Pirates !!!!!!!!

[Freesail99]

Guns on boats ?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071029/...malia_japan_dc

[Valiente]

Cape of Good Hope is looking better all the time.

[Boasun]

Guns on boats? The Somali pirates are more heavily armed then what would be carried on a yacht.
Pay attention to your consulates' pirates warnings and stay clear of those areas.

[Johnrb]

Eight nuatical miles from shore. What were they thinking - I would want air cover to be that close. Boasun is correct, AK 47's and RPG's are pretty cheap and common in that part of the world.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by Boasun

Guns on boats? The Somali pirates are more heavily armed then what would be carried on a yacht.
Pay attention to your consulates' pirates warnings and stay clear of those areas.

Exactly. All the Off-Topic rants on "the right to bear arms" are irrelevent in such a situation. Five speedboats with 25 armed guys come at you at 25 knots, you're only going to piss them off by popping a shotgun at them. Even if you took out 25% by some miracle, you can't outrun them and they will cut off your nads while raping your wife and kid in front of you. Better to not go into harm's way and hope they kill each other in their blighted country, fighting over scraps.

If I was a merchant shipping line, on the other hand, I would be agitating for armed escort. A few .50 cal. deck guns from the modern equivalent of a PT boat would accomplish what no cruiser is equipped or able to do.

[sailingdog]

An AC-130 gunship puttering about overhead would be nice too...

Originally Posted by Valiente

Exactly. All the Off-Topic rants on "the right to bear arms" are irrelevent in such a situation. Five speedboats with 25 armed guys come at you at 25 knots, you're only going to piss them off by popping a shotgun at them. Even if you took out 25% by some miracle, you can't outrun them and they will cut off your nads while raping your wife and kid in front of you. Better to not go into harm's way and hope they kill each other in their blighted country, fighting over scraps.

If I was a merchant shipping line, on the other hand, I would be agitating for armed escort. A few .50 cal. deck guns from the modern equivalent of a PT boat would accomplish what no cruiser is equipped or able to do.

[Hartley18]

Unfortunately, piracy is still big business in many parts of the world - mostly Africa and the Singapore Straits.

It is strongly suggested that all ships entering Singapore anchor overnight somewhere else rather than approach the Strait in the dark - hence the incident described in an earlier thread entitled "anchoring problems".

We were shown endless videos about piracy and how to defend the ship - and none of them included guns. The best repellents seemed to be:
1. Don't go through pirate-infected waters at night.
2. Make sure you're well lit.
3. Block off all entry points to the ship and
4. Rig fire hoses (to keep the baddies from getting close).

We were told that guns increase your chance of being killed. If you co-operate and don't play the hero, they'll usually chuck you overboard in the dinghy (or liferaft).

It seems that most pirates want the ship and the cargo and usually choose container ships, tankers or other large craft that have small crews and are easy to board unseen - unlike passenger liners or private vessels - but if they're bored or want a challenge I suppose anyone is fair game..

[Sapperwhite]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

An AC-130 gunship puttering about overhead would be nice too...

I used to love those guys......AIRSTRIKE

Really though, this is highly known piracy waters.....go around SA and put one horn under your belt....the mid east and north east Africa are way to volatile.

[Rockter]

The lowest form of life.... the pirate.

Hey, come here to Scotland. We have endless miles of islands, and we've got three canals.

Piracy is unknown, no matter how close to the coast.

[trantor12020]

Originally Posted by Hartley18

Unfortunately, piracy is still big business in many parts of the world - mostly Africa and the Singapore Straits.

It is strongly suggested that all ships entering Singapore anchor overnight somewhere else rather than approach the Strait in the dark - hence the incident described in an earlier thread entitled "anchoring problems".

We were shown endless videos about piracy and how to defend the ship - and none of them included guns. The best repellents seemed to be:
1. Don't go through pirate-infected waters at night.
2. Make sure you're well lit.
3. Block off all entry points to the ship and
4. Rig fire hoses (to keep the baddies from getting close).

We were told that guns increase your chance of being killed. If you co-operate and don't play the hero, they'll usually chuck you overboard in the dinghy (or liferaft).

It seems that most pirates want the ship and the cargo and usually choose container ships, tankers or other large craft that have small crews and are easy to board unseen - unlike passenger liners or private vessels - but if they're bored or want a challenge I suppose anyone is fair game..

I suppose you meant to say Straits of Malacca and not Singapore Straits.