Honduras: Sailing Boat Boarded and Robbed by Pirates

[storyinframes]

I wouldn't shy away from two things to improve the fear factor -

a) hairstyle like Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem in No country for old men). this hairstyle will instill fear in predator's heart. its another thing that you may not get lucky in the local bar dance on saturday nights.

b) cattle gun.

cool isn't it?

No Country for Old Men- get out of the car scene - YouTube

[xxuxx]

After having crossed Honduras 14 times, I will say it is one of the most corrupt counties in cental America. The police will try to extract "mordita" from you at every turn. Mordita for the uninformed are bribes. In just 40 miles of highway there were over 14 stops by police exacting "mordita". The coastline is just as bad albeit the police are replaced by mini-pirate groups. In cases of fight or flight, sometimes flight is impossible as the pirates or theives are already upon your vessel. What to do? My vote is for personal defense items. ie pepper spay, taser, 12 guarge pump etc etc. The weak link in these forums is that we tend to use our American value system in trying to find solutions to the problem. More often than not, we are wrong in our thinking in that their culture is more accepting of "an eye for an eye". In other words, we are way more polite than we should be!!!!!!!!

[Bruce626]

Custom30 wrote "I'm gonna rig a matrix of high powered lasers in the companionway...Lasers it is!" ==> OK, this is doable - not really high powered though. Since ray guns are not off the shelf items one will need to do a bit of work to make them - still, it is unlikely that any third world country has laws restricting them, nor are their agents likely to recognize them as dangerous.

One can recycle an old microwave oven into a pest and weed exterminating device. Take the microwave oven apart and keep the magnetron, power supply, fan, light, and on/off switch. Using the sheet metal from the oven or a galvanized stove pipe, mount the magnetron at the front with the microwave emitter centered and pointed out – it should be set back from the end about six inches or so to shroud the beam. Use the same holes that bolt the magnetron to the inside of the pipe to affix the forward hand grip – probably made from wood. Mount the fan in back of the magnetron so that it will blow air over the power supply which is mounted at the back. Use the bolts that secure the power supply to mount the rear hand grip – this hand grip is hollow and the power cord* runs out of the handle to plug into an extension cord. The hand grip also mounts the trigger type on/off switch which will only stay on while it is being held back with the trigger finger. Mount the oven light** over the power supply and change to a red bulb if possible (to let the user know the unit is on, and to protect night vision). Use some metal screening material, perhaps that found in the oven door, to screen the rear opening of the pipe. As an option, one might affix an old laser pointer** to the top of the magnetron, run by the power supply, to show where the invisible microwave beam is being directed.
* For portable use – perhaps on a boat – one could power the unit for a limited amount of time using a small twelve volt motorcycle battery and an appropriately sized inverter.
** To save power and up the visibility, dispense with the small oven light and instead of a laser pointer, use an array of four write heads from an old recycled CD/DVD burner. Cheap but powerful, this would outline the invisible microwave beam with four red dots. Note that the laser array is likely powerful enough to cause temporary blindness if directed into someone’s eyes. The trigger could be wired so that as the trigger is pulled back the laser array comes on, continue pulling and the microwave beam comes on.

When on, the magnetron will emit a compact stream of microwave energy – this should be tested by aiming the device at a small glass of water. One should be able to get a feel for the direction and range of the microwave beam by noting how long it takes the water to boil. In general, microwave energy is not good for living things as it excites the water found therein which heats the item up. An insect, perhaps a cockroach, is a small quantity of mostly water contained in a chitin shell – and this small quantity of water can be rapidly heated to over the temperature at which insects die (around 105 F). A similar thing happens to the leaves of plants (weeds). Microwaves will go through some stuff like plastic, wood, concrete, and earth (like ground penetrating radar does) so for safety you should know what is on the other side of walls – and this feature might be used to kill pests inside the walls (cockroaches, mice, etc). Some experimentation will be needed to determine the range and penetration of your unit. Microwaves do NOT penetrate metal, so any metal surface in the beam will act like a mirror and reflect the microwave beam – if the surface is flat the beam will be reflected at an angle (the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence), if the surface is convex the beam will be dissipated, but if the surface is concave the beam may become concentrated (at least for some distance). Some prudence is indicated here.

If more power is needed a bigger commercial unit might be obtained, and to make it portable, get a small generator and mount both on a small cart. More power might be needed to reach further underground to get rid of various pests (like ants, termites, gophers). This unit might also be set up to ‘burn’ an intruder – especially one that is in a fixed or limited location like a porch. Aimed at an intruder’s head from a concealed stationary location (trap) from close range, the intruder will not even know that they are under attack until the attack is becoming effective. Using a portable unit, it might be possible to ‘burn’ an intruder through a relatively thin wall or door – again the intruder might not know they were under attack. When thin metal is placed in a microwave oven there are usually some spectacular sparking effects and the metal heats up – if the intruder is holding a metal weapon such as a knife or a gun, such effects might cause the weapon to be dropped.

