Paintball Guns:Alternative Self Defense Weapon on a Sailboat Against Un-Armed Thieves and Intruders: Tips and Tricks

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Tips from one of our Viewers: Paintballs Guns as Self Defense on a sailboat…Loaded with Pepperballs…

We recently did a controversial YouTube Video entitled “Unarmed Pirates, Thieves and Intruders: Self Defense on Sailboats”

One idea from the video which has been particularly controversial has been the use of CO2 powered paintball guns, using pepperballs in a paintball gun, as a form of self defense, instead of actual paintballs, the legality and effectiveness of them in different kinds of piracy, theft and potential boarding of a sailboat, by both “innocent”, perhaps “opportunist”, fisherman, or criminals looking to steel your money or electronics.

We received a comment from one of our viewers, Travis Allen, which was particularly interesting in regards to the use of paintball guns on a sailboat, as Self Defense, that we think you should know about; About the actual accuracy of paintball guns, the types of gas in a paintball gun, the effects of UV on a paintball gun, the adjustments you can make to a paintball marker, and the care and maintenance of paintball guns and the paintballs or pepperballs, to be sure they are there when needed. Tips and tricks of a paintball gun, if you will.

 

Here is Travis’ email, reprinted, with his written permission, that you may find interesting: The video is located at the end, in case you haven’t already seen it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Travis Allen, September , 2019

 

I grew up as an only child in a remote area of the desert off of Highway 58.  My nearest grade school friends lived 3 miles away.  My father worked graveyard shift at Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex which was about an hour commute one way.  This left mom and me home alone at night.  It can be a dangerous world and some of my earliest childhood memories are of hiding in a dark hallway with my terrified mother because someone was trying to break into our house.  Hitchhikers, illegal immigrants, and sometimes even truck drivers were the culprits trying to gain access to our home.  This part of the desert is in San Bernardino County which had (or perhaps still has) the distinction of being the largest county in the United States.  The problem with this is there has just never been enough sheriff deputies to effectively patrol that much area.  So it’s imperative to learn to defend yourself because by the time the authorities arrive everything has already happened.  After the first of these incidents my parents decided that we needed something more than the fireplace poker as home defense.  As such, I grew up learning how to maintain and handle firearms.  From the various articles I’ve read and videos I’ve watched (and the rest of the world’s general viewpoint on guns), I can see how having a firearm onboard your vessel for self-defense can cause ridiculous hassle and, I’m sure, would simply prevent you from even visiting certain parts of the world.

 

All that being said, I stumbled across your YouTube video titled “Un-Armed PIRATES & INTRUDERS – Self Defense against theft on Sailboats (Patrick Childress Sailing 42)” and found it very interesting.  I actually have some experience that I can draw from and would like to pass that along to you.  Whether or not you decided to purchase a paintball gun as a means of non-lethal defense is up to you and none of my business.  Personally, I think it’s a great idea to have as one of many means to protect yourself and, honestly, one I had not until now considered.  I’m going to continue this from the assumed viewpoint that you did indeed purchase one for use.  You see, I used to play paintball on an official field (sometimes not on an official field) in my hometown with my friends.  This was back in the early ‘90’s and technology has changed since I stopped playing the sport but some of the principles haven’t.  When I began playing, the most common (and my first) paintball guns were pump action.  Slowly semi-automatic paintball guns entered the market and were comparatively expensive.  I drifted away from the sport shortly before the full-auto paintball guns were introduced.  Following are some things (in no particular order) that one learns when playing paintball that are not necessarily common knowledge to the average person out there. 

 

A common misconception is that paintballs and paintball guns behave like a normal firearms and ammunition.  Paintballs are not as accurate as the ammunition used in a firearm and there are a few things that factor into this.

 

1.       The barrel on a paintball gun is typically not rifled.  It’s a smooth bore and imparts no spin to the projectile.  Now, to be accurate, I had seen rifled barrels on the market back when I played but I don’t recall that I ever actually knew anyone that actually used one.

