Security in foreign ports

[Bigjim]

I have always wondered what cruisers do in foreign ports. How do you secure a sailboat against someone coming aboard to steal your stuff or the boat when stopping in a unfamiliar area?

Once I had sailed into a port and tied up to the public pier and my girlfriend and I went out to breakfast. When we came back an hour later the boat was gone and a racing fleet had taken over the pier. We eventually found the boat, since they moved it down the Pier to make room for the other boats, but it could have been much worse.

How do you leave your boat in a foreign port alone? At a pier? At anchorage? At a mooring can? What do you do for your dingy or tender? A lock will never stop a professional thief. A strong lock simply means they will break your door or the hasp. They will get in.

But I'm more concerned with coming back to find the boat still there. What do you do?

[Hudson Force]

Foreign ports or at your home port,- there may not be any difference in your security need. The big difference is that you are familiar with your home area and you know what to expect. It's likely that you are also familiar with some location near your home area that you would be hesitant to leave your boat because the location is less secure.

This difference in location is true in most well populated areas. "Location" is a big factor related to security. It's no different than life on land. I'm sure there are places in Chicago where many don't go and other places where people feel secure.

[Bigjim]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Foreign ports or at your home port,- there may not be any difference in your security need. The big difference is that you are familiar with your home area and you know what to expect. It's likely that you are also familiar with some location near your home area that you would be hesitant to leave your boat because the location is less secure.

This difference in location is true in most well populated areas. "Location" is a big factor related to security. It's no different than life on land. I'm sure there are places in Chicago where many don't go and other places where people feel secure.

At my home port the pier has a gated fence. We can walk to our car in a lighted parking lot. But this only keeps honest people honest. In most destinations there is a mix of accommodations, from open public piers to guest docks and cans, water taxis and open anchorages. From what I see, there is a mix of costs from $/ft fees to free, if you throw your own anchor out.

I'm trying to get a cross section of ideas and experiences from people who have done it. This could be a story about a good or bad experience or the precautions skippers take in various ports or places

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I'm trying to get a cross section of ideas and experiences from people who have done it. This could be a story about a good or bad experience or the precautions skippers take in various ports or places

Usually any problem areas with theft will be known about and will flag up through google in websites like noonsite or similar, maybe with a quick ask around after checking in.
Lifting the dinghy every night at anchor is possibly the one single act people do in areas where outboards have been known to go missing.

[Shrew]

Foreign port is relative. My foreign port is some else's home port. Someone else's home port is my foreign port. A foreign port is only relative to the nationality of the sailor entering it.

Try to remove such geocentric thinking from your head. The concept is 'security', the scope is 'when you leave the boat'. The relative safety and security will vary from place to place. Nationality is irrelevant.

[bvander]

Security doesn't happen with a lock.
The real key is situational awareness.
Starts before you leave on your way to a new port. Research. Noonsite, Caribbean security net, talk to other cruisers coming from there. Also Google local news reports.
Once you get settled in new location talk to officials and other cruisers
First day stay close to boat and assess the feel. Have good lock for outboard and dingy
When walkabout blend in, don't flash $, keep aware, don't get pissed at local hangout, keep the bling at home. Talk with locals, if spending time there befriend some locals, they have the best humint about the area.
A cruiser should not be a starry eyed tourist blindly stumbling around.

[Diesel Bill]

When My boat was docked in La Paz people kept a watchful eye out for each others boats.
If any stranger lingered near someone's boat they were asked what they wanted.
That works at the dock but I don't know about anchoring out or at a mooring. Then again I am more concerned about personal safety than theft. I don't have much in the way of new expensive gear that would tempt a thief.
I think just take the usual precautions and don't leave things laying around to tempt anyone.

[dwedeking2]

Foreign or domestic doesn't really matter except that you'll obviously be more aware the situation at a port you are more familiar with.

Situational awareness and keep your valuables on the down low. For example, I'm mounting my MFD down below and then using the wifi function to use it via a tablet at the helm. Now at dock or anchor, there's not expensive gear in plain site (just an example of not flashing wealth).

