attackers count on the element of surprise and that the most likely person to be shot is a family member or other innocent. A person concerned about safety is much better off a) avoiding high risk areas and b) learning hand to hand combat and supplementing that with close contact weaponry (knives, tasers, pepper spray, flare gun, fire, etc.). If one is intent on entering piracy prone areas he can always hire security forces that are a) professional and b) aware of local laws.

A Good Defense

First of all, if you are worth your salt as a Captain, your radar should be able to pickup anything, as mine does from 24 miles out, so that gives us plenty of time to break out the weapons, or maybe just turn and run, however the way I read most of these YF replies is that most of you would rather lay down and die then protect yourselves, your family or your vessels, just like in 9/11. The first plane had 45 men between the ages of 21 and 35, and were held off by 3 scumbags with razor blades. Just imagine if 5 of these "Men" got off their asses and went after these guys, things would have been a lot different than the way they are today. Like I said before, where are all of the real men...

At home with the barbecue ... The photo of a "real man" lifting a barbell is probably a bit too much but Google "real man" to see it.

Love the grill, got any BBQ ready

Now that's a grill

First, given the curvature of the earth good luck spotting a low boat on your radar 24 miles off and especially recognizing that it's a boat. 2nd, I absolutely subscribe to a policy of fighting back. 3rd A photo of a gun toting captain would not induce me to hire that person. Quite the opposite in fact. 4th, my guess is that the real men are taking care of business instead of trying to convince the world that they are macho.

Perforating 'possums and pigs and launching lagomorphs in Kiwiland.

"Lagomorphs"? You had me in the dictionary with that one. Thanks for expanding my education. DK how that will work into boating, but you never know. I'll probably still just tell the owner he has "rats".

Come to mama, boys...

I have a taste for the sweet smell of gun powder

Her gun is bigger than yours.

Her Gun

I believe you meant to say "GUNS''

Nope.

This is indeed a very big issue for boaters with Mexico in-between their destinations. MX is extremely intolerant of guns with a 9mm round enough to put you in jail -- mexican (duh!) jail no less. MX police and navy are hyper diligent because of their own internal issues and are seemingly taking it out on the easy prey of yachtistas. I personally know of someone who has had their yacht thoroughly searched in a Navy shipyard (they were headed north, into MX which is a little different than south from USA).

The problem is to sail from California to Panama, you've got MX to prevent you from being properly armed as you pass Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. Big dilemna!

On a related tangent, a well known firearms expert recommended a 12 gauge round called "dragon's breath" (google it!) to ward off potential boarders -- followed up by 00 if they aren't suitably deterred.

Hi,

You Tube has some footage of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8lqZNOCIPE

What makes the 12GA a "Dragon's Breath"?

Never lay down your weapons...

This says it all

It is a type of 12 gauge round. When fired, it shoots a 30-50' flame. Turns your 12g pump (don't use a semi auto) into an instant flame thrower. Some police/miltary have used it for crowd control(!)

I can't wait for Bubba's "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!" youtube movie.

Get your crazy 12 gauge rounds here:

http://www.firequest.com/catalog/showcase_item_4.html

Flame thrower, pepper blast, *double* slug, flechette...

(I have no affiliation)