Pirates of the Seas …. yep, they’re out there! – Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!

Pirares in dez waters, me hardy!

I don’t know how much anyone ever follows Piracy on the high seas… but it really isn’t a thing of the past and although the number of confrontations doesn’t come anywhere close to what happens on land… it is obviously horrific for the civilized gentry caught in a robbery.

A modern day Piracy may be a simple robery… but as they say in the movies …’dead men tell no tales’ and unfortunately… the sea is a great place to bury your dead.

Here’s one example of a Piracy at sea:

“Further details of the two incidents in the northwest of the Malacca
Strait off Sumatra have now emerged, revealing that they took place in
broad daylight, not at night as first reported, and that the pirates were
armed with AK-47 rifles and grenade launchers.” (July 2006)

Pirates as pictured in Sail Interesting? SAIL magazine did an excellent job of pointing out some of the risks and providing it’s middle aged audience with practical advice…. but I think I would be more impressed if it gave a list of where one could buy ‘stuff’ to repell such attacks.

Here’s what SAIL lists are the ways to spot pirates ( I will paraphrase):

1) Pirates use small boats traveling fast (gas is expensive and local fisherman seldomm travel fast)

2) Most fishing boats have a crew of 3… if there are more in a boat or more boats… trouble is brewing

3) If you don’t spot fishing gear… then the boat may be after ‘bigger game’

4) If the boat that is following you is far from their government’s fishing grounds….

5) Birds normally flock around fishing boats… no birds = no fish = pirates.

6) Regardless of crew size… if you see weapons… avoid these folks… duh

By the way, I would like to thank North Sails for the complementary copy of Sail Magazine… it is fascinating.Plus, I couldn’t resist buying some sale items from their shop.

So, what are other folks saying about sailing?

What about Bob?