Yep. Remember, you're not in the the good ol' US of A. You're the
minority. You're perceived to be rich, and flaunting it with your
yacht. Your yachtie friends often try to lord it over the hardworking
folks of St. Pomme de Terre, and too often these same yachties forget
they're guests in the area; all of which annoys the locals. Officialdom
often views you as a revenue source and an annoyance. In case of a tie,
you lose even if you're right.

Obviously, I'm overdrawing this some but not without a basis in fact.
In the times we've visited the Caribbean either on land or on a charter,
we generally meet very friendly people but we've been robbed once, been
on the receiving end of obvious hostility a few times, been hustled with
varying degrees of success, and met officials who were very helpful, a
lot who were just doing their job, and one or two that weren't the best
advertisement for St. Pomme de Terre. But it's very clear we're the
guests and are expected to behave and, as I said, in case of a tie, we
will lose.

Shots fired in the air are still shots fired. Pull the trigger and
you're in it for sure. Even if John Boatboy was trying to rob you blind
and you scare him off with a shot fired 180 degrees away from John
Boatboy, when he gets back on shore and tells his version of the story,
bet your life you'll be spending a long time in the company of local
officialdom and that you will lose at least a bunch of time, money, and
very possibly your boat and your freedom. Finally, if you're unwilling
to kill someone with a gun in the course of your self-preservation,
don't carry it, period.

Smack John Boatboy's knuckles with a Louisville Slugger and at least you
have a chance to argue "he wouldn't leave, he threatened us, and I had
no choice". Kinda hard for Johnny to argue he was only motoring by when
a bat bumped his bones. Put a couple of rounds in the air and Mr.
Boatboy can scream murder, claiming he was a mile away and you took
potshots at a poor, honest fisherman. See how it works?

Sitting duck? Yew betcha! So do what lots of creatures do, join a
flock and hope the wolves get another duck. Or at least try not to look
like a duck (boat's closed and locked when nobody's on board, lights are
on, people are looking around and keeping a watch, dinghy doesn't say
"TT Imaduck" on it, and on and on).

Again, most of the time, life is good and crime is just annoying bit of
background noise whether you're in Hometown, USA or in St. Guido on the
lovely isle of St. Pomme de Terre.

Cheers,
   Rick Emerson

van ford wrote:

>Locals right you are wrong??? They are trying to board your vessel illegally
>and do whatever?
>
>How about some guys coming to your house and breaking in your door and
>walking in to do whatever, I see this as the same problem, treating my very
>existence.
>
>Don't misunderstand I am a very nonviolent person(growing up maybe in two
>fights my whole life),but I learned one thing during that time, don't make
>my existence feel threatened no matter the persons size. Dad taught me to
>back away from trouble, just don't back me in a corner or I'll do what he
>always told me (find an equalizer whatever is at hand).
>
>As far as the handgun during your experience, most likely a few shots in the
>air and they would have backed off knowing that you could have been trouble
>and after that if they continued a well placed round in their engines would
>have ended it. My feeling is that in a sailboat you are a sitting duck
>against a power boat.
>
>
>

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Received on Fri May 12 09:29:57 2006