One way not to make a living while cruising

[GILow]

Yacht bound for Australia intercepted with almost 1.5 tonnes of cocaine worth $322 million - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I do hope this wasn't some CF member looking for innovative ways to generate income while cruising.

If it was, however, they might like to share their observations of how a 1.5 ton payload affected boat handling and average speed.

[HankOnthewater]

OK, lets take that off our long list of possibilities .
Just makes me think, if one vessel is getting caught how many others are there, slipping through? 10? 20? Hundreds? And when in the Pacific, when you see a bay full of anchored foreign yachts, does 1 out of 10, or 1 out of hundred, or 1 out of ...... have illegal stuff on board?

Truly, when I sail other people's boats, that is what I fear the most, more than wind and weather, some hidden stash of something illegal.

What can one do to prevent that happening? A thorough search? I am sure one can hide a few kg without being found. Maybe not 1500 kg, unless it made to look like something else. Hmmm, regarding the photo in the link Gilow provided, do the packages look like small lead ingots?

[UNCIVILIZED]

It boggles my mind that said substance has a value of 6x that of gold.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

It boggles my mind that said substance has a value of 6x that of gold.

Well, apparently you get a greater than 6 x high out snorting coke compared to snorting gold. So on that metric it is good value.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

OK, lets take that off our long list of possibilities .
Just makes me think, if one vessel is getting caught how many others are there, slipping through? 10? 20? Hundreds? And when in the Pacific, when you see a bay full of anchored foreign yachts, does 1 out of 10, or 1 out of hundred, or 1 out of ...... have illegal stuff on board?

Truly, when I sail other people's boats, that is what I fear the most, more than wind and weather, some hidden stash of something illegal.

What can one do to prevent that happening? A thorough search? I am sure one can hide a few kg without being found. Maybe not 1500 kg, unless it made to look like something else. Hmmm, regarding the photo in the link Gilow provided, do the packages look like small lead ingots?

Thankfully for me I don't have to worry about hidden drug stashes because very few people are trafficking drugs across the Gulf St Vincent.

But yeah, those parcels did look a heck of a lot like lead ballast.

[scottydaum]

As a Delivery Captain, on two different occasions I have called the local Authorities, to bring "Lassie" over to the boat and "have a little sniff" of the boat.
They have always been more than happy to come and do it.
Sometimes the Delivery just does not feel right for some reason and I have a responsibility to protect my own interests as well.
One time it involved an old Chris Craft Constellation that was owned by 3 Doctors. I had just gotten my Captains License and was eager to get ANY trip. Luckily a very seasoned Shipwright from the local Marine Ways pulled me aside and told me the vessel was not sound and I should pass up the trip. Turns out she foundered of the California Coast. The 3 person Crew survived, and the Owners were charged with insurance fraud.
I have had a couple of Owners who seemed just a little bit TOO motivated to turn there boat over to a "Green Captain" so I covered my own butt with a pre-trip drug search. Some has to do with the direction the boat is traveling but one can never be too careful.

[danielamartindm]

Originally Posted by scottydaum

As a Delivery Captain, on two different occasions I have called the local Authorities, to bring "Lassie" over to the boat and "have a little sniff" of the boat.
They have always been more than happy to come and do it.
Sometimes the Delivery just does not feel right for some reason and I have a responsibility to protect my own interests as well.
One time it involved an old Chris Craft Constellation that was owned by 3 Doctors. I had just gotten my Captains License and was eager to get ANY trip. Luckily a very seasoned Shipwright from the local Marine Ways pulled me aside and told me the vessel was not sound and I should pass up the trip. Turns out she foundered of the California Coast. The 3 person Crew survived, and the Owners were charged with insurance fraud.
I have had a couple of Owners who seemed just a little bit TOO motivated to turn there boat over to a "Green Captain" so I covered my own butt with a pre-trip drug search. Some has to do with the direction the boat is traveling but one can never be too careful.

Roger that, Scotty, especially in delivering boats to foreign locales. They have you, they have the drugs, they have the vessel, and they may have very severe penalties for drug running. Great idea about the dogs!

