How do you stay safe during your trip?

[Krit]

How do you protect yourself from all the troubles, caused by human, during your trip, especially in the open sea and foreign waters? Thanks in advance for your kind suggestion.

[zeehag]

that is a very general question.
do you mean at anchor, or do you mean while sailing, or what exactly do you wish to learn???
or is this entrance into another gun thread????
as i recall, there are many threads on safety at sea and at anchor. also way too many on guns and weaponry.

[DDabs]

wear a condom

[Krit]

Zeehag, I mean both at anchor and while sailing.

[astokel]

Are you asking about packing a weapon or about wearing a harness?

[sailorboy1]

I feel it pretty much is just like on land. You can really of reasonably protect yourself against the casual criminal looking for an opportunity, not the determined criminal. Just like at home you can lock your door against the casual thief, but the determined one will just break the window.

So each person needs to determine what taking "reasonable" protection means to them.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Krit

How do you protect yourself from all the troubles, caused by human, during your trip, especially in the open sea and foreign waters? Thanks in advance for your kind suggestion.

Most troubles are self induced so a good look in the mirror and say "be carefull"

[Scaramanga F25]

I have cruised on and off since 1975. Probably a total of a dozen years in all so far.

I have never needed to protect myself.

I should add that I do not go where there are political problems or well known unfortunate happenings. Listen to the grapevine.
Same offshore, if suspicious, change course, turn lights off. No need to witness cargo exchanges.

[Cheechako]

Have a method to lock the boat at night at anchor. Have an alarm for if someone comes on the boat. I used a simple trip wire alarm in the cockpit. I think the odds of being accosted at sea are much lower. Possible though, and if you are, they are likely heavily armed. Not much you can do in that instance, unless you are willing to deal with arming yourself and even then you may be out gunned.
The biggest thing is avoid areas of known problems.

[dwedeking2]

Situational awareness. This includes researching a location before going, paying attention to the path your taking (whether it's traveling from Florida to South Africa or going from your boat/house to the movie theater), assessing tools/products that can help remove some of the risks (locks, chains, cables, etc).

One thing that costs $0 but a lot of people overlook. What you communicate. You can tell people that your going to a location without being so specific that they know your sitting in an empty anchorage all by yourself (as an example).

[Tayana42]

To keep safe you should: watch the weather. Reef early. Wear a life jacket with harness. Clip in to your jack lines. Hold on when moving about on deck and also below. Always wear shoes with closed toes. Turn off the propane solenoid when you finish cooking. Used good modern ground tackle with appropriate scope.


S/V B'Shert

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

To keep safe you should: watch the weather. Reef early. Wear a life jacket with harness. Clip in to your jack lines. Hold on when moving about on deck and also below. Always wear shoes with closed toes. Turn off the propane solenoid when you finish cooking.


S/V B'Shert

This is a great list of advice from Tayana42 for some of the most common dangers. I'd add the safety need to keep good communications,- VHF, EPRIB, even cell phone contacts in coastal areas.

[picklesandjesse]

LSD is not like it was in the 6o's so you should be OK. I never returned!!! Neither did the people who are running this planet.

[Ndavies]

I also like TAYANA42's list, but depending on how much offshore work you will be doing, my favorite devices are a DeLorme Inreach; (this allows others to find you, 2-way text messaging via satellite, and now provides weather downloads); and Vesper WatchMate AIS.

If you are talking about weapons - a flare gun probably serves a dual purpose at close quarters, although in my travels, I have never had a need to put that to the test. At anchor, my first mate "Salty" (black lab/shepherd) is a great alarm and probably a deterrent!

[reed1v]

A good friend did a gold leaf scroll on our mizzen as a gift to us, paying homage to Allah. For that we are eternally grateful.

A close friend survived a deadly massacre in the Congo a while back. Said he would have been killed along with everyone else except when he said last rights for the slain, the rebels got spooked and took off. Later he was told they probably though he had "powers" and best to leave him alone. So basically have faith.