Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about piracy
on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard about problems
people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Is the government seizure of boats in Mexican water a problem? A family
friend was in Mexican water when his boat was boarded and searched by,
apparently, the Federales. He had a couple of shotguns on board for
protection. They arrested him, charged him with running guns, and extorted
a bunch of money before letting him go, but they kept the boat and the guns.

Common?

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:56:12 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about piracy
on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard about problems
people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Check out http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy and
http://www.yachtpiracy.com/en/index.htm

Good sources for current info. Judge for yourself. Mexico may be
rough, but there's plenty rougher.

R.

Thanks for the info. Interestingly, all those maps show the vast majority
of piracy to be concentrated in the equatorial regions and close to land.
When I imagine pirates I think of guys on a tall ship at sea with black
sails and jolly rogers and eye patches with knives held in their teeth, but
I guess most pirates aren't like that anymore. Seems like they make runs on
small speedboats, and out in the Pacific on a cuise to Hawaii or wherever
the chances of running into any are nil.




"rhys" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:56:12 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about
piracy
on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard about
problems
people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Check out http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy and
http://www.yachtpiracy.com/en/index.htm

Good sources for current info. Judge for yourself. Mexico may be
rough, but there's plenty rougher.

R.

You can view a lot of piracy information, including first hand
accounts of attacks on yachts on the cruisng website www.onpassage.com

The address of the pirate page is
http://www.onpassage.com/Emergency_M...te_attacks.htm

They actually board tankers to rob the crew and steal the tv's radios, etc.
Just because the thugs are on water, they call them pirates, vs. robbers on
land. Somehow it brings to mind those movie images.

--


Keith
__
Adult, n.: One old enough to know better.
"Falky foo" wrote in message
om...
Thanks for the info. Interestingly, all those maps show the vast majority
of piracy to be concentrated in the equatorial regions and close to land.
When I imagine pirates I think of guys on a tall ship at sea with black
sails and jolly rogers and eye patches with knives held in their teeth,
but
I guess most pirates aren't like that anymore. Seems like they make runs
on
small speedboats, and out in the Pacific on a cuise to Hawaii or wherever
the chances of running into any are nil.




"rhys" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:56:12 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about
piracy
on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard about
problems
people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Check out http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy and
http://www.yachtpiracy.com/en/index.htm

Good sources for current info. Judge for yourself. Mexico may be
rough, but there's plenty rougher.

R.

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 07:16:07 -0500, "Keith"
wrote:

They actually board tankers to rob the crew and steal the tv's radios, etc.
Just because the thugs are on water, they call them pirates, vs. robbers on
land. Somehow it brings to mind those movie images.

--


Keith
The old pirates were thugs on water too. Modern pirates don't seem
willing to undertake the expense and logistics of maintaining large
ships anymore. The small fast boats they use seem to work well for
them.

Yes, piracy is a problem. Around central america, honduras, the n.
coast of venezuela, private sailing vessels are attacked. i'm a ham
radio operator and have personally been involved in 2 rescues over the
last few years. not many, unless, of course, it's your boat and you
get shot.

rescue is iffy. the honduran navy, for example, does not operate at
night.

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:56:12 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about piracy
on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard about problems
people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Is the government seizure of boats in Mexican water a problem? A family
friend was in Mexican water when his boat was boarded and searched by,
apparently, the Federales. He had a couple of shotguns on board for
protection. They arrested him, charged him with running guns, and extorted
a bunch of money before letting him go, but they kept the boat and the guns.

Common?



---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

As someone who's spent 6-8 months per year for the last 5 years in
Central and South America I will agree that these things do happen.
Then again, open up your newpaper and see what goes on in your area.
Most people would never go anywhere if they read the crime reports for
the cities that they were interested in visiting.

The majority of time it's petty theft that you need to be worred about.
Dinghies, motor, stuff you left on the side of the boat, etc. And most
of the time taking basic precautions will prevent a large portion of
this. (Then again I had my dinghy and 15 HP motor stollen in Roatan,
Honduras when it was lifted on davits and locked to the boat. I suspect
that was due to us giving a ride to a local who scoped out the
situation. Don't get me going on Honduras...)

Be aware of your surroundings and listen to the radio nets. You'll
figure out where not to go. A lot of times these acts of "piracy" occur
in areas which are known to be dangerous and a stupid cruiser will
anchor there alone.

It's not like you're sailing along whne you suddenly see a skull and
crossbones appear on the horizon and then you're boarded with grappling
hooks. That's the stuff of movies.

-- Geoff


(Bob) wrote in :

Yes, piracy is a problem. Around central america, honduras, the n.
coast of venezuela, private sailing vessels are attacked. i'm a ham
radio operator and have personally been involved in 2 rescues over the
last few years. not many, unless, of course, it's your boat and you
get shot.

rescue is iffy. the honduran navy, for example, does not operate at
night.

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:56:12 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

Just getting into the cruising lifestyle.. saw a lame post here about
piracy on the sea, but it did bring to mind some stories I've heard
about problems people have had, especially in Mexico. My questions
a

Is piracy a problem at all really? Or only in certain areas and only
rarely?

Is the government seizure of boats in Mexican water a problem? A
family friend was in Mexican water when his boat was boarded and
searched by, apparently, the Federales. He had a couple of shotguns
on board for protection. They arrested him, charged him with running
guns, and extorted a bunch of money before letting him go, but they
kept the boat and the guns.

Common?



---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

"Geoff Schultz" wrote


It's not like you're sailing along whne you suddenly see a skull and
crossbones appear on the horizon and then you're boarded with
grappling
hooks. That's the stuff of movies.

Don't be so sure, Geoff, just last month I was sailing along when I
spotted this boat
http://www.enter.net/photoalbum/data...non/999784.JPG
headed straight towards me. Closer & closer he charged, till he was
in range, then I emptied the 12 gauge at him and he turned away.
And this was in MD.


--
Scott Vernon
Plowville Pa _/)__/)_/)_

That's some freaky ****!!


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...
"Geoff Schultz" wrote


It's not like you're sailing along whne you suddenly see a skull and
crossbones appear on the horizon and then you're boarded with
grappling
hooks. That's the stuff of movies.

Don't be so sure, Geoff, just last month I was sailing along when I
spotted this boat
http://www.enter.net/photoalbum/data...non/999784.JPG
headed straight towards me. Closer & closer he charged, till he was
in range, then I emptied the 12 gauge at him and he turned away.
And this was in MD.


--
Scott Vernon
Plowville Pa _/)__/)_/)_