[Meacenas]

Now that this thread is active, it brings to mind another thread posted today about liability of guests while on your boat. Lets hope that your really nice, new 'friend' you met from the bar does not bring a backpack of who knows what. Or even with todays new lax policies towards weed, some police are not so forgiving. Then what? Is there a waiver for them to sign that absolves you of any 'problems'? Of course not.
On a darker note, the American government is now using 'asset forfeiture' on an increasing scale. This was originally designed to take a crime rings assets and keep them from being able to operate any longer but now has morphed into something else entirely This is something that every boat owner needs to pay attention to. There are many news stories now about the police taking the asset based on suspicious circumstances, that in the end were not validated, yet the asset, ( property, money ) is kept and sold of to bolster the coffers of the police agency. An expensive yacht would add a lot to some agencies bottom line.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal...rfeiture-abuse

[redhead]

We bought our worn out 35 year old boat up on the British Columbia coast. We spent a month getting it ready to limp down to the States to begin the refit. One night the local fire chief in BC told us we "might probably" want to have the boat checked for drugs and firearms before we crossed into US waters. He said other things about the previous owner I would get sued for slander if I repeated.

It was way too late to walk away, too much invested and we had rented out the house 3000 miles away. The fire chief set up the dogs and the inspection for us. Long story, but there was nothing recent on the boat.

The worst 3 days of my recent life.

[taxwizz]

Originally Posted by Meacenas

On a darker note, the American government is now using 'asset forfeiture' on an increasing scale. This was originally designed to take a crime rings assets and keep them from being able to operate any longer but now has morphed into something else entirely This is something that every boat owner needs to pay attention to. There are many news stories now about the police taking the asset based on suspicious circumstances, that in the end were not validated, yet the asset, ( property, money ) is kept and sold of to bolster the coffers of the police agency. An expensive yacht would add a lot to some agencies bottom line.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal...rfeiture-abuse

Very scary.
Anywhere else, that would be called THEFT.
But when police do it, it is OK, just like when they beat the crap out of you.
Very scary indeed.

[CREX]

I would tell my passengers that the way the prisons in the Bahamas were cleaned was with tidal change. So don't carry. Always quick trips back to their cars. It was funny and sad.

[bvisailing32]

Mexican armed military boarding.

One of our sailing club members who was big into racing his new Ericson 38 .

He and his race crew sailed the LA to Cabo San lucas, Baha, Mexico race, and he wanted me to deliver it bring it back to its home port in Los Angeles Harbor.

Well the word got out I was going to single hand the vessel back up the coast and three dudes from the sailing club offered to come along for the sailing adventure, and Erica would come along as well.

I warned everyone, that if they brought and drugs on board or contraband on board , that I would leave them to the land wolves, or worse.

Four days after leaving the southern tip of Baha , we arrived at Turtle Bay, Baha, Calif, Mexico. About 1/2 way to our destination . We previouslly paid to have all of our paper work taken care by an agent in cabo.

The next day in Turtle bay, we were boarded by four young men, crisp uniforms, military bearing, polite, and were looking for weapons or drugs. The four were armed with assault rifles. They were totally polite and extremely through .

They inspected ever nook, cranny, bilge area, cuddys, cabinets, berth areas,engine room, storage areas, below decks, and top side, cockpit and anchor lockers. If there were drugs on board, they would have found them.

Point being, that must have been a pretty good sized vessel to be able to secret a load of cocaine at the magnitude. Or , they figured that they would not be compromised and stay away from any port of entry, or where the authorities might board them.

One major way to damage the drug cartels is to bag their drugs, and the money made on those drugs. A few hundred million is a big hit, and the cartels are not going to be happy . Prison is not the only result of the their failure that will be unpleasant.

No doubt the authorities may have been tipped off and had the interception planned.

[joel383]

Originally Posted by GILow

If it was, however, they might like to share their observations of how a 1.5 ton payload affected boat handling and average speed.

I had at least a ton 'extra' on board across the gulf of Alaska last week... Didn't factor the 20% decrease in speed at 1500 rpms.

Almost ran out of fuel!

[ZULU40]

I cant see a boat as being a viable method unless the transit was a few hours

I may be crazy, wrong, stupid or dense but I think an aircraft would be far more likely to succeed

[s/v Moondancer]

In three months in Nova Scotia we were boarded 5 times by the authorities because we were a big boat with a Caribbean registration and fit the drug running profile...why would anyone leave the Caribbean for the cold north except to run drugs they thought!