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Jon Hacking · 19-12-2010, 03:14

Z, We've been in SE Asia for the last year or so, after recrossing the Indian Ocean from South Africa in 2009. I'm writing this from Langkawi, Malaysia. The closest sizable bridge is ~80nm south. Your by-line (& comments) imply you're under the Coronado Bridge in San Diego, next to the Navy base. My pardon if you took offense...

But my comment was more that you (& others) don't seem to be taking this thread seriously. From SD (indeed, most of the civilized world) it's pretty easy to avoid pirates. But if you want to cross the Indian from South Africa, there are very few options besides the Seychelles, which is pirate territory during the quiet months. East to west has more options, but not many.

So to you (& others) this thread is just fun. To us, it has the potential to be much more - unless it gets side-tracked by flippant comments by folks who have no real interest. We have to recross the Indian one more time, probably in the next year or 2. About 150 cruising boats arrive here from Darwin each year, & most have to cross the Indian at some time. So there's a real need for the ideas that this sort of thread can produce.

We can avoid the Seychelles, but Madagascar is a very real possibility, as the alternative (Mauritious & Reunion) is pretty heavy slogging. Not much fun for a couple on a small boat.

Patient · 19-12-2010, 04:59

Here's an idea.

A hidden sea anchor that slows the boat down, giving time for help to arrive even if you have been boarded.

The trick would be to make it hidden and stay very deep as to avoid detection, but it would create enough drag to reduce speeds considerably. A padeye on the keel with a lead line that runs up the cockpit with a shackle or some other mechanism would suffice, and even towing would not help. Just attach the shackle to the anchor package and toss it overboard when you see the skiffs coming.

Just think of the looks on their faces when towing your boat only produces 3knts.

Kind of silly I know, but I have to give some meaning to the great glass of scotch.

Dkdoyle · 19-12-2010, 07:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by svsanuk

The average cruiser would be far better off "rolling over and taking it". NO amount of ammunition is going to stop a 50 cal from sinking your fiberglass boat. Sorry, but I cannot disagree more with the fight back mentality. Unless you are in a retired warship, you best give up early.

Wow - There are many divergent views. Ok I am an American which does not mean I will go looking for a fight and I will even back off a little but note a little. First I would avoid the region but as another person noted if you cannot avoid it then for Gods sake protect yourself. My first option would be an rpg and ak47's . Consider it insurance and then throw overboard when out of danger. A sunk boat will not sink you.

Americans are pretty tired of cleaning up the messes and then getting blamed for having a heavy hand. How about some other country standing up?

zeehag · 19-12-2010, 09:45

jphnhacking--- the subject of pirates is a multifoldone. there ar epirates like in seychelles and aft=rican coat-- that is really really bad. there ar epirates in the cruising areasthat are merely muggers and thieves.
so there are more than one kinda piratical activity to concern oneself with. on this side of earth, in our
"normal" cruising grounds, the piracy acts are acts of retrieval by poverty stricken folks in front of whose face we flaunt wealth and grandeur. this is preventable by not flaunting. also by using extreme care in our daily living while we cruise. watchfulness is a goo dplace to start, and not flaunting.....
as far as the other and realler and badder kinda pirates--in the african coast---avoidance is all i can come up with. isnt anything over in that neighborhood i really wanna die for seeing......markj did really good--- should get a medal for his travels there(anyone got a medal making machine--we can fab him one?)....
would really like to have the cannonry and a flamethrower, tho..could be amusing.......as long as flamethrower isnt mounted near the sails.....
under bridges is a good place to regroup, btw...the cardboard boxes make good camoflage......

Dkdoyle · 19-12-2010, 09:59

All valid points. I was not trying to group all pirates together but was specifically referring to Somalia where it has turned into a business. Just read with sadness the tragic death of the Canadian in honduras. It's a dangerous world.

zeehag · 19-12-2010, 10:48

honduras, venezuela, caribean, wherever--is a problem. yes there is govt/business piracy--eg, somalia(i got no clue as to how to take care of this, except avoidance), and there is poverty and subsistence piracy closer to "home"-home being the world in which we enjoy our boats and cruising--we sail into impoverished nati9ons and their waters and show a bright shiny new loooking boat which the locals consider to be of considerable wealth--- exhibits money oozing out each and every scupper and drain. those shade thingies and that stuff hanging off the boat is also indicative of great holding of money- dollars- motivation. flag of usa also equates with lots of dollars handy. why advertise wealth when that is not in your own best interest? having a boat ye calls a yacht is the first and most obvious offense in this situation--- yacht=dollars. LOTS. and TARGET is now on your back. each society has its own rats. rats are attracted first to shine then to what is left. i prefer to not be in the first line of victimry--mine is a rough looking formosa-- thank the gods. when the shiny boat is being watched, i will be making my chores complete and leaving without having their attention attracted to my size and "ugliness". (on knees praying like a jealot)(no offense to zealots-i dont pray too often... when i do, is for real reasons and other people...)

Dkdoyle · 19-12-2010, 10:58

A Formosa is a nice boat in my view. Not Rich or new here but got your point. The guy that got killed in Honduras had a 35 ericson. Standard go humming good cruiser not an expensive looker. Just the in the unfortunate position to be the only one there. Safety in numbers

OaklandSailor · 19-12-2010, 13:02

Guys, anyone sailing into a port or who is on a hook is seen as a person of wealth whether your boat is new and shiny or not... unless you're intending to camouflage your boat with miscellaneous junk so that you'll be seen as impoverished and not worth any trouble. In my opinion, there's nothing for it except to realize that in all but a very few locales we are all seen, and correctly so, as having wealth. My M.O. has always been to present myself in the humblest and most helpful way I can to everyone I meet, particularly in that much of the world now sees the US so unfavorably -but I won't get into that subject.

RPG's and AK's? Might be over the top but personally I wouldn't consider being without a weapon I could pull out of a locker in coastal areas that are notorious for danger and fatality. How about strapping on a visible, hefty sidearm if things look threatening and also having something far more lethal broken down and kept in pieces around the boat -to be quickly assembled- but not a whole weapon to be easily discovered by any official boarding party. There is nothing anyone can do to stop an armed group who is determined to rob you or sink your boat. Transitting bad water in tightly clustered groups and watching out for one another may be all that can be done.

It is always a tough decision whether or not to appear dangerous if provoked. Our fiberglass boats take almost nothing to sink or disable and that's the simple truth. The trick is not to be in harm's way but if I must be, do all I can not to be there alone. The world is not a harmless place and the worst of it is that the bad guys always have guns.

OS

Bluefuss · 19-12-2010, 13:51

Has anyone ever tried electric fence wire, as a security measure, on their boat?

Dkdoyle · 19-12-2010, 16:00

Just wondering how do you not fry yourself?

zeehag · 19-12-2010, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluefuss

Has anyone ever tried electric fence wire, as a security measure, on their boat?

fried kat is not what ye wanna find when returning from provisioning.

David_Old_Jersey · 19-12-2010, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dkdoyle

Just wondering how do you not fry yourself?

don't sail naked.............

markpierce · 19-12-2010, 17:10

I still remember the time about 55 years ago when "zapped" at an electircal fence at a farm adjacent to Great Grandmother's along the Iowa River. (Cattle were grazed in the woodlands adjacent to the river.) This could be a good case for justifying reinforced learning whereby one gets an electrical shock for every wrong answer/deed.