 

2.       The paintball itself does not have ballistics like the ammunition used in a firearm because it’s not a solid piece of metal.  The ballistics of a paintball are a little more like that of a water balloon.  The regulation muzzle velocity limit when I played was 300 feet per second.  (Most official paintball fields would lower that to about 285fps to have a bit more of a safety buffer.)  When the paintball is fired at these speeds it meets the resistance of the air inside the barrel.  This causes the paintball to compress to a degree and at this point the paintball is no longer a sphere.  This will decrease accuracy.  Also, the paintball is not entirely filled with paint.  The paint has a tendency to settle at the bottom of the ball.  This will cause the ball to be out of balance and will affect its flight.  Especially if the paintballs have been stored for a very long time.  And that’s another thing.  They do kind of have a shelf life.  Old paintballs can get brittle and are more prone to breaking when they’re not supposed to.  Such as in the chamber when the paintball gun is fired.  Paintballs also have a tendency to be sensitive to weather conditions.   The paintballs can swell and/or “sweat” depending on heat and humidity.  Swelling can cause accuracy issues and “sweating” can cause them to stick together which can cause issues feeding into the chamber.  This sticking, however, can be minimized and/or eliminated by hoppers that have a battery powered vibrator or agitator that allows for a consistent gravity feed into the chamber.

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3.       The air that is pushed out of the barrel ahead of the paintball causes turbulence outside of the muzzle.  Now your no longer spherical paintball has to pass through that turbulence.  This decreases accuracy even further.  There is some good news on this point however.  You may have seen that some barrels have ports machined down the length of the barrel.  Usually closer to the muzzle.  This allows the air to be pushed out of the ports prior to the paintball exiting the barrel thus reducing the amount of turbulence that the paintball must travel through at the muzzle.  Additionally, if you have a barrel that does not have ports machined into it, a muzzle brake can be added to a barrel and will have the same/similar effect.  Most, if not all, of these are easily attached with a set screw.

4.       Gas.  There are two options.  CO2 and Nitrogen/Compressed Air.  When I first started playing the sport everything was CO2.  Whether you were using the 12g cartridges or the 7oz. bottles (some people even used as large as a 20oz. bottle carried on their belt or harness and attached to the paintball gun via braided line.) it was all CO2.  CO2 is relatively cheap and more easily available but the drawback is it’s much more sensitive to changes in temperature.  Hot day, higher velocity.  Cold day, lower velocity.  Something as simple as leaving the CO2 bottle in direct sunlight on a hot day can cause the muzzle velocity to increase beyond safety limits.  Additionally, the CO2 will get colder with rapid trigger use.  A rapid-fire situation can quickly cool down your system and cause your muzzle velocity to fall off.  This will reduce your accurate range.  This can be somewhat mitigated by using an attachment called an Expansion Chamber.  As a matter of fact, it looked like the first “bottle-fed” paintball gun (it looked to be a Tippman which, btw, was a pretty solid manufacturer back when I played) that Zain showed you at about 15:53 in your video was equipped with an Expansion Chamber.  Notice there is a gas line running from the bottom of the primary grip to the bottom of the fore-grip.  That fore-grip appears to be an Expansion Chamber.  The Expansion Chamber allows for a more consistent pressure supplied to the system.  It is also worth noting that the CO2 getting cold can and does damage the O-rings in the internal works of the paintball gun.  (Side note: Always read and abide by the manufacturer instructions of course, but we used to put a thin coat of silicon grease on our O-rings.  This seemed to increase the lifespan of the O-rings and minimize catastrophic failure during use.)  These issues probably wouldn’t be experienced with a system that uses the 12g CO2 cartridges as the cartridge will be depleted before anything gets that cold.  But it can and does happen with the systems that use the higher capacity bottles.  The alternative is nitrogen.  Nitrogen is much more stable, is not nearly as sensitive to fluctuations in temperature, does not cool with rapid-fire, and is not or not as harmful to the O-rings.  The downside to Nitrogen is the cost relative to CO2.  The Nitrogen/Compressed Air tanks for paintball guns are much more expensive than their CO2 counterparts.  I cannot speak to the costs of refilling the Nitrogen tanks as I never personally used them.  I was drifting away from the sport as they were being introduced but had I continued playing I would have definitely switched to Nitrogen.

