If not a 'firearm' then?

[Lodesman]

Kai Nui once whispered in the wind:
If you ... are approached by a beat up old wood power boat with men in masks, running up on deck armed is probably going to have a negative result.

imho running up on deck unarmed will also have a negative result

btw I agree that Pete has a well-thought-out strategy. Chances are he'll never have to put it into practice, and if he does, I hope it works.

Mudnut, what do you mean by "par for the course"?

Kevin

[Alan Wheeler]

Now wouldn't be funny if we could turn the tables. Just imagine, let tha Pirates on board, then pull out all the weaponry and say, right, hand over what you have got. Strip im of everything, right down to the underwear.
You could just imagine the conversation they would have on their defeated trip back home. sheesh, we need to get another line of work. It's not safe to go pillageing and rampaging anymore.

[delmarrey]

pwederell once whispered in the wind:
Have a worn old wallet sitting on the chart table with some $US in it (however much you feel comfortable losing). The wallet should also contain old/expired cards and some of the stuff you would normally carry. Having an old iPod or something similar in view would help as well. Consider the cash an insurance premium against the 1 in a million chance you are actually boarded. Make sure all other valuables are well hidden and all your electronics are secured in such a way that removing them would be a hassle and take a long time.

This is simular to what I do in Manila as well as the rest of the Philippines.
When I'm alone I carry a sacrificial wallet with old credit cards (expired and dead #'s) and just enough cash to buy food and small stuff. That way if I get picked or robbed they don't get much of anything (bait for the prospective thieves). I avoid carrying US cash. If I need to carry a large sum of money I have a few other people with me. So far I've haven't lost anything. But I always hear stories from others, even the locals that live there. A niece had the earings pulled right out of her ears. And cell phones are high in demand.

Anything that will sell quick on the black market has a value................_/)

[2divers]

I guess I was more asking the question if you decided to or were forced to fight, (IE Not going to be limp fish), then what would you use that is not a firearm.... Come on folks, be a little creative here!

A supersoaker or spray bottle filled with ammonia would take the fight out of everyone I know and you only have to be close to the head or chest area for it to work, and it's non-lethal. (talk about taking your breath away). I've heard the bear spray sold to backpackers would probably do it, ( I figure it will stop a 2000lb grizzly it should put the kabosh on someone trying to get down the companion way stairs pretty quickly.) Both will also prevent someone with a gun from shooting directly at you (at the very least) and most likely will cause them to drop any weapon in hand.

A water balloon or plastic baggy full of said liquid would make short work of anyone in the cockpit of an adjacent boat when dashed onto them or the steering and throttle area.

Both of these while extremely uncomfortable, are best treated by rinsing with water, so you just need help the unfortunate recipient overboard to facilitate first aid.

One gentlemen I know of is under the belief (mistaken or otherwise) that swords or machetes are not outlawed yet on board a boat anywhere. With sufficent training in said long sharp object, most pirates would either give up trying to mug you or shoot you depending on the weapons available so I'm not sure I would go there.

Does anyone know if TASER's count as firearms?
How about those little hand held self defense shock devices?

The best method though is still to never get into the situation to begin with. Look poor, look cheap, on rare occasions mean and never bring a knife to a gun fight.

Me personally, I'm not real fond of the idea of shooting someone, I do own several firearms though. No I will probably not be bringing them with me outside the US.

I do have a real problem with rolling over and just giving up my property with a threat to my safety or life. That leads to a coward being more likely to do it again to another individual or group.

If I am 'outgunned' then I will do my best to limit my losses with 'give away' material like suggested in previous responses. However, if someone ever harms or threatens my life or the lives of my family or guests I have absolutely no issues about maiming or killing said person or persons to defend my loved ones. That is something I pray I will never have to do. But I am prepared case of that emergency.

[Lodesman]

2divers,

Despite the fact that police use them here, tasers are prohibited in Canada, as is pepper spray. Bear spray (which is the same thing) is legal - go figure. But you will have a hard time proving you have a bona fide reason to carry bear repellent on a boat. I would suspect that many countries have similar rules or would have rules that may make anything you plan to employ as a self-defence weapon illegal. Best to check before you go, and failing that, declare everything on arrival. Best to lose your ammonia-filled watergun than to spend the next five years in jail.

Kevin

[Alan Wheeler]

Hmmm, here is a thought. I have a young lad on my course that has been sprayed with Police pepper spray. I had some red hot chillies at course and he had crushed one in his fingers. He accidentaly wiped his eye with his finger and the pain brought tears to his eyes. Of course, it resulted in him wiping his face and eyes again which made it all worse. We ended up having to take him to the hospital. He told me the Police pepper spray had nothing on the chillie oil.
So maybe an easy answer is to crush the oil out of some chillies and have it in a water pistol.