One could scale the concept down and just mount five of the DVD write heads in a flashlight body arranged in a ‘+’ array. This would use a lot less power and would look to the casual observer like a common flashlight. There are instructions on the internet for salvaging and remounting them – the videos show that one can pop a balloon from across the room. Shined into the eyes of a miscreant, it is likely to at least disrupt his night vision while leaving yours intact. It is possible that a couple of seconds of continuous exposure may cause temporary blindness since the human eye will refocus the relatively diffuse beam on the fovea of the eye. With enough heat to pop a balloon, it is likely that such exposure will be painful and the exposed target is likely to respond with the traditional ‘hands follow hurt’ by putting his hands over his eyes. This will likely disrupt his offensive posture if he is holding a weapon and give you time to take some appropriate action.

[sabray]

I have a. Ben Riner slicer and dicer. Lethal sharp bastard contraption. Trick is to convince the assailant to slice and dice with the thing. Guaranteed to inflict damage to anyone touching the thing. That's my defense plan and the only reason I will retrieve the said contraption from the bilge is for reasons of self defense. As a double use rule it would be very good at shortening my fingers more then it has. Why I would need even shorter fingers I don't know. I have the tool to do it though so I am prepared.

[dajtbd]

It makes no sense to me to drop to my knees while someone threatens my life, or my wife's and crew.

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by dajtbd

It makes no sense to me to drop to my knees while someone threatens my life, or my wife's and crew.

I have to agree with you, I will not just say take me I'm easy. Happy sailing brother....Michael..

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

Pneumatic spearguns the nice short ones that strap to your leg, effective against large fish, silent and cord is re-movable. No need to declare other than for fishing, ours are 2ft long overall..

Bonus is you can use them on Lobsters as well.

No doubt you can do serious damage with a spear gun of just about any flavor. There is also the added advantage of claiming it was an accident to reduce the paperwork.

Since I have three spear guns this gives me several options in case of attack.

But I do have some random thoughts to add. Most folks who have military training were taught that less than 10% of the troops do more than 90% of the killing. In fact not only was I taught that when I was active military but in graduate school many business schools stress the same idea.

So the first thing you need to do is figure out if you are in the 10% or the 90%.

Once that question is answered the rest is easy. If you are in the 10% spear guns, gaffs, boat hooks, or even a well placed flying front face kick will do the trick. Otherwise you may need to choose between tactical nuclear weapons or a cruise missile.

[category4jay]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

No one, I repete No One, Has the right to board your vessel without your permission! Personaly they would never gotten close enough for a hand gun to be any good for them !! A 10 gauge flare gun from world war 2 would have sunk there panga or what ever ya want to call it !! from 40 yards away !! and cleared ther deck if I so wanted to!! I don't like to carry the things I do carry but the world makes me do It !! No one will hold a gun to my head or my wifes head anytime I can keep them from it !! Leave no witness, and sail away!! to bad so sad another lost fisherman!! thats my 2 cents !!

If everybody sailed with this strategic plan there would be a whole lot less piracy. Less "fisherman" too.

[thompsonisland]

The only time I have ever been physically assaulted, I shouted assertively and the guy bailed. I'm not against guns, but I adhere to Gandalf's rule of judgment on the giving and taking of life. My cruising defense plans probably involve a lot of light and noise, locks, carpet tacks, and as little of value as possible.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by thompsonisland

The only time I have ever been physically assaulted, I shouted assertively and the guy bailed. I'm not against guns, but I adhere to Gandalf's rule of judgment on the giving and taking of life. My cruising defense plans probably involve a lot of light and noise, locks, carpet tacks, and as little of value as possible.

Gandalf didnt have a problem killing when he had to protect his friends from the Balrog at the bridge of Kazactd`om...just sayin..DVC

[thompsonisland]

I would totally kill a balrog, but not a gollum.. And, I think a wizard's staff is a reasonable and legal weapon to keep on board.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by thompsonisland

I would totally kill a balrog, but not a gollum.. And, I think a wizard's staff is a reasonable and legal weapon to keep on board.

You have just single handedly figured out how to combat all evil-doers, such as pirates,muggers,thieves,trolls, government officels and such..a magic staff!..why didnt I think of that?..DVC

[thompsonisland]

In all seriousness, I'll bet you could scare off many intruders with a full-on LARP-style wizard routine.

[micah719]

Gandalf? Magic Staffs? Hmmmmm. Would you be interested in purchasing one? Limited edition marine-grade, with stainless steel bands and dyneema coxcombing....just send thirty thousand dollars in gold to my account.

(Ok, it won't actually work, but you might be so poor after purchasing it as to keep you from sailing anywhere dangerous. I'll go instead.)

[thompsonisland]

$30K in gold is approximately 19oz at current prices. I will deliver 19oz of lead to you. You can use the staff's alchemical powers to convert it into gold.