5.       Velocity adjustment.  Every paintball gun I’ve ever used has had adjustable velocity and I don’t see any reason that would have changed.  Some people might think to increase the velocity if they’re only planning to use the paintball gun as a non-lethal method of self-defense and not really for sport.  And, on the surface of it, this makes sense.  Higher velocity, more range.  And let’s face it, in a self-defense situation you do want to inflict pain to deter the assailant.  However, I would advise against doing this.  Or at least doing this too much.  Again, it comes back to the composition of the paintball.  I have seen people increase the velocity in their paintball gun too high and the end result was the paintball rupturing in the chamber.  Not something you would want to happen if when you’re using the pepper balls.  This, of course, wouldn’t be an issue with the solid riot control balls.

Final thoughts… Try to balance price, quality, and ease of use/maintenance.  Get a spare parts kit and an O-ring kit.  Airgun Designs has always made a top of the line product but they can be a bit expensive.  Tipmann (at least back when I used to play) was affordable and solidly built.  The “Spectre” in Zain’s shop… I remember associating that name with cheap and unreliable but, to be fair, it’s been a long time.  And, whatever you choose, get to know it.  Practice with it.  Become comfortable with it.  Know its strengths and weaknesses, its accurate range, how it behaves with high fire rate.  Know what you can and cannot expect from it.  And I sincerely hope you never have to use it.  But, if you do… as the saying goes “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”  I still find it amazing how much that applies to so many things in life.

 

As much as the sailing community such as yourselves, Sailing La Vagabonde, Sailing Nahoa, Sailing Uma, and Emerald Steel have given me by sharing your stories, knowledge, and advice through articles, podcasts, and videos…  Well, consider this my small way of giving back at least a little bit by sharing what I have learned through my own personal experience.  And, who knows, maybe my luck will change and I’ll see you out there someday.  Until then, safe travels.

 

Kindest Regards and Thank You,

 

Travis Allen

 

Here is that video:

Self Defense on Sailboats, against Pirates, Intruders, Thieves…

 

 

Is Cruising Still Safe?

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Is Cruising Still Safe?

(As seen in SAIL Magazine on August 23, 2019)

NOTE: We have since purchased a full fledge security system since this was published. Security is a big concern for us.

The authors have sailed to many countries off the beaten track

The authors have sailed to many countries off the beaten track

It is with great sadness that we read of the murder of New Zealand cruiser Alan Culverwell, and the attack on his family, by criminals who boarded their boat in Panama’s Guna Yala/San Blas Islands early in May. The San Blas were known as a “safe” area to cruise. Aside from petty theft, there had never been reason to believe the region was unsafe, especially when compared to some of the area’s cities.

Many cruisers feel that living aboard, even in exotic locations, is safer than living on land, but is it really? As cruisers, we generally anchor where nature gives us the best protection from wind and waves, not from humans. The human element is far more unpredictable than any weather forecast. What was once a friendly area can have sudden, unheard-of aggression perpetrated by desperate locals. Whether in a city or in a faraway anchorage, vigilance and security should be always in a sailor’s mind. Thieves—both the opportunistic kind who steal when no one is looking and those who aren’t afraid to board an occupied boat—have been stalking cruisers since the day the first boat circled the world. Remember Joshua Slocum sprinkling tacks on his deck in the Straits of Magellan?

You’ve got to be careful out there... the authors with their companionway screen

You’ve got to be careful out there… the authors with their companionway screen

It only seems reasonable that if you lock the doors of your home on land, you should be just as cautious when anchoring in a pleasant cove, especially in remote or impoverished areas where you can never truly know the constitution of every individual. We ourselves had a close call with some pirates off the coast of Vietnam a couple of years ago, eventually driving them off by firing flares at them.

We think that cruisers need to get with the times, and indeed, many are now becoming aware that there are thieves and robbbers in “paradise” and that there is a definite need to lock up at night and have security cameras and alarms, and deterrents like automatic lights, signs, shoes on deck or radios playing. Some of us also carry bats, knives, spearguns, pepper sprays, flares and even guns, although in some instances, even having an AK47 would be inadequate against an ill-intentioned intruder. Still, anything is better than nothing, and even just locked doors and lights may convince a potential attacker to look elsewhere.

