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Old 07-10-2010, 12:27   #106
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An awakening thread, I thought we were alone with our experience.

In -90 sailing a 33' sloop with my wife in the Baltic heading south of Bornholm towards Germany, of Poland in international waters, a large steel fishing/factory boat changed to a collision course with us, at first I though it was planed course change for them to reach their destination and altered course to avoid a possible collision, they changed course again to achieve collision course, I changed tack and course by over 160 degrees and again they changed course to hit us, as things were happening fast and we were being left without future options i hit the engine and turned full speed right towards them furling in the genoa, when they were almost over us I turned a little but noticeably to starboard, as soon us they started turn to hit us I puled hard to port and let out the Genoa (I was counting on their momentum of the turn not permitting a turn opposite fast enough).
After passing I tried to pronounce their Cyrillic name a few times on Ch. 16 and was ready to holler for help if they would have turned back, they didn't.
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Old 07-10-2010, 12:27   #107
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And though you just never know who is out there, you (re skipper) feels no compunction about loosing off a couple of rounds.
Not my choice of neighbour.
Neither would I hunt with a partner who takes sound shots.
My thoughts exactly. Even if you knew there was nothing else out there but this boat, wasn't it possible it was the RCMP or Coast Guard? Obviously it wasn't but it seems a very tenuous practice at best.
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Old 07-10-2010, 12:28   #108
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I can't fault the skipper I was with under the circumstances. Some one coming down on you at high speed when you are anchored in the middle of the night with a bright spot light aimed at you is probably not the dropping by to offer you a cup of tea. What would you do under the circumstances particularly when you are sitting on several thousand in cash? I feel we did the right thing...
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Old 07-10-2010, 12:35   #109
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She was paralyzed for life - all because of a cultural misunderstanding.

TaoJones
No..it wasn't a cultural misunderstanding...it was a deliberate act of violence by a lowlife scumbag criminal who, really should be voted off the planet.

Sorry..seen too too much of that stuff. been a victim of it..not that badly maybe, but still..
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Old 07-10-2010, 13:27   #110
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... What would you do under the circumstances...
I'd stand by, vigilant, until I knew what I was dealing with.

If armed, I certainly wouldn't shoot, until I had a WELL identified HOSTILE target.
The presence of cash wouldn't (at least, shouldn't) affect my decision-making.

To be honest, this actually sounds, to me, more like a poorly crafted parable, invented to illustrate a point; rather than a true story, accurately reporting history.
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Old 07-10-2010, 17:19   #111
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The year was 1958, the name of the packer was the Silversides out of Egmont, British Columbia and the skippers' name was Ernie from a long line of Portuguese/Indian fisherman from that area. He passed away about 25 years ago. The Silversides was still afloat at the government dock in Egmont in 2007. The event took place in Bute Inlet the summer of '58. I fished commercially with the family for about 5 years and have some great memories of those days. I have no need to fabricate a story to make a point. Standing by 'vigilantly' while an unknown craft was bearing down on you in the wee hours of the morning was not a sensible option under those circumstances IMHO. The point I was trying to make from this experience is that while never a first choice, taking the initiative with a firearm may well have saved a couple of lives in this case. These guys were clearly not on a troller or seiner or another packer due the speed they were traveling.
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Old 07-10-2010, 18:39   #112
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Got to agree with Gord. Not wanting to get into the gun debate but shooting at an unidentified target that is nothing but a bright light in your face is asking for trouble ten fold. Assuming a targets intention and knowing a targets intention is a world of difference and two different worlds of hurt if you are wrong.
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Old 07-10-2010, 18:48   #113
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I was part of a crew repossesing a large craft.....190 Feet.

A vessel approached with a very bright beam.....like heliocopters put out

We were anchored....waiting for dawn till we moved into the pier, as it was very tight.

The Captain got everybody up.....

It was the USCG.

Shooting first would have been imprudent....to say the least.
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Old 07-10-2010, 18:57   #114
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Wow, I go to the Bahamas every year and the Haitian thing has gotten out of control. They are going to ruin the Bahamas. A friend of mine has a house on Elbow Cay, which they broke into and stole all of his clothes (while he wasn't there). A month later he's walking a block off the bay front in Hopetown (where the Haitians hang out) and they're all wearing his clothes! He shouted at them "Hey, that's my shirt you're wearing", they just ignored him.

