VESLA -- armed robbery with guns

In the night from Wednesday to Thursday  (17 Aug '06) at between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. the skipper and crew of S/V VESLA from Norway were chatting in the cockpit of their sailing vessel, while their guests Paul from the U.K. and two German girls were down below.  A dinghy with several black Trinidadians came alongside asking for a drink and cigarettes, which Torbjørn, Einar and Christian were happy to provide. 

 

Suddenly one of the people out of the dinghy came aboard, wielding a gun and asking the people in the cockpit to empty their pockets.  He was accompanied by more people from the dinghy who were armed with machetes and knives.  The armed intruders then proceeded to get down below, where they apparently produced another gun and woke up the people down below with a gun to the head. 

 

They then proceeded to ransack the boat, taking two laptop computers, scuba-diving gear, cameras, video-cameras, a battery charger, binoculars, knives, alcoholic drinks, a watch and so on as well as all the money and credit cards they could get their hands on.  In the process one of the intruders touched and "felt up" at least one of the girls, they went through the backpacks and kept asking about more money.  At the same time they started hitting one of the crew with the broad side of a machete, getting more violent when that didn't produce the desired results. 

 

The whole search of the boat took about 1 1/2 hours and the only thing of value not taken were a bunch of travelers' checks and a credit card that the robbers had apparently overlooked.  Even the souvenirs including an African drum as well as the photos and videos were taken. 

 

Just before they left, the robbers threatened once more with the gun asking for the rest of the money and then stabbed the dinghy about 20 times.  Finally they took off towards the open sea. 

 

The skipper immediately got on the VHF radio channel 16 in order to send out a call for help.  He was informed that he would have to call for the Coast Guard specifically and got a response apparently from the Coast Guard, which advised him to change to channel 11.  He was told that somebody would be there in about 30 minutes, but since nothing much happened in that direction he called again about 1 1/2 hours later.  After about two hours altogether the Coast Guard actually showed up, spend about five minutes on board and then left again. 

 

Meanwhile other sailors from the yachting community provided immediate assistance and skipper and crew would like to stress that the help they received from this direction, as well as from YSATT, the management of Power Boats, Peake Yacht Services and Jesse James of Members Only was invaluable and greatly appreciated.  The local dinghy-repair-shop offered to repair their slashed dinghy free of charge, a fellow yachtie donated an outboard engine - theirs was waterlogged in is probably destroyed - Peake Yacht Services offered free dock space and a hotel room, Power Boats offered to put their boat on the hard for free and Jesse James offered a free trip around the island so that they could see for themselves the beautiful side of this island. 

 

In other areas a certain amount of miscommunication seems to have taken place.  By the time the police arrived to take finger prints, Sunday (20 Aug '06), around lunchtime, there weren't any useful fingerprints left and although the management of Power Boats met with the Coast Guard, they still hadn't heard anything new from that angle at the time of the interview (Wed., 23 Aug '06 at noon). 

 

Originally VESLA was supposed to leave for a trip to the Orinoco in the near future, but instead the crew is going to fly back to Norway to recuperate from the incident.  When the hurricane season is over, they hope to sail north to begin their long voyage home to Norway.

Security-Update for Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I. -- Th., 17 August 2006

Security-Update for Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I.  --  Th., 17 August 2006

 

Things in the anchorage seem to deteriorate.  Last night between 2:30 and 3:30 am, an aluminum dinghy or pirogue coming from Fisherman's Village near Cruise Inn, came alongside a Norwegian yacht, which was anchored in front of Peake Yacht Services right in the mooring field. 

 

The people on the Norwegian yacht were still up and talking in the cockpit.  At first the fishermen only asked for cigarettes but suddenly several of them boarded the boat wielding a gun and machetes.  They then took their time, perhaps 1 1/2 hours to search the boat and rob everything that was of any value.  Computers, money, credit cards, cigarettes, alcohol, and so on.  In fact, the boat was pretty much stripped.  Then they destroyed the inflatable, sank the outboard and took off towards the sea and the west. 

 

The Norwegians called for help on several channels but the only immediate response was from a few yachties in nearby boats that came to help.  The coast guard was much more concerned with getting the spelling and the paperwork right and didn't do anything at all until about 5:00 o'clock in the morning. 

 

For us, this means that we will barricade us in every night and go to bed with our UHF handhelds as well as our cellphones.  (Those are incredibly inexpensive here - I paid US$ 6.50 for a brand-new one.)  Our VHF radio will stay on all night and at the first sign of trouble we will broadcast on all channels and phone 999 as well.  Whether that will do any good, is a different story altogether. 

