How to avoid being killed ?

[brazenarticle]

"How to avoid being killed?" Stop living.

Hide in a hole in a basement with claymores on the big perimeter and a knife on a stick for whatever gets through.
If you think the next minute of sailing ( or driving, sitting on the toilet, smoking, drinking or sleeping) is too risk adverse then accept you will die in a basement corner. Can't be too careful, right?
Bad guys, imagined bad guys or old age will get you. Won't matter, beating some bad guys in imagination may make you feel in control, but nobody gets out alive.
Side thought - there is nothing sadder than a 60 year old white guy (emphasis "old white guy") trying to look threatening with a machete in a land where everyone has a machete.
In the meantime out of shape old "relatively rich" guys will pretend we are Jimmy Buffet, pirates or explorers (some guys have wives who will not let them pretend to be pirates) and have fun.
In pursuit of life all of us are dead - sailors just go slower and in greater style.

[hellosailor]

"I do not think they have an intention to kill anyone but it happens often."
That's the difference between murder and homicide. To the deceased, it makes no difference.

"... can we avoid death by letting the intruder takes what he wants. "
dawg, I promise you that if you give me all your wordly goods, I will not raise a hand against you. So, just roll over and be a victim now, and you'll also have no worries about sailing away to those dangerous places this year or next, while you're making new money. I'm doing you a big favor that way, by ensuring your safety in your home port, as opposed to letting you face those dangers elsewhere.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by shorebird

How come, in all the endless discussions on self defense, I never hear about tasers? I'm sure it has been discussed, but I havn't seen it. Are they legal in some areas of the world? Seems like a pretty good non-lethal weapon to take some control of a bad situation.

As a rule they are illegal in many countries. Pre-meditated aggressive forms of self defence are generally illegal , that often includes pepper spray too.

Dave

[Boracay]

SECURE ST.LUCIA LTD.

[JanetGroene]

Thanks for all the well thought-out responses here. Kenomac's "situational awareness" should be at the top of everyone's list. Deck floodlights are great. Even better is having switches at the bunk for lights/siren and/or remote control for these aids.

[snort]

Bring along an attack dog, like the one in the picture.

[Cheechako]

Unfortunately, it doesnt seem that the passive approach works these days... it may work, but it may not. Sometimes your throat get slit just for being there when they want to look around.....

[a64pilot]

There seem to be two types of criminals.
The first I'll refer to as the professionals, they are they ones that take everything of value that you have, including the stuff you had securely hidden.
They NEVER do this when your there, thats just too risky and there is nothing to be gained, but much to lose, they are after money the easy way, not excitement. The most they will do is slip in silently in the middle of the night and make off with your Dink, but you will never know they were there
Then there are the adrenalin junkies, and or possibly drug addicted ones. They want the excitement of the confrontation and the sense of power they get from holding you hostage and doing with you and yours as they please. They are dangerous and unpredictable, these are the one we fear. Many violent crimes and atrocities are committed all over the world for the excitement it brings. They are NOT after your belongings, these types will not go away if you become passive and submit

[captain58sailin]

If you spend your time worrying about being killed, go home, stay home, don't venture out ever again. If you cannot think for yourself about defenses against those whom would harm you, then the most dangerous thing you are doing is leaving home. Yes I am a screamer, spitter, pisser, what ever it takes.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by minaret

And lots of Inferno pepper spray. It has many features which make it ideal for use in an enclosed space like a boat. Prison guards use it in jail cells. It works a treat!



Inferno Pepper Spray



By all means, lock your boat. Get a dog and train in Schutzhunde. Install an alarm system. Do everything you can think of to increase security. This is just the final line of defense.

I accept that I can't take my guns along to foreign countries, and I don't want to have a dog aboard. Knives and even machetes require that you get pretty up close and personal and can be used against you and I have no training in knife or sword fighting techniques, so I like the idea of using chem warfare such as pepper spray to keep potential attackers at bay. Are products such as the Inferno Pepper Spray above legal to have on your boat or is it something you'd have to lie about on the custom forms or during a boarding? I accidentally got just a tiny bit in one of my eyes once so am familiar with just how quickly it made me lose interest in ANYTHING but rinsing it out ASAP. If I were aboard a boat and got sprayed in the face with this stuff, I can guarantee that I'd be begging and pleading for someone to please guide me to the rail and push me overboard so I could try to sooth my eyes in the ocean. Can anyone comment on the legality of pepper spray aboard your own boat throughout the Caribbean or the rest of the world?

[Hud3]

In the eastern Caribbean, the Customs forms only ask if you have firearms and/or ammunition. No mention of pepper spray.

However on most, if not all of the Lesser Antilles islands, it's not legal to possess it, so if you use it, you may be at risk of prosecution, depending on the circumstances.

I carried a container of pepper spray in my boat. After the first few islands, I forgot where I stashed it. We experienced only welcoming locals and no threats of any sort, so I quickly concluded there was no need for it--it became irrelevant.

[ontherocks83]

Just remember pepper spray does not effect everyone. Some people are immune to it

[hellosailor]

Tasers: often regulated.
Dogs: Confiscated and put in rabies quarantine often for 90 days, you could stay at the Ritz for those prices.
Pepper sprays: often regulated.

For that matter, the Chinese adopted chopsticks after one dynasty banned any civilian possession of metal implements, in order to ensure the peasants could have metal weapons of any kind.

Governments have been experienced at banning "weapons" since the throwing rock was invented.

OTOH there are any number of aerosol products that may already be in your paint locker, including plain old spray paint, that say "DO NOT SPRAY IN EYES OR FACE" with good reason.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

If you spend your time worrying about being killed, go home, stay home, don't venture out ever again. If you cannot think for yourself about defenses against those whom would harm you, then the most dangerous thing you are doing is leaving home. Yes I am a screamer, spitter, pisser, what ever it takes.

I sure agree with you..From what I am seeing and hearing not a lot of fun to be had among poor folks these days anyway..I know a fellow that retired from his work,sailed his boat over to Bimini a week or so back(went from Keys with a decent weather window and 3-4 other boats)and is now thinking about sailing back to Virgina and getting his job back(he will be 50 years old in a few months and has retired twice from the power company.) Said that everyone he meets has a story of desperation ,and know one is smiling except the people in places that they are obliged to spend money with...Is it any wonder someone would ask "How to Avoid getting killed?" I could not have a good time in an enviroment like this, so I would say, in answer to the question, find a place where people are not particularly depressed and go sailing there,then when the economy turns around ,if it ever does, and people in "island environs" have opportunitys for more people,it should be safer than it seems now(what does one of those fellows sitting on a beach in the carribean think when they look out and see all those people on sailboats and motor yachts having fun in his country and he cant even get a dollar to buy a pack a nabs and a coke cola? ..(I am afraid it will never be like it was in the mid to late part of the last century) or maybe I am wrong..

[Freedom45]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

find a place where people are not particularly depressed and go sailing there,then when the economy turns around ,if it ever does, and people in "island environs" have opportunitys for more people,it should be safer than it seems now

I don't think there is any place on earth (where there are other people) that is "safe" Thomas and Jackie Hawks killed out of Newport Beach Ca.
One will just have to be aware of their environment, stay away from known trouble spots.