Of course, those intrepid cruisers who sail in advance of us are our eyes and ears, reporting on where and where not to anchor safely. As cruisers, we can then do our best to stick to where there has been no reported violence or crime, at the same time relying on intuition and awareness to guide us. Still, we need to be more cautious than we are at home because we don’t have that “home advantage.” We may not, for example, recognize that the innocent-looking village we’ve anchored off is a place even locals avoid for safety reasons. We must also hope that karma and luck are on our side: dressing down, acting poor and trying not to cause resentment of our richness as we go. We must try not to perpetuate the myth that people on boats invariably have lots of money and possessions to spare, and hope that others before us have taken similar precautions.

Security cameras can be useful

Security cameras can be useful

To 90 percent of the world, most sailboats, even our 43-year-old, cosmetically challenged Valiant 40, are “treasure ships” when the anchor is dropped. We have cruised extensively in African and Asian countries and know that the simple act of hanging our laundry out to dry can demonstrate just how much we have compared to the local who feels lucky to have only an old T-shirt and a patched pair of britches. Even though most people in poverty-stricken communities have good hearts and respect others, the odds of experiencing crime, dishonesty or aggression increase as the population becomes familiar with the relative abundance that even the poorest of cruisers possess. There is always a tiny minority that a cruiser either has to guard against or roll the dice and take their chances with. The consequences can run the gamut from the theft of an outboard engine to being physically accosted with a serious outcome. We have taken measure to protect our boat and ourselves from thieves and pirates; there are details on our website (see below).

Many cruisers feel that their hard work earned the nice life they live afloat. We are also fortunate, though, to have been born in places that allow hard workers to get ahead the way we have. That guy who paddles up to you in his beat-up canoe likely worked just as hard as you and has taken advantage of every opportunity he had. But even having many successful days of fishing doesn’t bring the same material rewards.

Certainly, most cruisers can spare some of their possessions. We always have some trading items—sunglasses, shorts, shirts, fishing line, hooks, old pots and pans—on hand to exchange for the fruits, vegetables, fish and handicrafts that most islanders have for barter. Even if we don’t really need these goods, we see the effort they are making and try to help.

Unfortunately, as the world population grows, and the world’s resources remain the same (or even degrade) the resulting economic pressure will inevitably cause at least some people to want to squeeze even more from the passing treasure ships that cruise the world. What begins as their simple attempts to steal the possessions we cannot afford to share, and our attempts to guard against them will sometimes result in dire consequences.

Worse yet, away from daily television reports of crime, and with only intermittent word-of-mouth reports of crime in far-off anchorages, it is easy for cruisers to get soft and let their guard down—whether by leaving the dinghy tied alongside rather than hauling it out of the water every night, or worrying about power conservation instead of leaving a bright light on in the cockpit. Granted, it’s a lovely way to live, but sooner or later, there will be trouble. Are those friendly, smiling fishermen rowing by and offering fish actually sizing up their victim? We should not believe that we leave all our worries behind when we leave our homeland.

We have cruising friends and acquaintances who have been attacked and robbed. We’ve also had friends who have been taken from their boat and held hostage. Some made it out alive. Others did not. That makes us, as cruisers, more cautious about where and how we cruise, and where we anchor. As cruisers, we need to take more precautions like those living on land already are. We need to face reality, beef up our security and not live in the daydream we enjoyed in the past.

NOTE: BBe sure to subscribe for our next blog that is being written right now about Rebecca’s struggle back to South Africa with a full security in her carry on luggage!

At the time of writing, Patrick and Rebecca Childress were refitting their Valiant 40, Brick House, in Tanzania, Africa, before heading around the tip of South Africa and into the South Atlantic. You can keep up with their adventures on whereisbrickhouse.com

Security Camera that doesn’t work

Security Camera we would consider an upgraded version of






Security System We are Most Impressed with so far

 

Patricks Home brewed security traps:

 

 

Female Crew on a Sailboat: Sailing Safe

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Female Crew on a Sailboat: Sailing Safely

