Personal Security Paranoia

[rlb2252]

How safe do you feel on the water? I don?t mean from the usual boating tragedies, such as capsizing, collisions, accidentally toppling over-board. I mean how safe do you feel from the public at large?

I would love to overnight someday. But I grew up in the big, bad, crime ridden city. Even though I no longer live in such a turbulent environment, some of the paranoia remains. Consequently, I suspect I?d have some trouble getting a good night?s rest on a small boat.

How about you? Are you just a little bit wary of the Boogie man? Have you seen one too many Hollywood Slasher films?

Do you overnight? Do you overnight in some isolated area on the hook? Or do you feel just as safe moored at a dock where some villain bent on mayhem can simply step aboard.

Boats are designed to keep water out. They have little if any protection against somebody who decides to come aboard at two in the morning. Does that make you nervous?

Or what about simply being aboard late, returning from some evening fun on the water. Is the area where you retrieve secure?

Too often boating takes place in isolated areas, off the beaten track. Seems like the ideal environment for bad people to do bad things to good people.

You carry anything for personal protection?

Have any personal experiences?

Heard of any crimes? Like robberies? Theft? Parts stolen off of docked vessels in your area?

 

[rbh]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

the only thing I dont want to repeat is going for a pee at 3 am and falling in!!
pick your spot around campers not heavy duty parties and you should have a good time
boating camping is alot like camping in the bush, introduce yourself, give people their space, and you will be swapping storys by the end of the night maybe.
just have fun
OH, remember to anchor good, you never know when the lake will start to kick up.
rob

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

No worries about retrieving late. No real worries about being out all night, although I get up to check the anchor a couple times. If I hear a motor running I'll wake mostly to listen . Sounds like you need more practice just relaxing
No slight intended
If you're going to be a nervous wreck you won't enjoy it. Maybe start slow , stay late get used to the quiet, observe what's going on around you.
BTW most people late at night run slow.

 

[cwhite6]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I do not overnight as I have a small skiff. But, I do go fishing overnight on the river around here for catfish. The launch is way out in the boonies. I have a concealed carry license, so I carry when I am launching and retrieving there late at night and real early in the morning. After I get in the boat, the pistol goes in a waterproof container in my storage locker. Available, but not out in the open. I may paranoid in some folks eyes, but I prefer to be safe. I don't think I would ever overnight on a boat without some soft of firearm. But, I am not close to the coast or other areas where laws may prohibit it either.

 

[Splat]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I ccw. But I carry all day so its no big deal to have it on the boat. Some extra precautions need to be taken from choice of ammo, to having a small lock box for securing while swimming. Also I never carry while drinking.

Call it paranoia if you want, but I think of it like a condom, rather have it and not need it, then need it and noit have one anywhere in sight.

Bill

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

Know your surroundings. You are probably OK.

Stuff gets stolen but those are usually crimes of opportunity and not robberies (as in face to face).
Exception is some drug trade areas in the Caribbean.

Out on the water, few bad guys go around in boats. Think of it as having a moat around your house--that's safety! there might be drunks on the water who would pick a fight in the wrong places if you are too close to a "party cove" enviroment. Likewise women might get hassled or worse by a rough party crowd but not likely from general boaters/fisherment.

As for ramps, some isolated places do attract a rough crowd hanging out after dark so I would treat them like you would a parking lot in town--see if it feels safe, are there loiterers who are not there to boat, etc. And yo could walk up on a bad scene anywhere.

Sure there are some remote areas where outsiders aren't welcome but that can happen on land, too.

 

[rlb2252]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

the only thing I dont want to repeat is going for a pee at 3 am and falling in!!
pick your spot around campers not heavy duty parties and you should have a good time
boating camping is alot like camping in the bush, introduce yourself, give people their space, and you will be swapping storys by the end of the night maybe.
just have fun
OH, remember to anchor good, you never know when the lake will start to kick up.
rob

Haven't done any camping since an ancient 8th grade school trip. That was a different time in America. Compared with today, I think there was at least a belief that the rest of country had some semblance of decency and values.