I'm thinking about a cut off switch for the ignition. Just a simple toggle in a hidden location for when I leave the boat for extended periods. But really any deterrents like that will only keep honest people honest. Enough time and desire and anything can be stolen.

[boatman61]

The reality is any boat can be entered in a few minutes by anyone with a crowbar.. so rather than suffer to much damage I just shut all the deck hatches, pop in the wash boards, slide the hatch shut and pop a small padlock on.. with the dinghy I use stainless chain and padlock.. sometimes I'll hang it using the spinnaker line and padlock it to a stanchion... others I'll leave it in the water secured by painter and the chain and padlock.
Being rammed or being dragged into causes more concern than a break in..

[barnakiel]

Well, in some places we leave the boat open, at other locations we lock everything up.

It is all country-and-community-specific.

Ports overall are a bit less safe than countryside.

b.

[Scorpius]

Don't have the fanciest looking boat in the port. Too much gleam just attracts trouble. In our three years in Latin America we had one ashore incident (necklace torn from wife's neck by cyclist in Costa Rica) but nothing re the boat. We did, however, have a bicycle stolen in San Diego and a major break-in in Tampa.

[FilBrown]

I have a little PIR activated battery operated doorbell which I leave in the cockpit overnight. If anyone gets onto the back of the boat it makes a bong noise. Not very secure but it might put some off.

I'm planning to leave my boat for 4-5 months ashore over the winter.
As I'll be 2000 miles away I'm going to have to leave her with most of our personal gear aboard.
In that time someone could have stripped the boat of anything valuable.

I was wondering if anyone has or plans to use any of the following;

https://buddyguard.io/how-it-works
I dont know if this works from 12v but I'm sure it could be adapted too.

http://www.brinno.com/outdoor-security-camera/MAC200DN
This PIR activated camera will work for months on a couple of batteries but will need to be hidden.

https://www.thetrackr.com
These are fairly small and could be stuck on an outboard or pushbike but they rely on having a bluetooth signal.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I have always wondered what cruisers do in foreign ports. How do you secure a sailboat against someone coming aboard to steal your stuff or the boat when stopping in a unfamiliar area?

Once I had sailed into a port and tied up to the public pier and my girlfriend and I went out to breakfast. When we came back an hour later the boat was gone and a racing fleet had taken over the pier. We eventually found the boat, since they moved it down the Pier to make room for the other boats, but it could have been much worse.

How do you leave your boat in a foreign port alone? At a pier? At anchorage? At a mooring can? What do you do for your dingy or tender? A lock will never stop a professional thief. A strong lock simply means they will break your door or the hasp. They will get in.

But I'm more concerned with coming back to find the boat still there. What do you do?

That takes a lot of balls, moving a stranger's boat because you want the space. People have been shot over lesser offences. I would think that's an actual crime although if you're in a foreign country, you might not get much help. It would have been nice if you had had an alarm on the boat that sounded loudly when the boat was moved.

There's only so much you can do to secure your boat, at home or in another country. The best thing to do is to stay away from known problem areas. I don't know of anyone using steel cables and padlocks to secure their boat to the dock although some folks do this with their dinghies and motors.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by rwidman

That takes a lot of balls, moving a stranger's boat because you want the space. People have been shot over lesser offences. I would think that's an actual crime although if you're in a foreign country, you might not get much help. It would have been nice if you had had an alarm on the boat that sounded loudly when the boat was moved.

There's only so much you can do to secure your boat, at home or in another country. The best thing to do is to stay away from known problem areas. I don't know of anyone using steel cables and padlocks to secure their boat to the dock although some folks do this with their dinghies and motors.

Likely it was done by the Marina Staff.. its in the small print.. doubt very much the 'Racers' would have done it..
Fortunately we're not 'Gun Happy' this side of the pond.

[SaltyMetals]

Big Jim,

This forum covers a wide area. if you are US based or you are specifically referring to the Caribbean then pls say so. There are others in this forum who are in Euorpe , South East asia, or even Oz/Nz. We all have comments for the specific areas. The security requirements will be different for each of them.