Suspected pirate Attempted boarding, Honduras

[natraps116]

As we all know, be cautious cruising near the Honduran coast

https://www.facebook.com/SeawolfAdventure?fref=nf

We we're nearly boarded , got a few feet from the rail before finally turning away.....
our guns prevented violence, just sayin

[mstrebe]

You sure they weren't Coast Guard? (just kidding)

[Orion Jim]

Yikes. Glad you were able to take care of yourself without getting into a firefight. Indicating that you would not be a willing victim was what saved your skin. Good luck.

[autumnbreeze27]

Did they have any weapons you could see?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[farm sail]

65 miles out? Are there that many targets out there that they just stumbled on you or were youufollowed/tracked?

Glad your safe

[natraps116]

[QUOTE=Jim Walsh;1936751]Yikes. Glad you were able to take care of yourself without getting into a firefight. Indicating that you would not be a willing victim was what saved your skin. Good luck.

Yeah what really gave them away to us was the fact that even when the shotgun came out they were not deterred. Only after I pulled out the M1A and handed it to my Crew and he racked it did they pause and stop coming for the rail. Then they looked at each other like "are we still doing this?" all very shady and not fisherman like at all. Plus the conditions were really bad so to try to say your selling lobster that far out is bull crap!

[natraps116]

Originally Posted by farm sail

65 miles out? Are there that many targets out there that they just stumbled on you or were youufollowed/tracked?

Glad your safe

We think they must have been launched from a mothership of some kind.....

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by natraps116

We think they must have been launched from a mothership of some kind.....

Were you transmitting AIS at the time?

[PappysSailing]

Good point JE - Now that you mention it, the transponder on AIS might draw more attention (w details of vessel type, heading, speed, etc.) than desired in nasty places. I've been on boats that both received and transmitted AIS but am not sure if turning off the transponder alone is an option. Anyone know ?

[mholtzberg]

Hey, sorry to hear that you were almost attacked... I love watching your YouTube show.

[Imprezza72]

Please post your account of the incident on Noonsite...

[Exile]

Autumnbreeze already asked this, but did they have any weapons that you could see?

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by PappysSailing

Good point JE - Now that you mention it, the transponder on AIS might draw more attention (w details of vessel type, heading, speed, etc.) than desired in nasty places. I've been on boats that both received and transmitted AIS but am not sure if turning off the transponder alone is an option. Anyone know ?

Our Garmin AIS600 transceiver had a 'transmit off' switch separately wired across two flying 'data' leads in the install as per Garmin's instructions. It is part of a NMEA2000 network and the transmitter side is actively transmitting whenever there is power in the NMEA2000 backbone, which since that backbone also feeds the wind instruments and depthsounder means all the time we are at sea. Note that turning off the AIS display on the MFD/plotter screen via the on screen menu does not turn off the transmission, merely the display of AIS targets received, but with the 'transmit off' switch closed the AIS receive function still receives and all AIS targets in range display normally.

This is exactly the reason that we chose our particular AIS as one where our transmission can be turned off when and where we choose not to be trackable. This to me is part of commonsense defensive cruising, along with avoiding passing through known bad areas and keeping a good lookout in all directions and by all available means. That way we are hopefully less likely to be faced with a difficult situation that may actually be genuinely innocent or genuinely life threatening.

[sheldon957]

I like these flame thrower rounds in my shot gun. Every other round. Especially useful if they have exposed gas containers. Firequest 12 Gauge Flame Thrower - 3 Units Per Package - G12-013

[Kenomac]

This episode has caused me to rethink our AIS upgrade. We will be purchasing a new Vesper Watchmate vision for next season because We experienced two situations this past year in stormy weather where transmitting would have been preferred. Some bonehead on autopilot almost plowed into us when he was relying completely on his alarms, it was like a 60ft, 60,000 pound knuckleball coming straight at us at 20 knots, and another involved ferries during a storm. They actually weren't running, but we didn't know that at the time.

Right now, we have a Standard Horizon VHF that only receives, which has been fine up until now when more and more folks with transponders have started doing dumbass stuff... Like not keeping a watch.

So when we upgrade... We'll be keeping our old system as well so as not to transmit our location when the need arises.

I'm glad everything turned out fine regarding the piracy, as most on this forum already know, my wife and I are firm believers in having an overwhelming defensive strategy. None of this soft ball, introduce yourself first and maybe they'll play nice and not hurt me crap.

Just ignore the CF fellow who said to shoot them anyway, he's just trolling. As any responsible person with a firearm knows, you first try everything possible to ward off an encounter with evil. The OP and his friend did the right things and everything worked out fine.

Ken