Dealing with pirates

All you need are some Military aircraft, like this lucky guy.
http://www.boatingchannel.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/00513.1.1684250752516817152


Some days work out better than others!

 

When you enter another countries waters WELL OUTSIDE the established tourist areas, you are daring them to come and get you. You are rubbing their faces in the dirt. Why is it so hard to beleive? They do work with a spotter in a surface search radar site, civilian and or military. They should have the legal protection of their nearby home port. Yachts do not have the right to TEASE these people!!!!

 

Just did a circumnavigation, and personally was never threatened. A lot of the reports from Indonesia are either good stories (everybody likes a good story) or paranoia. I was chased by a fishing boat there. No way I could outrun them. When they came alongside, the only word of English they knew was "whisky". I didn't have any, and they went away. I was also chased many times in latin america. In every case, they were trying to mooch something, especially booze. I think most reports of piratical fishermen are bogus. Fishermen in general are hard working people, with a high operating overhead. I think most of them have better things to do.

The southern Caribbean around the coast of Venezuela is another matter. I know of two real cases near Trinidad. While I was there one skipper was killed by people who boarded his catamaran. Apparently they stole a bit of pocket cash and a cellphone. He got shot trying to fight them. Not a very good bargain.

There are also real cases of organized piracy in the Red Sea. Why people go there is beyond me. The route around South Africa is much easier. The Mediterranean is a lousy place to go these days, unless you have lots of money and don't mind crowded anchorages and obnoxious incompetent boaters everywhere. The Red Sea is definitely a place to avoid, but that's not a problem.

The best strategy would be to make your boat as near impregnable as possible, easy if it's metal. Not many pirates will be carrying metal cutting equipment and with the hatches locked securely, not much they could do to you. I've heard of people doing that and the outside of the boat stripped of anything valuable while they hid below. I think carrying firearms to defend yourself is silly. Ever tried shooting from the deck of a boat? I used to be an expert marksman on land, but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from a boat. It might make some people feel better but in fact it's not going to help you, and might get you into more trouble than you were in to begin with. That gnarly looking boat coming at you might have the local police chief onboard coming to check you out.

 

Designing for pirates

This account is interesting and savage

http://www.noonsite.com/text/Members/doina/R2005-03-14-1

The passive approach is probably have good lockable hatches and somewhere bullet proof to hide inside. Then hand out the money through the coffee hatch!

If you arm yourself you want a high power sporting rifle to outrange the pirates. Close in a flame thrower would be legal to carry and very effective.

Sems we need a few decoy yachts operated by various navies to stamp this out, probably a very limited number of people engage in this behaviour.

 

Very interesting thread but for those who still think illegal fire arms is a good option - I wouldn't carrying any fire arms illegally when entering Malaysian waters. While it Sometimes is possible to bribe yourself out of a situation like that in Indonesia, forget it in Malaysia and you even risk jail.

Moving day time only is maybe the best defence. I wouldn't worry about pirates sailing from Singapore up to Thailand if it was day time anyway. Going south from Singapore is a different matter, guess I would still do it, the risk is still low and pirates won't hurt you as long as you give them what you have... Unless you are really really unlucky.

Relax guys - They don't want to kill you, they just want your things, OK?

A friend of mine got chased by a speedboat while taking an Egg Harbor Yachts designed Pace 40 from Japan to Thailand through the Malaccan Streight (ten hours out of Singapore at 8 knots) night time about a year ago. My friend comment was - Shouldn't have done that, stupid of me, next time I'll move day time...

Good boat by the way, survived the tsunami too, at wide open throttles getting out from the beach.

The pirates used a ~32' plywood speedboat, with 2 200+ HP outboards (diesel sound travel further), 35 - 40 knots max, they are pretty common over here. The speedboat could eat up the distance but they couldn't board. Not as easy as one thinks to board a Sportsfisher with 2*435 CAT at WOT if the driver doesn't want them too. The pirates did not carry any fire arms, or didn't use them anyway.

Mikey

 

Rod Nowlin

After reading the above link I'm now reconsidering what I wrote about going unarmed, I know Rod and Becky and glad to hear they made it unhurt. Congratulations to Rod.

The first thing that comes to mind is bafflement as to why so many cruisers are still choosing the Red Sea route. South Africa is much easier, and infinitely safer. I wouldn't do the Red Sea for anything. The list of incidents like this one is long and growing.

As for carrying arms, having the right weaponry and knowing how to use it could save your life. I think the latter is the most important and calls for serious self asessment. Rod is ex military and obviously knows how to handle himself in a fight.

Consider what might have happened if it had been someone with a small caliber rifle who was not the best marksman, or worse yet, a handgun. In that case, Mahdi being a steel boat, I'm sure the "better part of valor" would have been the best option. Just go below and lock up.