Go to the profile of Matt Ray
I met an interesting man this past year, on another boat. His name is Matt Ray. Yes…a man…And he has written this interesting blog for me…because crewing seems to be in his blood. He has coined a new phrase: “Global HitchHiking”, and has been crossing oceans for a few years now, about to complete a circumnavigation, crewing on other people’s sailboats. Sailing around the world, on other people’s boats… Pretty cool, hah?
But is it safe? What can you do to make crewing safe?…especially for women who sail and want to crew, who may face a few more challenges than a man doing this by himself, with people who start off as complete strangers…
Honestly…it’s probably a little easier for a man to do this “global hitchhiking” kind of thing, and being the kind of guy Matt is…he realizes this, and when he meets women crewing on other boats, he really listens to what they have to say about their experience crewing on other peoples boats, doing much the same as what he is doing. But they are women.
As a women, having crewed a lot before going cruising, his advice touched me, and reminded me about a life previous to Brick House, trying to get ocean experience, and actually, quite trying to get cruising out of my system, so as to perhaps ‘save’ my (first) marriage. It didn’t really work. Saving the marriage that is…
We all know what happened next…I have been cruising around the world for 12+ years now….with a great man, my husband Patrick Childress.
Below is Matt’s article…
I encourage you to go see his other posts on Medium and Living Large by Living Little. 
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GLOBAL HITCHHIKING V: SAILING SAFELY: CONSIDERATIONS FOR WOMEN CREWING

Why am I, a man, writing this article? I don’t pretend to know what it’s like to be a woman, nor do I claim to be an expert at what it’s like to crew on a sailboat as a woman with people you don’t know and particularly with potentially aggressive men. But I do know some women who have crewed a fair bit and they have shared their experiences with me. The focus of this article is to share tips and tricks on how to safely Globally HitchHike around the world as a woman, although the ideas shared here will also be helpful for men who are crewing.

As I’ve mentioned in past articles, crewing is much like dating, not from a romantic perspective, but from finding the appropriate match perspective. I’m not trying to find a date when I’m looking for a boat, but I’m trying to find a boat that I can enjoy being on for a passage or two, one that is going in the direction I want to go, and one where I can get along with the skipper and crew. Unfortunately, there are many single captains who use crewing sites and crewing opportunities for romantic companionship, even though they disguise their attempts as “looking for crew.” Many I have talked to have had experiences where they went aboard a boat to crew, only to find out that the skipper was really just interested in having a nice woman on board to keep them company or more. I don’t really know what to say about this other than it’s an unfortunate reality that lonely skippers will seek out opportunities to invite women crew on board for this purpose. It’s a large part of why I’m writing this article and why you should be extra wary when crewing as a woman. I realize it is a problem, but unfortunately, it’s not a problem I can solve with this article. I can only control my actions, not others.

Three Weeks Can Seem Like An Eternity

I can say that if you don’t do your homework and make sure you get along with the people you plan to sail with, three weeks can seem like an eternity. I sailed from Tahiti to Tonga in 2017 with a guy who I should have spent more time with, getting to know him. I did not get along with him after a day or two. In fact, we ended up hating each other. He was older and was very set in his ways and was really not prepared to share his space with me. Everything I did was wrong in his eyes. In Bora Bora, I jumped off his boat with fins and snorkel and went from boat to boat in the harbor asking if they were looking for crew. In the end, I sailed with him for three weeks to Tonga, but it was the longest three weeks of my circumnavigation. Imagine being stuck on a boat with someone you can’t stand, but you have to eat together, sleep near each other, share responsibilities for the boat together and there was nowhere you could go to get away from them. That’s why it’s important to spend time making sure you’ll get along with your shipmates before embarking on a passage. Luckily, out of the 7 boats I’ve crewed on, circumnavigating, I’ve only had one bad experience. It saddens me that my travels in that section of the world were tainted by the unease I felt in that situation. Bora Bora was a place I had dreamed about my entire life. It was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip, but instead, I spent the whole time trying to find an alternative ride and feeling uncomfortable on the boat. I believe it was this experience that made me realize how much worse it could be for women in a similar situation.

Here are some ideas I have come up with as well as some that have been suggested to me on how to avoid running into problems with your crewing opportunities.

Be Prepared

This is the fifth article I have written about Global HitchHiking. If you haven’t read the other articles I’ve written, please read them as there are many practical ideas and suggestions about being prepared to actually crew on a boat. The more you know about what you’re doing, the more respect you will have from your skipper and shipmates when crewing. I’m not saying that knowing more about sailing will guarantee you won’t have problems, I’m just saying that sailors tend to respect you more if you have sailing experience and knowledge. In fact, I recently spoke with a woman who has done lots of crewing and has never had a problem, but she said she had lots of experience and really knew how to sail and her shipmates always respected her for it. So having some sailing knowledge will go a long way.