I grew up and spent time in neighborhoods that by some would be considered an urban war zone.

I tend not to think of myself as a scaredy-cat or as being overly cautious but I can't see me camping outdoors at all. A flimsy sleeping bag or a tent--just not enough between me and...whatever.

On a boat, maybe. Perhaps on the hook.

But not without something to greet whoever might come tapping at my cabin door at night.

 

[rlb2252]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I ccw. But I carry all day so its no big deal to have it on the boat. Some extra precautions need to be taken from choice of ammo, to having a small lock box for securing while swimming. Also I never carry while drinking.

Call it paranoia if you want, but I think of it like a condom, rather have it and not need it, then need it and noit have one anywhere in sight.

Bill

I'm not legal to carry a weapon. Never registered. Maybe I should.

Or be like the boyz in the hood, who--as regards packing--say: "I'd rather be caught with it than without it!"

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

Security and threat paranoia? Well, speaking personally its largely a non-issue around here for me...pretty much a hair above zero. The only thing I would watch out for is wildlife, this is B.C and there is lots of that. I'd likely keep some bear spray in the boat if I was anchoring somewhere remote.
As for direct 'people threats'.....not much of it around here generally speaking. Most trouble along those lines comes with those usually looking for it. I've lived in several big cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria) and I've never seen much in the way of violence and confrontation at all whether in public and certainly never in the wilderness.
my two bits.
BP
ps: What city did you grow up in with that kind of violence?

 

[po1]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I overnight all the time on my 16' jon boat when I go fishing. I find a nice spot out of the way and drop anchor, turning the lights on and roll out the blankets. Nothing like a quiet night under the stars. I've never had a problem yet, of course it depends where you are located. Around here alot of the time I've got lake to myself till the morning. Scout out your area, and you'll find the perfect spot.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

If you see this guy...run over the top of the water, like Jesus. You can always come back later, for the wife and kids!

 

[rbh]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

what ever happened to the good old days when you just played smash face till you were worn out then got back to drinkin beer
oh yeah thats hockey season
rob

 

[rlb2252]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

If you see this guy...run over the top of the water, like Jesus. You can always come back later, for the wife and kids!

Very Funny

 

[werthert]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

Walking outside your house carries a risk. Sure there are crazies out there and anything can happen, but I think in your case its paranoia. Best thing I can say is do what you can so you're not a target of opportunity. Being prepared is not paranoid... not doing what you enjoy because of fear is.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

Being prepared is not paranoid... couldn't have said it better.

Bad guys aren't going to go to the trouble to get a boat and go look for someone to roll, they are cockroaches and go for the easiest target.

I night fish and normally get back to the ramp at 1-2 A.M., I am not scared or even worried, never met anyone that wasn't very nice, but you bet I know everything that is around me and I always run past the ramp just to see what and who is there before bringing the boat in.

Always be aware of you situation and surroundings but don't worry about what might happen, that is a terrible waste of precious time.

 

[jakebrake]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

5150 is right. they want quick and easy. swimming 2 miles offshore to steal your wallet seems a touch much. don't sleep overnight near somalia, and you should be cool.

you are right. get a permit to carry. and not for on the water.

in a pinch, you do have a flare gun, right?

justice...regular or extra crispy?

 

[45Auto]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

Anybody have any actual examples of attacks on boats? I don?t mean the drunken party-rafting fights, I figure if you get involved with that you get what you deserve. And as the earlier posters have stated, being aware of your surroundings is the key to security.

I figure the probability of being attacked while overnighting on my boat is about the same as getting hit by a meteor. I don?t worry much about either one.

That being said, I can't imagine why anyone would think that I might have a pistol handy on the boat, and most people would be amazed at the number of places on a boat that you can lock away a short-barreled, collapsible-stock AR-15 with three or four 30 round mags ??

