Recent Pirate Attack - Talked to the Captain in Shelter Bay

[solarbri]

Originally Posted by Panamajames

When you see a gun pointed in your face by a bad guy just put a flower in the barrel and blow smoke in their face.

...and then commence to KICK THEIR ASSES!
I am a pot smoking hippy, but through years and years of watching Kung ** movies, I'm totally ready to pull off a magic stunt like that!

[Fishman_Tx]

Oh, right, because everyone carrying a weapon aboard is trained. Just like everyone carrying a VHF aboard is trained. If you believe that, I invite you to monitor Channel 16 for about 5 minutes.

Here I'll quote myself from another thread...

If you are not prepared or your boat is not prepared, you take your life into your own hands and subject yourself to the whims of nature and "Murphy". Even with the best preparation, we can run into trouble. Being armed and *trained for it is just another facet of that preparedness. Some will choose to arm themselves and some not. We lament the victims of piracy and assault like that couple in CA that were "macheted", (Was it in the DR, I forget?) but we don't blame or berate them for their choice whether to go armed or not. Bad things happen to good people and, armed or not, it may have made no difference. Honestly, one shouldn't give "Murphy" an even break whatsoever. For myself, I like to keep the odds in my favor. Hopefully, we won't have to read here about one of our own finding themselves "in the filter of Darwin's self-cleaning gene pool".

Once again, if your out there, not knowing what your doing, you deserve what you get. This applies to EVERYTHING we do out there, not just arms.

There are good courses, reasonably priced if not downright cheap, all over the place. The only thing more dangerous than the criminal, is an untrained hand with an unfamiliar gun in it.

If one acts like an idiot trying to be Rambo and gets their head blown off in the process, or the boat sinks and you drown; because you don't know what your doing...tough luck. Hopefully, your stupidity doesn't kill someone else in the process. Being snide about it doesn't help anything but causes further angst and anger. Make your own choices and live your own life, but don't expect the rest to live the same way.
I am trained, but that doesn't necessarily mean everytime is a good time to pull it out and use it. You have to use common sense and pick your battles.

[Freerider]

Once the oil runs out these pirates will no longer be able to power up beside sailing vessels. (50-150 years??)

It'll go back to old school piracy, sailing vessel vs sailing vessel and skipper vs skipper, at least we'll have a chance then.

Sounds like an good adrenaline rush!!!

[Fishman_Tx]

Can I get a cannon then???

[Grasshopper]

Perhaps we should have ratings on these posts...
"Forum MA" for mature audiences contains Violence, Mature Language and WEED!!! As if to suggest people who prefer to avoid these topics aren't mature...

The topic of firearms is so often polarizing, which in itself is no surprise. Initially I expected cruisers to be more tolerant of opposing viewpoints. You know, the enlightened world traveler, having been to the mountain top and back, easily able to argue both points while still confidently standing by their personal convictions. As so often is the case though, people who have come to know responsibility, real responsibility, have come to trust in the decisions they make and follow them with convicion. For this reason I think we so often see strong and willful arguments from both sides of the aisle.

I grew up in Montana where firearms were like chainsaws, important tools that would kill you if you were careless. When we go home to the family property to camp, I still wear a handgun because I have small children. Mountain Lions, Bear and now Wolf tracks are frequently found were we camp... in fact, I chased a bear out of camp last summer. Looking over the barrel of a rifle mind you. But the truth is firearms make me nervous, unless they are unloaded and locked in my safe, my mind is never far from their presence. I have trained myself that whenever I pick one up, I imagine carelessly shooting a loved one only to hold them while looking into their panicked eyes as they draw their final breath... I try not to allow myself to be fooled by the implications of keeping firearms.

So when you tell me you don't want to carry firearms, I support you; when you tell me you do carry firearms, I support you. I will never ridicule you or minimize your decision because I hope it hasn't come easily to you, I hope you don't take it lightly, I hope you lose sleep over it, I hope you stand by your decision, I hope you change if you feel it's necessary to change, because frankly, I don't know what brings you comfort. Neither decision will, or should... There are too many possibilities, we aren't dealing with absolutes here. So as the topic comes up again, I hope everyone can look upon each other with a bit of mutual respect and agree to disagree. I hope all of you are safe and that someday we can have a drink while the sun paints the final image of the day.
Ron

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Panamajames

When you are out-weaponed you DO NOT REACH FOR YOUR WEAPON.

Indeed. And a good way to make sure you are not "out-weaponed", is to fit your boat out with a swivel-mounted 50 cal. Browning. See the pirate boat go up in a pink cloud of blood and bone fragments, long before they get within RPG range.

The main question is how to mount it, on a yacht. Not all of us has an adequate after-deck. Someone will have to devise a mount which can be cantilevered off the transom, I guess.

As to training, this is simple. Just make gunnery proficiency part of the Yachtmaster exam. Many of us are ex-navy types, anyway, and are probably proficient enough.

[hellosailor]

"And a good way to make sure you are not "out-weaponed", is to fit your boat out with a swivel-mounted 50 cal. Browning."
ROFL.
Considering a single 50-caliber surplus round sold for about $4-6 retail (although prices are way up this year) and how many you would fire in a two or three second burst from any automatic weapon...

