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Canada; UNSAFE FOR CRUISERS!!!

4936 Views 30 Replies 24 Participants Last post by CarbonSink62, Apr 16, 2014

capta

Discussion Starter · Apr 15, 2014

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL CRUISERS;
"Five people were killed in a late night knife attack at a house party in Calgary, police in the Canadian city have said." Wow, that could have been on a yacht!
We must now add Canada to the list of "dangerous" places where we shouldn't sail. And it's NOT even in that tropical belt some of you have mentioned!
However, this article has made me ponder, and I think I have finally figured out a safe way to cruise;
I've decided to buy a small piece of land in Iowa or somewhere near a corn field. I'm going to build a 90' fence (I'm sure 80 would do, but just to be safe, 90'), with a moat and draw bridge at the gate, and security cameras galore, to be sure.
Then I'll have a double Olympic size pool built inside the fence and have my 50' sailboat trucked up from Fla. I'll live aboard, sailing from one side of the pool to the other each day, ending up back on my mooring each night. In the evenings, just before we start dinner and well before the sun sets, we'll lock ourselves in with metal bars on the companionway and all the hatches. This should keep us safe, should the fence, security system and armed guards fail to do so.
Oh, thank you, all you sailneters, for alerting us to the dangers out there in the big bad world, for us cruisers.

Reactions: 5

1 - 20 of 31 Posts

Zanshin

· #2 · Apr 15, 2014

Capta,

you might not be as safe as you think - from recent SN threads:

- What anchor do you have?
- What safety gear do you have - flares, liferaft,fire extinguishers
- I gather you need an axe, several manual pumps, bolt cutters, crash mats, etc.
- since sailboats can sink, you might want a catamaran. You might not get good up-pool performance, but she won't sink. Remember to pain the bottom bright RAL Orange to facilitate rescuers finding you.
- an EPIRB, better yet, two EPIRBS.
- Have you considered adding Claymore mines to your defensive armament aboard?

BTW, I read about a break-in on a boat at some private docks in Copenhagen recently, so I've opted to avoid Denmark until the crime wave there is dealt with and contained.

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Reactions: 1

Minnesail

· #3 · Apr 15, 2014

I'm not sure that's a good plan. Iowa can get powerful smelly sometimes.

bobmcgov

· #4 · Apr 15, 2014

capta said:
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL CRUISERS;
"Five people were killed in a late night knife attack at a house party in Calgary, police in the Canadian city have said." Wow, that could have been on a yacht!
We must now add Canada to the list of "dangerous" places where we shouldn't sail. And it's NOT even in that tropical belt some of you have mentioned!
However, this article has made me ponder, and I think I have finally figured out a safe way to cruise;
I've decided to buy a small piece of land in Iowa or somewhere near a corn field. I'm going to build a 90' fence (I'm sure 80 would do, but just to be safe, 90'), with a moat and draw bridge at the gate, and security cameras galore, to be sure.
Then I'll have a double Olympic size pool built inside the fence and have my 50' sailboat trucked up from Fla. I'll live aboard, sailing from one side of the pool to the other each day, ending up back on my mooring each night. In the evenings, just before we start dinner and well before the sun sets, we'll lock ourselves in with metal bars on the companionway and all the hatches. This should keep us safe, should the fence, security system and armed guards fail to do so.
Oh, thank you, all you sailneters, for alerting us to the dangers out there in the big bad world, for us cruisers.

One word:

Drones.

capecodda

· #5 · Apr 15, 2014

Capta is right. Need to be careful of those Canadians

Reactions: 1

JonEisberg

· #6 · Apr 15, 2014 (Edited)

capta said:
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL CRUISERS;
"Five people were killed in a late night knife attack at a house party in Calgary, police in the Canadian city have said." Wow, that could have been on a yacht!

However, it wasn't...

Personally, I believe the risk of cruising most of the Caribbean is minimal, certainly wouldn't deter me from heading there... The problem with these threads, is the mistaken assumption that one can have any guarantee of "safety", wherever one might prefer to cruise...

However, you're gonna have to work pretty hard to convince any reasonable person - or at least one who can count - that there is no greater risk statistically to spending a night at anchor here...