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Safety In Numbers

The personal experience I describe above could have been lessened had there been at least one other crew member involved. I have found that when there is at least one other person on board a boat with you and the captain, it breaks up situations that could arise. Especially in the case when one of your shipmates is being unreasonably vindictive or aggressive. Or even if your personalities are not meshing well. When it’s just you and one other person, there is nowhere to go or nothing you can do to break up that dynamic. Having at least one other person on board might help to do that. It also helps with temporary problems, such as an argument or one person getting angry at the other for something they did. Having a third person on board helps to balance that all out and allows you to get back to a sense of normalcy sooner.

In the case for women on a boat where a captain is being aggressive, particularly sexually aggressive, having at least one other person on board would help in that situation as well. Especially if the other person was a woman. But even if it’s not a woman, there is a sense of accountability in having one other person on board. We tend to try to save face if nothing else when there is an extra witness to our acts of possible aggression. I love the old joke, How do you keep a Mormon from drinking all your beer on a sailing trip? Invite another Mormon! It’s kind of the same idea. People are typically better behaved when there’s someone else along.

Crew on a Rally!

Rebecca and Patrick’s favorite Rally, which offers great opportunity for crewing and learning from professionals!

Here’s a google link to tons of rallies happening all over the world. One of the links says there are over 50 rallies going on right now. Rallies tend to be safer than sailing with individual boats for more than one reason. The first of the reasons go to support my paragraph above; There is safety in numbers. Rallies typically consist of many boats and many sailors, men, and women, and there are often crewing opportunities on these rallies. With so many boats (many of which are a VHF radio call away), you can almost always feel safe on whichever boat you are crewing on. Rallies are also run by a group of sailing professionals who are there to provide support and logistics. And they help settle issues when they come up between sailors. These rallies typically cost money, but when crewing, the expense of the rally isn’t typically passed on to you. So you have a safer environment to work in without the overhead.

Brita Siepker is an attorney from New York I met last year, circumnavigating. She did most of her trip on the ARC Rally. Her blog about her experiences is called, Life Is Water. She wrote a blog about this topic and I believe it offers keen information and insight on crewing safely. It can be found here: Crew Finder

The fact that she never had a problem with skippers and crew, was largely due to the fact she was crewing on a rally, and not an individual boat. A lot more vetting needs to be done when doing this, but with the rallies, most of that is taken care of by the nature of the group. People on rallies tend to have nicer boats as well and are typically better funded, so the chances of having a more comfortable experience would probably be a bonus to the other benefits it provides.

(I, Rebecca did most of my crewing, before I took off on my own boat with Offshore Passage Opportunities I can recommend them heartily as a way to gain experience, and be safe while doing so, with professional captains. Patrick has a new sailing series called “Tips From The Pros”, who is one of the captains on this trip, with 5 crew aboard. (Video is Here)

CREW WITH WOMEN SKIPPERS

There are at least three or four skippers that come to mind who are women skippers, cruising around the world. Dana Paredes has a beautiful Dolphin catamaran called Vida Libre she has been cruising in the Caribbean for 13 years. She loves taking on crew. Not sure of her financial arrangements, you’d have to seek her out to determine this. Linda Lindenau is a sailing instructor and her rolling class is continuously circumnavigating the globe. She only takes on women sailors who want to learn more about sailing, except for an occasional passage with her husband on board. Great couple and a great way to learn more about sailing in an easy, experience-based way. Here is her website.

I’m sure there are lots more out there who would be open to crew, you’ll just have to seek them out. In fact, there are some Facebook groups out there that only allow women. Women Who Sail, Sailing and Cruising Women, and Women Who Own Boats (Without Men) are three of them. I’m sure there are others.

There is also an organization called Offshore Passage Opportunities…that sometimes have reputable, screened captains looking for crew…

 

Is Cruising Safe? Panama Pirate Attack in Guna Yala/San Blas Islands

 

TowBoatUS Memberships that Supports Brick House too!