 

Since I did not talk to the people involved personally, there may be a few inaccuracies in this account, but the gist should be correct. 

 

Greetings from Aurora Ulani, Liping & Holger Jacobsen  --  S/V DHARMA BUM III  --  YSATT mooring #2

 

 

S/V DHARMA BUM III in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I. -- Mo., 24. Juli 2006

S/V DHARMA BUM III - Privilege 39 Catamaran - 3 Foot Draft - Mo., 24. July 2006 

 

                                                     Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I.

 

I have left my home country of Germany in 1982 and have been sailing (with lots of interruptions) since 1987.  I have also visited around 50 countries in my various travels. 

 

~~~~~

 

After a whole spate of thefts, burglaries and armed robberies in Chaguaramas, yachties convened a security meeting this morning at 10:00 o'clock in "The Bight" at Peake Yacht Services.  Andy of TIXI LIXI organized and chaired the meeting and about 100 yachties and cruisers showed up (at a similar meeting in March about 10 people came).  Especially invited were the Yacht Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago (YSATT), the police in Carenage, and a representative from the ministry of tourism.  Unfortunately I did not see any of the representatives and the local paper covering the boating scene understandably didn't want to print things that might keep people away from the place. 

 

Quite a few of the people present had lost dinghies, outboards, generators or other things from their boats and not a few of them were victims of armed robberies where the attackers held guns to their heads.  One French sailor had his boat broken into at the reputable marina Crews Inn.  The boat got completely ransacked and the thieves had taken absolutely everything of any value.  Even the diesel generator and the engine were gone. 

 

One person stopped his car at a red light, when a robber smashed the window and held a gun to his head.  Another was robbed in his house and received multiple serious stabs in the front and the back.  One woman about 70 years of age was robbed three times while taking a maxi-taxi (minibus) from Chaguaramas to Port of Spain.  She now has obtained a permit to carry a gun.  These were all local people, not visitors, tourists, yachties or cruisers.  In the capital of Port of Spain, which is relatively small as capitals go, on average 1.7 people get murdered every day.  This is not only a yachtie problem - but yachties are prime targets for thieves and robbers. 

 

Naturally some of these people were extremely upset, with tempers rising and flaring.  Some cruisers called for the formation of an armed militia, which suggestion didn't receive much enthusiasm.  Other people were quick to demand all kinds of things from the local business community and the local government.  Finally, most yachties present signed a petition to send off to the authorities, while a subgroup discussed forming a dinghy-watch run by yachties in a revolving manner on a voluntary basis.  One circumnavigator, whose wife was on the most recently robbed maxi-taxi (minibus) suggested a concerted boycott of all the local businesses to draw their attention to the security problem.  He received a round of solid applause. 

 

Amongst the other numerous suggestions was the idea to suggest a harbor watch to the local marinas and YSATT, as they already have most of the necessary infrastructure in place.  And pretty much everybody agreed that the SSCA, Trans-Ocean and similar organizations and publications should be made aware of the atrocious and worsening security situation here in Chaguaramas and Trinidad. 

 

As it stands right now, there are quite a few boats leaving for Venezuela and elsewhere, many of them never to return.  They will do their best to spread the word amongst their friends, acquaintances and fellow cruisers. 

 

As one of our engines is currently down and as we still haven't received any compensation whatsoever after being hit by a local boat (we were stationary, at anchor, with no one on our boat) on 30 May (we informed the coast guard, the police, the harbor authorities, YSATT and the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) right away), we can't leave right now.  Otherwise we certainly would.  Our dinghy is chained to a lamppost, the outboard engine is chained to the cockpit-table and these days I never carry more then $15 to $30 on my body.  I don't walk the streets of Port of Spain in the dark, but try to be on the boat by then. Still, most of the people who got robbed were just as careful as me. 

 

Eventually, we'll move on to Venezuela (hopefully not from the frying pan into the fire) and then move back home into the Pacific.  We have many friends in the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, in Papeete and Tonga and we are quite sure that at least over there the peaceful yachtie-life will have us back.  But hopefully it'll be a lot earlier on. 

 

Greetings from the Venus-Flytrap, no, from the Trini-Boattrap from

 

Aurora Ulani, Liping & Holger Jacobsen

S/V DHARMA BUM III  --  Privilege 39 Catamaran

Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I.

 

http://www.wownet.net/~holger/ -- http://mail.im.tku.edu.tw/~jacobsen/