It would be cheaper to throw twenty dollar bills at the pirates. Add in some hard candies, beaded necklaces, just pretend you're a Mardi Gras float and everybody be happy.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"And a good way to make sure you are not "out-weaponed", is to fit your boat out with a swivel-mounted 50 cal. Browning."
ROFL.
Considering that a single 50-caliber surplus round sold for about $4-6 retail (although prices are way up this year) and how many you would fire in a two or three second burst from any automatic weapon...

It would be cheaper to throw twenty dollar bills at the pirates. Add in some hard candies, beaded necklaces, just pretend you're a Mardi Gras float and everybody be happy.

Only $6 a round?! It's an even better idea than I originally thought. Considering that a 20-round burst from a Ma Deuce packs about a kilo weight of metal (45 -- 50 grams x 20), thrown towards the pirates at about 3,000 fps over a range of up to a mile or more, I would say $120 is a damned good deal. One such burst would be quite enough to produce the aforesaid pink cloud, formerly known as boat full of pirates, assuming reasonable aim on the part of the yachtsman.

[Panamajames]

I am PRO-LIFE not pro gun... But thanks for the analysis

Wish safety in all of your ventures on the sea and land.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Panamajames

I am PRO-LIFE not pro gun... But thanks for the analysis

Wish safety in all of your ventures on the sea and land.

I am also pro-life (at least after the first trimester), but I don't actually believe in standing aside helplessly to let armed men rob my boat, rape my loved ones, etc.

[Fishman_Tx]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

Perhaps we should have ratings on these posts...
"Forum MA" for mature audiences contains Violence, Mature Language and WEED!!! As if to suggest people who prefer to avoid these topics aren't mature...

The topic of firearms is so often polarizing, which in itself is no surprise. Initially I expected cruisers to be more tolerant of opposing viewpoints. You know, the enlightened world traveler, having been to the mountain top and back, easily able to argue both points while still confidently standing by their personal convictions. As so often is the case though, people who have come to know responsibility, real responsibility, have come to trust in the decisions they make and follow them with convicion. For this reason I think we so often see strong and willful arguments from both sides of the aisle.

I grew up in Montana where firearms were like chainsaws, important tools that would kill you if you were careless. When we go home to the family property to camp, I still wear a handgun because I have small children. Mountain Lions, Bear and now Wolf tracks are frequently found were we camp... in fact, I chased a bear out of camp last summer. Looking over the barrel of a rifle mind you. But the truth is firearms make me nervous, unless they are unloaded and locked in my safe, my mind is never far from their presence. I have trained myself that whenever I pick one up, I imagine carelessly shooting a loved one only to hold them while looking into their panicked eyes as they draw their final breath... I try not to allow myself to be fooled by the implications of keeping firearms.

So when you tell me you don't want to carry firearms, I support you; when you tell me you do carry firearms, I support you. I will never ridicule you or minimize your decision because I hope it hasn't come easily to you, I hope you don't take it lightly, I hope you lose sleep over it, I hope you stand by your decision, I hope you change if you feel it's necessary to change, because frankly, I don't know what brings you comfort. Neither decision will, or should... There are too many possibilities, we aren't dealing with absolutes here. So as the topic comes up again, I hope everyone can look upon each other with a bit of mutual respect and agree to disagree. I hope all of you are safe and that someday we can have a drink while the sun paints the final image of the day.
Ron

Well said!

All joking aside, have any of you ACTUALLY HAD to take a life? Could you? Could you REALLY pull the trigger while looking them in the eyes? There are some of us out here with blood on our hands and unless you are one cold-hearted a-hole, it will affect you the rest of your life! Ask any cop or soldier that has had to pull the trigger up front and PERSONAL. Not just dealing death from a distance, but able to see the expression on their face.

We can all blow smoke out our butts about how we'd like to do this or that, but when you get down to it, a firefight of any kind is the most frightening experience of your LIFE!

PS
BTW, last I checked, Ma Duece rounds were $10-$13 a pop. That's why a "Beowulf" (Alexander Arms 50 cal) equipped M4/AR15 will run a lot cheaper by the pound for lead. Up close and personal it takes off body parts and holes boat hulls.

[bstreep]

I want one of these for my boat...

[Fishman_Tx]

HAH!! ROFLMFAO!!! DUDE, call the DOC.....I can't breathe! God, that's funny! I love that!

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

Perhaps we should have ratings on these posts...
"Forum MA" for mature audiences contains Violence, Mature Language and WEED!!!

Dont forget the Pirate wenches

Yarrgghh

Pirate Wench Costumes

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Fishman_Tx

HAH!! ROFLMFAO!!! DUDE, call the DOC.....I can't breathe! God, that's funny! I love that!

But the logic makes PERFECT sense. These guys know that most cruisers aren't armed. If they KNEW you were armed, they would go elsewhere.

Of course, this is the "Archie Bunker" method to thwart hijackers: Give everyone a gun when you get on the plane!