[BC Mike]

Well after all this discussion I suppose I better give yuse alls the answer. There is on board my boat something that will do the job, something that also should be on my boat. It is the spare tiller. It resembles a base ball bat. In the hands of someone like Jake it would be dangerous. If you do not know who Jake is you have not watched enough NZ made movies. Winch handles would also be effective, so would spray bottles with nasty stuff inside. But all these things should only be considered if it is obvious your collective lives are threatened, and that is a tough call. Peter Blake is still dead.
Michael

[Boracay]

I doubt if Bear Spray would be legal in Australia, but I don't think that there would be a problem with Shark Repellant at the moment!

[2divers]

Bear spray would probably be a little difficult to justify in say Egypt for example...

But a bottle of ammonia is still a bottle of disinfectant world wide.
It has several problems of it's own though. Imagine if you spilled any below deck .... Talk about crew climbing or jumping through the nearest available hatch to get topside! We had a guy here at work spill about half a gallon on the floor when he accidently hooked up up the blue line machine tubes the wrong way about 8 years ago. We vacated the whole floor of an office building! Suffice to say it was very unpleasent.

2divers

[dam]

As a firearm owner i was all for guns at sea until i really stopped and gave it some thought. The reality i was trying to convince myself was that i could protect my family better in a shoot out if i was armed. Now think about this for a minute , a shoot out ? WTF , am i really going to go to battle with pirates and guns on my wooden boat and feel my family is now safe ? This sort of thought is frankly madness !! I have travelled SE Asia and parts of the Pacific and never had any problems , but you must not make a target of yourself . Dress down , be modest and just get out there

[CaptainK]

I can agree with you 2divers.

I can tell you something a bit more potent than that. Have you ever mixed ammonia & bleech? It can really hurt someone with that stuff.

I heard one of my buddies telling me. That one of his workers mixed those two together. And it knocked him out. He was in a inclosed space. They had to take that person to sickbay.

Sickbay is a medical clinic aboard a Navy ship!!

[Jentine]

to assume that if one is to travel in the world, one must be at the mercy of all manner of thug. It is ok for the criminal element of the world to reek mayhem upon all, but retalliation or self defense are out of the question. The liberals of the world need to get their heads of out of their collective asses. Neither Britain's nor Australia's ban on personal weapons has lessened the crime in either country.
On the other hand, when Florida passed its right to carry concealed statute, the crime plunged. The theory of the liberal left is that the police are there to protect us in this civilized world. Where are the police when we need them. Can they be dispersed in a manner that oversees each of us during out time of need? Absolutely not. They do the best they can with the resources they have, but we must do our part as well.
Each sailor must decide for himself what level of protection he needs and maintain it aboard his vessel. Perhaps all ports are not accessible to those with weapons aboard, but not all are willing to be a target for the local criminal element.

[BC Mike]

When you have an encounter with someone larger and younger than you, on a dark night and cell phones have not been invented yet, and the other person has a beer bottle in their hand, and you know the police will not miraculously arrive in a nano second, and you are unarmed, well I say you better use your brain not a weapon.
The standard answer to shoot the mother trucker and quit being a bleeding heart liberal does not wash with me.
When there are more of the baddies on their side than there is on your side I say you better use your brain, not a weapon. US citizens still manage to kill each other at a rate that would make most ( pirate ) nations blush. Hardly the source of enlightenment on harmony amongst fellow beings.
Peter Blake is still dead and so are too many others.
That many Americans put a Canadian flag on their backback when they travel is quite telling. That many Americans want to export all their mannerisms to other countries is also telling.
I am not attempting for a moment to bundle everyone in the same group. Just furthering the chit chat, and I do not vote Liberal.
Michael

[CaptainK]

You may be right BC Mike C.

Alot of people do not use their brains.' But still look what happens. People loot, & threaten. Take their valuables. And then sometimes usually ends up beating the living daylights out of the victims. Or kill them to cover their tracks.

How do you people in Canada deal with this A type of behavior?

[BC Mike]

It is a problem everywhere. I wish I knew the answers. I have a pretty good feel for saving my own butt, I was quoting real examples before. Unfortunatley the US is the one place that is a bit out of step with the murders. Beats me why they do it. Folks up here just seem less inclined to be confrontational. We still get multiple murderers and we still prosecute the wrong people. In Vancouver BC some clown is charged with killing up to 54 women.
The youth in big cities in Canada are arming themselves just as they are doing in Auckland NZ and other places. I simply avoid anything that smells like trouble. I am a part time pacifist. I will approach most things from that position, but if it is absolutely clear that someone means harm then I will defend myself. The guy with the bottle did not swing it, he listened to reason. In the other situation where we were outnumbered, we got thumped and several had hospital stays. Fortunately no weapons were used.
Michael