 

well ive seen a pirate boats when sailing down from miami to panama and around also indonesia with big mounted machine guns on front and guy on board with AK's.
personlly i carry a couple of machette's(big knifes) and a naval standard flare gun which is the size of a sawn off elephant gun with has huge cartriges that are enough to blow a hole in a boat or through a pirate. and make a big enough bang to scare them off first
the best thing about having a big *** flare gun is that they are legal and extremly hand for sending an SOS as they are far more visable than a normal flare gun.

regards,
josh miller

 

What this all means gentlemen, that we are slowly moving into times of the 18th and 18th century. The Malaccan Street problems are widely known - still there is not a single govrment sticking out a little finger to counter this increasing problem. OK we are touching politics and I know that Jeff doesn't want such topics but the fact of piracy hits any of us who sails the world - and a lot of us do.
It is not very wise to have arms on board whilst sailing in Europe, that i found out myself threatened with 2 weeks imprisonment hen they found my .30-.30;

and keep one thing in mind: it is said earlier! a boat is not a real good shooting platform so get yoursel a riot gun with a number of "brennekes" they use it in France for the deer & wild boar hunt. Lethal effective within 40 yards range.

What Bob Leask says over avoiding the Suez Canal and Red Sea is without any doubt correct and all countries bordering the Red Sea are nests of pirates that can re-equip themselves easily thanks to the massive arms-exports of the ex USSR.

The but is that......the whole of West-Africa is at civil war and day and night west-africans run with heir boats on the hunt for easy targets. So if you follow Bob's advices, make sure that you give the whole of Africa a very wide berth.

to be continued

 

I've heard of many piracy cases, but primarily with commercial freighters. These freighters used fire hoses (the powerful IMO or SOLAS required ones I guess) to ward off pirates. Maybe use flare to kill them? That might work...fire a parachute flare into their head or torso will do away with them.

 

Why not? US navy should buy some huge trawler and outfit it with hidden guns and hide SEALS in it (Lol!) and drive it off North Africa. It'd scare the **** out of the pirates. But seriously, perhaps hide some guns in a yacht owned by the USN and wait for them while presenting an enticing target.

 

Africa

As D'artois points out Africa in general is a good part of the world to avoid. The best way to cope with piracy is to avoid them. However South Africa is an exception. I spent over six months there and can say with certainty that it isn't dangerous, at least in terms of sea piracy. I actually recommend it, I enjoyed it. It's a little worrisome on the streets, though. The same principle applies. Stay away from places like JoBerg and don't even think about visiting Soweto. There are also lots of yachts in Namibia, but I didn't go there.

As for weapons, I think it's true that piracy is a throwback to the 18th century, so probably the best weapon would come from the same period. Cast up an old fashioned swivel gun, load her up with lots of grape and black powder, and fire in the right general direction. Those things were designed to sweep boarders off the deck, and by all accounts they worked pretty well.

You could also claim that it isn't a real gun, it's a non functional decoration, and the Customs officials might believe it. Let's think of what you could disguise it as.................

 

If you're sailing around in a yacht that looks like it cost you a million dollars and looks like new, pirates probably won't hesitate to attack you. You're a perfect target, rich enough to flaunt your wealth and dumb enough to flaunt it near pirates. If you have a boat that is really great but looks like a floating piece of junk, no matter what the inside looks like, pirates might not make an effort. That's the best defense if you can't avoid high-piracy areas. That motorboat with two machine guns and a turret that someone here posted a link two is probably the second best .

Keep in mind that no amount of money is worth your life, and it's better to be robbed than robbed and shot.

 

The story on the link clearly stated that the pirates came in shooting with the intent to kill then rob.

The days of being nice to thieves and terrorist are over. If I knew with out a doubt that handing over the cash would result in no injury to myself and crew of course I would do it but that simply isn't the way it works today. You hear all the time about someone handing over the money and getting killed anyway.

 

woodboat: The days of being nice to thieves and terrorist are over. If I knew with out a doubt that handing over the cash would result in no injury to myself and crew of course I would do it but that simply isn't the way it works today.

Do you have statistics on that, wb? Any data to suggest that a physically aggressive response really is likely to be more effective and/or less dangerous in most cases?

 

I have not spent any time investigating actual statistics for aggressive response vs a passive one. I have two anecdotal events which we know is a weak way to argue. I have the link in this thread and Sept 11th with planes as bombs. What I have also observed though is a masive shift in recommendedations from groups at least where I live. For example womens groups would always recommend that the woman go passive when attacked and that they would be left unharmed. The local authorities no longer recommend that. They say their best chance is to kick, scream and fight as if their life depended on it. So in my local bubble, the Baltimore area, the criminal would be just as likely to kill you over nothing. And of course right down the street is Washington D.C. affectionatly known as the murder capital of the world. I know that Virginia, the other side of D.C. has adopted a gun carry law and their crime rate is much lower than ours. I also know that when there was a string of car jackings in Florida that resulted in murder they quickly allowed their citizens to keep guns in the cars. Car jackings are no longer a problem. So again I have noticed a shift from officials but haven't seen a study one way or the other.