Personal Safety and Cruising

[ty.gregory]

Safe. Safty. Freedom from harm. No living person has ever had it. No living person ever will. The Boston Marathon comes to mind. The 14 year old who falls down dead from a blocked artery on the basketball court. We need nore Wag and less bark in all our lives, so, when you can, by all means wag. Bark when you have to. Bite when all else fails.

[boatman61]

From my perspective.. nothings changed that much... bit safer really.. the 'gut' in Malta in the 60's was pretty dodgey to wander down off an evening.. Boogie Street, Singapore... Gibraltar and a few others.. its just you new comers don't know the world as it was.. only what you perceive today.. 'Don't wander through Phillipsburg after 10pm...'... why not.. if more folk did the crime would go down...
Criminals don't like witnesses...
The reality is there's loadsa 'White Collars' playing sailors today who never realised what the 'Real World' of ports is like... its where drugs, alcohol, knife fights, rape and mayhem have been happening for centuries.. and it freaks you all out...
For working seamen..?
Its just another day...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by rognvald

Don, no one is trying to frighten anyone. But when you travel beyond the continental US, it is helpful to be aware, especially if you don't have much travel/cruising experience outside the country.

As someone who lives "beyond the continental US" I can confirm that whenever we spot an American we eat them , shoot the dog and sell the wife and children into Slavery.

At the moment I have 2 in the Freezer and one on the barbie .

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Don L

There are lots of Boogeymen around check a mirror for one.

Well said, Don.

I think some people actually LIKE being frightened. They sort of nurture their fear and hope to nurture it in others, too.

Best thing--ignore them. Reality is what it is. The fear mongers can't change that, no matter how hard they try.

[SaltyMonkey]

Boaty response is good.

Ultimately, you have to make the choice whether you want to cruise or not, and the lifestyle changes that are involved. This is separate than other fears. Crime fluctuates from place to place, from season to season and from year to year. Your best intel in deciding where to go is from local knowledge in the area. You won't get that unless you are close or just outside the spot at the time you are ready to go to your destination. If things are unclear at that moment, you simply shift your plan to someplace else. Its sort of like waiting for a perfect weather window...something that doesn't exist. Sooner or later you have to act with the given circumstances.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

Maybe we should all carry guns.

I think in many cases they give a false case of security. I repeat the story of the man I know who was murdered i his bed a couple of weeks ago. Friends realized that his neighbors were dangerous and gave him a can of pepper spray. Since he was killed with a knife, pepper spray probably could have stopped the attacker. But the poor man never had a chance to get to it. He wouldn't have been able to get to a gun either.

I think your best protection is to know your neighborhood. I almost moved to NYC in the mid seventies, when crime was really a very serious problem. Razor wire was everywhere, including all around the first and second floors of beautiful upscale apartment buildings on the Upper East Side.

I couldn't afford UES and was looking on the Upper West Side. Multiple people told me some streets were safe and some were not, and ... they all named the same streets. Local knowledge. Once I'd put a deposit on the apartment, doormen in several other builings (mine didn't have one), and a policeman, and the apartment agent, all told me what route to take to the subway, and they all gave me the same route. (I ended up not moving there, long story.)

The locals know what's going on on their islands. Share your beer and find out what they have to say.

[zeehag]

"The reality is there's loadsa 'White Collars' playing sailors today who never realised what the 'Real World' of ports is like... its where drugs, alcohol, knife fights, rape and mayhem have been happening for centuries.. and it freaks you all out...
For working seamen..?
Its just another day..."


"At the moment I have 2 in the Freezer and one on the barbie ."
doj--i have mesquite coals..yummmmmm...

yes is a choice to make-cruise or remain in whereverville safe in your houses and homes. living your life and not having to go out into the scary unknown. omg and having to meet the locals in these scary places.

i have met more friendly and helpful folks outside the safety of the good ol us of a than i ever met while i was living there among alleged friends.

those of us who truly wish to do good for others actually feel safer and more comfortable out here than we did while in your alleged usa areas of safety. even those of us who are sola antique females. numbers be damned--numbers do not make feeling safe happen.

[rgscpat]

On the list of those who profit from crime and fear, add the prison industry and its lobby.

We seem to under-estimate the risks of the familiar and exaggerate the perceived dangers of the unknown.... when the reality is that forks and dessert spoons are probably far more lethal than bullets, most auto accidents happen relatively close to home, and many more people die in bathtubs than oceans.

The thing about risk is that there is no absolute elimination of it, just trade-offs between different risks and rewards. The only certainty is what happens to everyone in the end.