...than there would be here...

6 years ago, an American cruiser was murdered, and his wife seriously injured, while anchored within about 100 meters of one of those 2 spots... Care to guess which one?

For that matter, can anyone cite a single incidence of violence against a cruising boat in Canada? No doubt something has happened somewhere, but I bet you'll have to dig pretty deep to find one...

My only point has always been, that in the broadest possible terms, the chances of a cruising sailor meeting with violence or crime increases with their proximity to the tropics, and regions of known piracy... To attempt to argue otherwise - that there is not at least a slightly elevated risk of anchoring in the Caribbean as opposed to the Med, or New England - seems delusional, to me...

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capt vimes

· #7 · Apr 15, 2014

capecodda said:
Capta is right. Need to be careful of those Canadians

Yes, dangerous people those canadians...

Reactions: 1

gbgreen59

· #8 · Apr 15, 2014

....and don't swim in the ocean. There are sharks and they eat people.

killarney_sailor

· #9 · Apr 15, 2014

I would not want to cruise in this part of Canada today. Middle of frigging April and it is snowing.

Reactions: 1

capta

Discussion Starter · #10 · Apr 15, 2014

Zanshin said:
Capta,

you might not be as safe as you think - from recent SN threads:

- What anchor do you have?
- What safety gear do you have - flares, liferaft,fire extinguishers
- I gather you need an axe, several manual pumps, bolt cutters, crash mats, etc.
- since sailboats can sink, you might want a catamaran. You might not get good up-pool performance, but she won't sink. Remember to pain the bottom bright RAL Orange to facilitate rescuers finding you.
- an EPIRB, better yet, two EPIRBS.
- Have you considered adding Claymore mines to your defensive armament aboard?
/QUOTE]
OMG, you are supposed to have safety equipment aboard a sailing boat? What; you want to live forever?

sharkbait

· #11 · Apr 15, 2014 (Edited)

1

zeehag

· #12 · Apr 15, 2014 (Edited)

no wonder the flock of snow birds doesnt wanna sail north anymore.....
i cant go there anyway..i has a bruce.....

MikeGuyver

· #13 · Apr 15, 2014

I'm sure there are more "pirates" on the streets of Portland than there are in Canada, Mexico, The Caribbean or any other cruising area you choose to mention. They just don't have boats.
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your heart it will creep......................

Wonderinlost

· #14 · Apr 15, 2014

And walking outside my door is just as dangerous.

"Canada's like a loft apartment over a really great party." Robin Williams - Live on Broadway 2002

SloopJonB

· #15 · Apr 15, 2014

capecodda said:
Capta is right. Need to be careful of those Canadians

Sorry.

Reactions: 1

Flint

· #16 · Apr 15, 2014

Maybe you should have an Olympic 1/4 mile oval dug slightly off angle to the prevailing winds so you can sail away. Beware tho. We Canadian Pirates sail south too eh!!

Coquina

· #17 · Apr 15, 2014 (Edited)

For female cruisers, Canada is not looking very good:

I suggest NO ONE LEAVE THE DOCK. My marina has a key-card gate. I *might* survive a night there.

OTOH for actually killing people not so bad. One thing that these "country charts" do not show is the variations INSIDE the country. I can sit on my island or almost any island in the Bahamas with statistically no chance of being killed. OTOH parts of Baltimore and Nassau are a bit sporty

The Kurdish part of Iraq is apparently a hot real estate market and people go there for vacation. The rest of the place.........not so much

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downeast450

· #18 · Apr 15, 2014

Zanshin said:
Capta,

- Have you considered adding Claymore mines to your defensive armament aboard?

Yes!

Down

jackdale

· #19 · Apr 16, 2014

The city is pretty much in shock. This is largest mass killing in the history of the city.

GeorgeB

· #20 · Apr 16, 2014

Coquina,

Your chart does not discern between the sexes so understandably, we should all be concerned about traveling to the Northland. With such a high incidence of this crime, wouldn’t it be logical that some of the victims, and more importantly, some of the perpetrators are amongst us right now, writing on this BB? BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!

1 - 20 of 31 Posts

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