 

[Mel Taylor]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I keep a loaded .357 in a latched box on my boat anytime I'm on the water in the state where I live. Even though I believe the rules prohibit firearms in state parks. As someone else on this thread said: "better to be caught with than without".

My boat is a 14 foot open bow Mirrocraft. Obviously, there's no no sleeping facilities on the boat so I camp out. Either with a tent or just under the stars. Sometimes in designated campgrounds close to the boat ramp, sometimes in more isolated areas reachable only by boat. In every case when I go to bed the pistol is either under my pillow or in my sleeping bag with me. I've never had any trouble with either two legged or four legged varmints or predators but still, I prefer to be prepared. I just sleep better that way.

Oh yeah, I did have one kind of funny incident around twenty five years ago. I was camping and fishing on an isolated stretch of the Rio Grande at the northern end of Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico. When I came back to camp late one afternoon after fishing all day, the first thing I noticed was footprints where a couple of people had walked all around my pickup and boat trailer. It didn't look like anything had been bothered though. I had tucked my pistol into my belt under my shirt before I got out of the boat so wasn't too worried about unwanted company.

As I was getting ready to cook supper, a couple of guys came out of the brush a few yards from my camp. It was pretty obvious that they were illegals from Mexico. They greeted me cordially in their native tongue and I returned the greeting in my somewhat less than perfect Spanish. This was before all the current problems with illegal aliens and the dope trade and all the border violence so I did what a lot of other guys would have done in my place. I added more potatoes to the skillet along with a couple more fish, put a little more water in the coffee pot and invited them to supper.

It turned out that they had crossed the border somewhere around El Paso and were headed north, walking, following the river, looking for farm or ranch work. One of them had once worked on a ranch some fifteen or twenty miles farther up the river and they were headed back there hoping they could get on as ranch hands.

After we ate I offered to take them as far up the river as possible until it got too shallow - a distance of no more than six or eight miles.

As I got in the boat I guess my shirttail got pushed aside enough to reveal the pistol still tucked in my belt, because I heard one of them say to the other in Spanish "My God! He's got a pistol in his belt!"

All the way up the river they kept giving me worried looks. Private gun ownership was (and still is) prohibited in Mexico so only criminals and the police owned guns there. I suspect they thought they had fallen into the hands of some desperate character or hardened criminal. Or maybe they thought I was going to turn them over to the authorities for some kind of reward or something.

At any rate they were a lot more afraid of me than I was of them. I think they were pretty relieved when I put them out on the bank and headed back down river. I still grin to myself every time I think of the time I scared the hell out of those two guys.

 

[highN'dry]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

You are being paranoid to the point of ridiculous.

 

[rlb2252]

Re: Personal Security Paranoia

I've never had any trouble with either two legged or four legged varmints or predators but still, I prefer to be prepared. I just sleep better that way.

"I just sleep better that way."

Yeah, and I think I would too. Not because there is a likelihood of anything going wrong. But because you feel better prepared if it did.

Having said that, I absolutely believe that the chances of an actual incursion is slight, especially if on the hook. Like someone mentioned, you don't expect bad guys to go cruising around looking for a boat at anchor in some little cove so they can climb aboard.

But when docked any manner of individual could easily step aboard your boat.
Even someone unaware the vessel is occupied. Someone intent on doing nothing more sinister than ransacking the boat for anything of value.

But upon finding you there, helpless and unarmed...well, let's just say that's when the fun and games might begin--at your expense.

(Paranoid, probably. Crazy, who knows....)

Ditto for retrieving late at night in some isolated area. By almost any estimation, your risk exposure during those times certainly increases.

Lastly, folks perform all manner of ritual out of an abundance caution--whether it be never opening an umbrella in doors, checking the security of a lock two or three times, or even doing an insane dance to pray for plentiful rain and a bountiful harvest.

We do these things--these crazy, unnecessary things--because they give us a bit more peace of mind.