[goboatingnow]

Interestingly, many of the respondents seem to feel that crime has not increased, but decreased and it really isn't a problem. . . that it is as safe today as it was ten years ago. How then should we perceive the crimes that are reported throughout the Caribbean, Central America and South America . . . a chimera, an anomaly, obvious falsehoods, yellow journalism and should they be ignored? Why even report these incidents if they really don't matter to most cruisers? As a previous poster has mentioned, the life experience levels of people varies greatly and is this really the reason for their cavalier attitude or does their desire to visit these areas outweigh their concerns? For those of you have have visited these areas on your own boat over the last twenty years, can you honestly say that nothing has changed?

What you have to bear in mind, is that in previous years and generations, reports of such crime did not travel far or quick. Today they do both. Often you will hear talk of crime , yet the incident was years ago and is constantly regurgitated on the internet.

Certain places get more dangerous , others get safer, its an epoch thing. My experiences of the major cruiser centres is they are considerably safer today then years ago , probably because such areas realise there is money to be made. Unfortunately the corollary is that they become more expensive.

dave

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by rgscpat

most auto accidents happen relatively close to home,

You point certainly supports the perceived risk concept rather than dealing with actual risk.

Where are the most hours spent in a car? Relatively close to home I am sure; going to and from work and the grocery store. I guess then I would expect most of the accidents to happen where I spend most of my time in the car.

[rgscpat]

If cruisers seriously want to join to reducing the avoidable toll and carnage of needless and miserable deaths, and make the world safer for sailors, we should stand up to extremist gourmands and ban large-capacity dessert spoons. And, of course, ice cream scoops don't belong in private homes of untrained civilians without scoop locks and being kept safely out of reach of children. Let's enact meaningful legislation to reduce the risk before they come to pry those spoons out of our cold, obese, diabetic fingers. And, we certainly need to remember to control spoon sales at estate and garage sales and private spoon sales if we're to have any hope of solving the problem. Sure, the skeptics may say that such laws would leave only the criminals with dessert spoons, but would that be such a bad thing as long as trained, licensed citizens could still carry single-use sporks?

[goboatingnow]

ure, the skeptics may say that such laws would leave only the criminals with dessert spoons, but would that be such a bad thing as long as trained, licensed citizens could still carry single-use sporks?

What about large capacity Spoon holders, thats a hot issue.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by rgscpat

If cruisers seriously want to join to reducing the avoidable toll and carnage of needless and miserable deaths, and make the world safer for sailors, we should stand up to extremist gourmands and ban large-capacity dessert spoons. And, of course, ice cream scoops don't belong in private homes of untrained civilians without scoop locks and being kept safely out of reach of children. Let's enact meaningful legislation to reduce the risk before they come to pry those spoons out of our cold, obese, diabetic fingers. And, we certainly need to remember to control spoon sales at estate and garage sales and private spoon sales if we're to have any hope of solving the problem. Sure, the skeptics may say that such laws would leave only the criminals with dessert spoons, but would that be such a bad thing as long as trained, licensed citizens could still carry single-use sporks?

You come anywhere near my ice cream and I WILL learn how to use a gun!!!!

[Mike OReilly]

Crime rates, at least in rich Western countries, have been closely related to male youth population levels. Most crime is perpetrated by males in their teens through to about age 30. A big part of the decline in crime rates in western countries, particularly Canada & US, are associated with the general decrease of this demographic. I expect this association between young males and crime rates holds true in other societies as well.

So the lesson might be to sail to places with lots of seniors.

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by boatman61

From my perspective.. nothings changed that much... bit safer really.. the 'gut' in Malta in the 60's was pretty dodgey to wander down off an evening.. Boogie Street, Singapore... Gibraltar and a few others.. its just you new comers don't know the world as it was.. only what you perceive today.. 'Don't wander through Phillipsburg after 10pm...'... why not.. if more folk did the crime would go down...
Criminals don't like witnesses...
The reality is there's loadsa 'White Collars' playing sailors today who never realised what the 'Real World' of ports is like... its where drugs, alcohol, knife fights, rape and mayhem have been happening for centuries.. and it freaks you all out...
For working seamen..?
Its just another day...

Very well said, Boatman. But what percentage of the members of CruisersForum would be considered "working seaman" and what percentage would fall under the category "white collars?" I suspect the percentages are overwhelming in the latter. I, for one, would definitely qualify as a "white collar" albeit with a respectable amount of ocean miles under my keel. Good luck and good sailing.