Intruder in the Middle of the Night

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Olddan1943

Someone try to or boarding a boat at 2am is not performing an innocent prank.

To quote pretty much everyones' mother, "Nothing good happens after midnight."

All I can say to this is you must have had a sheltered youth, in my experience all the "good" things happened after midnight.

[Olddan1943]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

All I can say to this is you must have had a sheltered youth, in my experience all the "good" things happened after midnight.

You meant to say, "In your YOUTHFUL experience, all the 'good' things happen after midnight." SMIRK

Then you became a parent. LOL

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Olddan1943

You meant to say, "In your YOUTHFUL experience, all the 'good' things happen after midnight."

SMIRK

Too true , OH how I wish it were so now.

[Olddan1943]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Too true , OH how I wish it were so now.

Now, if we are awake after midnight, it involves a trip to the head.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Agreed John.

To me, the first step in my security is to make a rational risk assessment of the place I want to spend time in. There is a wealth of data easily available to anyone these days. Crime stats are a good first step. Even better is talking to people who actually cruise the area.

No place is 100% safe, but if that is your level of need then you'll never leave your locked safe-room. Life is a risk afterall.

From there I like bright lights and loud noises. A dog is a great alarm system, but are often too much of a pita. If I were to venture into more sketchy areas I like the idea of having metal locking grates for companionway and hatches.

Crime cruisers receive is mostly opportunistic, so don't give the criminals the opportunity. Tie up the easy shinny bits (outboards, dingy, on deck stuff) and take reasonable care with the cabin.

To me, crime stats have little to no bearing. If someone steals my property or causes my self or crew harm, it will be little consolation how infrequently it happens to others in that locale.

[JPA Cate]

Hello, everyone,

Here's something I didn't see mentioned: hoisting one's dinghy at night. It is a lot harder to steal a dinghy that's sitting on one's foredeck, in davits astern, or just hanging by a halyard, just fwd of the capshrouds. If it is a high dinghy theft area (which was not the case for Rod), then a chain (it's anchor chain) from OB to big boat, going through the handle on the fuel tank, is an effective deterrent. You will wake up as soon as the chain rattles on the deck, plenty of time to scare off thieves.

I'd like to add about the motion alarm, whether it whistles, or lights the area, it will likely awaken you aboard. While you're sleeping, your eyes are still sensitive to the presence of light, especially where there was none before. Light alone would waken many people, so you don't really need to have a shrieker, you only need to hear it on the boat. That said, I was astonished one night to see lights flashing and a horn honking on a nearby ketch: the crew had not turned off the alarm in time to prevent the display, we were told, but it was pretty impressive. Engendered a lot of VHF traffic.

Also, having your auxiliary anchor light placed so that there is good illumination of the cockpit area facilitates any action you might need to perform out there at night.

Ann

[Bulawayo]

Many years ago, in East Africa, we were woken by a rapid series of gunshots. A South African boat had been boarded quietly and was being systematically stripped of everything of value on the the deck. The thieves actually launched the inflatable and were busy piling it full of everything they could cut loose or remove. The owners wife awoke and shook her husband awake as she could not hear anything but saw shadows moving through the hatch. The husband grabbed his gun and ran for the companion way and ended up discharging around half a dozen rounds at the thieves, who had started the shooting first. The boat owner recovered all his kit. The next day, the police reluctantly came after many telephone calls but nothing happened. However, the few boats anchored there all left, us included, and no more was said. The differences of East Africa to North America.........

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

When he told me in plain voice (no heavy breathing) “I’m just out for a swim” that triggered the defence mode. Had he indicated in any way that he was struggling, that would have triggered the help mode.

In which case I would have toosed him the life ring, and told him to climb aboard the inflatable dinghy, just 20 feet astern, on a moonlit night.

If I was swimming and struggling, and I came upon an anchored yacht that most definitely had people aboard, I would wrap on the hull and yell for help.

If he thought he had enough energy left to scale the side of a yacht with at least 3 ft topsides then he shoulda had enough to swim the 150 ft to shore at a leisurely pace, compared to the beeline he ended up making.

I’m all for helping those in trouble. 3 nights ago I took to the dinghy during a thunderstorm around 2 am, to advise a boat owner they were dragging. I rapped on the hull and hollered “Anyone aboard?”

Yesterday, I took to the dinghy in advance of
a thunderstorm to help a friend husband/wife team take a small dock after dragging at anchor, and another unknown couple remove a huge weed ball off their anchor. Spent a half hour washing the dinghy afterward.

When another boater had the same issue a couple hours later and I said I felt I should help them too, my dear and very compassionate wife advised it is not my responsibility to help every boater in the 1000 Islands.