The native Bahamians aren't smart enough to recognize that the Haitians are going to ruin the native Bahamians good honest reputation.

Thank God they allow you to keep guns on board, or I would quit going there. Although I've never had a problem in over 30 years.

However, if had that experience, I would have put a 50 caliper bullet through the engine block of that Haitian Smugglers motor and then emptied the balance of the clip along his water line. He would be dead in the water, sinking and God help him if he was dump enough to shot back.

Quick story posted in the Wall Street Journal by a Maritime Attorney: Piracy was so out of control in the 1700's that England, Spain and France joined forces to promote merchant ships to carry arms and shoot to kill pirates. International law did not require that you bring pirates to trial, because merchant ships don't have jails on board, so just kill them. Piracy was nearly eliminated until the 1950's when International Law (I would assume the UN) band merchant ships from carrying arms and most ports followed suite. Now we see piracy growing again. A ship with $100's of millions in cargo, unarmed? What are they thinking?

Now merchant ships are starting to hire armed guards during transit. Is St. Lucia going to steal the armed guards guns, like they do ours? I think the pendulum might be swinging back, at least I hope so. I have a wife and young daughter to fight for.
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Old 07-10-2010, 18:58   #115
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Lots of nuts for sure. Sailing one dark night a power boat approaches, not quite on a collision course, but close. so I take my spot light and light up our main, Flashing on/off to make it hard to miss. Well, they saw it. They turn towards us, Dead on and keep on as I alter course. At the very last minute they swerve and pass maybe 10 feet off. Everyone on the power baot was laughing like crazy. Good thing I don't carry a firearm as I'd be typing from jail right now...
I always have 1 aboard today with all the crazy things going on in this world and me hurt I will protect myself
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Old 07-10-2010, 19:25   #116
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Hi All,
This is the OP. Having grown up in Utah and Idaho, I've been around guns all my life, I did Army Basic Training in 1958 (you do the math). A gun would not have done anything but relieve my frustration, as events happened to fast. In retrospect I wished I'd had a RPG in the cockpit.

Please don't send this thread into another gun rant.
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Old 07-10-2010, 20:31   #117
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I'll move it into a Haitian rant. I asked a good friend of mine and native Bahamian in Marsh Harbour, why the Bahamian Immigration doesn't round up the Haitians and send them back to Haiti before they run off all of the tourists and boaters? He said that the native Bahamians like them, because they do all of the work, cheap.

I strike a deal for my friend to clean the bottom of my boat for $80, next thing I know, he's got two Haitians there doing it for $20. Now I understand.
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Old 07-10-2010, 20:56   #118
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The USA has the "Mexicans" and the Bahamas and the D.R. have the "Haitians." Isn't capitalism wonderful?
- - But really there are legitimate trade vessels sailing between Haiti and the Bahamas and I have seen Haitian sailing scows (?) occassionally on the run from Nassau down the west side of the Exumas. The use sails to return to Haiti and are quite unique vessels.
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Old 07-10-2010, 23:06   #119
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No..it wasn't a cultural misunderstanding...it was a deliberate act of violence by a lowlife scumbag criminal who, really should be voted off the planet.

Sorry..seen too too much of that stuff. been a victim of it..not that badly maybe, but still..
You missed my point, zopi, which was that the deliberate act of violence which resulted in the girl being paralyzed for life was triggered by the gunman's interpretation of an innocent hand gesture as a personal insult. That interpretation was because in his culture it was, but in the culture of the youths in the car that was attacked, the gesture meant no such thing - it was just the accepted way one driver indicated to another driver that he had forgotten to turn on his head lights.

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Old 07-10-2010, 23:10   #120
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I'll move it into a Haitian rant. I asked a good friend of mine and native Bahamian in Marsh Harbour, why the Bahamian Immigration doesn't round up the Haitians and send them back to Haiti before they run off all of the tourists and boaters? He said that the native Bahamians like them, because they do all of the work, cheap.

I strike a deal for my friend to clean the bottom of my boat for $80, next thing I know, he's got two Haitians there doing it for $20. Now I understand.
Please open your own thread for your own personnal rants.
I sailed along the south coast of Haiti, I've been befriended by Haitians. What I found, getting away from 'cruisiers', is that the local people of third world countries are fellow humans, just like us.
Please include personall experiences with your claims, not what someone else said.

I'll explain something to you in a second post cause the modes are going to delete it.
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