On Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:15:02 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

On Aug 17, 8:02*pm, Tim wrote:
In amongst our conversation, I was talking about "Gandalf the Green",
a sailing vessel that caught my attention in rec.boats.cruising. *At
the instant of concern, it was in Tailand and was fine, but another
story caught my eye, and it was this one....

http://www.sailingmagazine.net/compo...e/24-afloat/67...

BTW, I thought it was a 40 ft, sloop. I was wrong. it's 47ft, steel
hulled cutter.

More of the incident.

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index....=0&tickerCID=0

=========

No one who values their life or their boat should be sailing in the
Gulf of Aden, with or without a gun. It's like walking around in a
tough inner city neighborhood at night with a sign that says: "I'm a
tourist".

The penalties for getting caught with an illegal gun in some countries
are almost as severe as a pirate attack. We met a family last year in
the islands that had a beautiful home made 53 ft sailboat. The
details and finish were professional in every respect and one of it's
"features" was a hidden/secret gun compartment. It was empty.