Bahamas Boat Ramming

[John A]

Racial stuff we need to avoid
Amongst the different islands of the Caribbean there
is racial friction between the Spanish speaking islands and all others.
In TrinIdad, there is a racial friction between those who were brought from Africa as slaves and those who were brought from India as indentured servents.
All of the islands have a social order within the people from Africa, as a general rule; the lighter skinned people consider themselves better than the darker skinned people.
Haitians are the darkest, so everone hates them. Hatitians are also the poorest, so the bottom feeders are the most disperatee

[beowulfborealis]

Interesting story about getting rammed. Power boats have their issues too. Some of those drift netter commercial fishing boats set their nets right in shipping lanes and then spend the night drifting attached to their net, and hoping not to get run down by a freighter.

Back in 1991 I was on assignment on a Taiwanese driftnetter once out around 40N and 180. I woke up around 3 AM and had this strange feeling that something was wrong. I knew that I couldn't sleep until I had checked everything out so I investigated the engine room first, which was fine. Then I went up to the bridge. We were doing about 12 knots in pea soup fog. Nobody was on watch. I turned on the radar and dead ahead, was this hugh cargo ship. We were just about to t-bone this thing. It would have been an ugly collision. I got the chief engineer up just in time to have him turn hard to port and we avoided a collision.

You would be surprised how often there is nobody awake on the bridge of some of those big ships out there.

[chadlaroche]

Never in a million years would I have thought anybody would intentionally run someone down for no reason ...... short of strapping a set of 250 outboards to the back How do you prepare for something like this? run with your boat lit up like a xmas tree or go dark and hope not to be seen ?? Retrofit my bow with a howitzer ??

[Capt Phil]

Tellie, I agree with your trepidation about shooting first and asking questions too late. I've rerun that night dozens of times in my mind and in hindsight, I'm still unsure of what we shoulda/coulda done. My best guess was that we were targeted because of the common knowledge in those days that cash buyers were easy targets in remote areas. The light was probably an attempt to disorient us and ruin our night vision. We heard later there were other salmon buyers who had been boarded and robbed under similar circumstances in Rivers and Toba Inlets as well as at the dock in Alert Bay but we didn't know about them at the time. The RCMP had a detachment in Alert Bay in those days but there were only Fisheries personnel occasionally patrolling the fishing grounds in those days. As GordMay pointed out, vigilance is most important and a plan to act or react should be well formulated in advance consistent first with survival and second according to acceptable local laws and custom IMO. Capt Phil

[ViribusUnitis]

[RANT]

Everyone should be polite. Even the USCG needs to be polite. US citizens on US boats are CITIZENS, not subjects. They are on their boat, that they own as their personal property. At the very least, the USCG should have to identify themselves with proper documentation, notiffy that they intend to board, and what they intend to do when they board.

Not even the USCG should be running up on an anchor yacht on a plane, and shining a spotlight on the cockpit. I'm not sure the yacht owner should be firing into the night with a rifle, but not because he might hit the helmsman of the boat with the spot light. No, the only reason he shouldn't be discharging the rifle, is he might hit some totaly innocent bystander on another boat or the shore that isn't doing anything.

I'm not saying this is the way the world is. Just the way it should be.

[RANT OFF]

[John A]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

I'm not saying this is the way the world is. Just the way it should be.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

In a more perfect world, my boat would be a crewed Swan 60'

[Capt Phil]

Got that right, JohnA... by the way, every encounter I've ever had with the USCG, and there have been a few, have been great. They have been courteous, respectful of my property, friendly and professional. On a couple of occasions I have written letters to their District Commandants complementing them on their deportment. On one inspection, they even put on 'booties' so they didn't track anything over the salon cabin sole. I hope you find a way to get down the Columbia and smell the salt air... cheers...

[John A]

Capt Phil,
So far this thread has produced two outings on sailboats, one a three nighter over to Friday Harbor.
Several PM's and this CF has allowed me to stay connected.

[Tia Bu]

Man! Funky things happen in the Bahamas at night. I just read through this whole thread and am trying to think what lessons can be learned from John A.'s strange and unfortunate experience. I'm thinking maybe a lesson is to give other traffic an extra wide berth at night in the Bahamas- like a mile or two. Some of those guys running around out there are just up to no good.

[Capt Phil]

Delighted you are staying connected with the sea, JohnA... from the sound of things we are about the same vintage and it does my heart good to spend the occasional week or so back on the water. I have not gone through the trials that you have but spent enough decades out there to know I need my salt air fix... cheers, Capt Phil

[bobconnie]

Capt Phil, Most all of these folks are not Old enough to know what those days were like in the Gulf of Alaska down to Canada, I was fishing Halibut in those times from Goose Island to the Bering sea and it was some Fine and some crazy times! with Rusky and Indian Pirates Both !! along with white eye thieves!(did I get all the politcaly incorrect stuff in? LOL) There were times everyone thought they were cowboys or something!! Of course you remember Atlas direct reversibles right ?? LOL AHH our youth, glad ya get some sea time, if ever in Louisiana give us shout and we can go fishin and tell some tales LOL Bob and Connie

[Capt Phil]

Thanks for the invite, Bob and Connie... if I ever get down your way, i'll be sure to give you some advance warning. Never been fishing there and would love to experience it. Had a ride out to an oil platorm once which was enjoyable for the company but not the trip. I recall Goose Island, Dutch Harbor and the the Bering Sea well up north. Fished for herring as well as salmon and halibut off the BC coast. Fishing crew was native indian and Portuguese. A few trips to Kamchatka Island out the archapelego and saw some pretty rough weather. Towed black oil barges up the coast as well as a couple of years beachcombing and towing logs, both barges and booms in the early days. Never had an encounter with the Russians but the Japanese were around in droves in their big offshore draggers in the 60's. All the really bad memories have faded for the most part and just remember the good times and crazy times of which there were plenty. Kids want me to write a book! Cheers, Capt Phil

[TomM]

Earlier this week I was on a KLM flight over North Africa going from Dar Salaam to Amsterdam. It was around 2 am and very dark when I noticed that the landing light was being turned on and off which I thought was strange since we were still at 37,000 ft. About a minute later a small jet passed about 100 yards from us at our altitude going the opposite direction. If pilot only had a handgun....

[timbenner]

Years ago I learned the seriousness of shining a light into a cockpit at night. I was waiting to go through a draw bridge in Palm Beach, FL, while President George Bush's motor brigade was making it's way from a fund raiser to Airforce One. Helicopters were circling everywhere and patrol boats were thick as flies.

I made the stupid mistake of shining my spot light at one of the helicopters to get a better look and that was a BIG mistake. He immediately flew over top of me, flooded me with his spot light and let me know that I did the wrong thing. I gestured apology, tucked my tail and learned a lesson.

Regarding freighters at sea, I've heard many a story of them running down pleasure craft for the heck of it or at least it seems that way. Friends of mine fishing 60 miles offshore and having freighters simply run them down. Those need to be pinged with a rifle bullet through their wheel house.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by osirissail

You take the initiative to stay out of the way of anything bigger or crazier or stupider, (or faster) than you. .

Thats frameable.