Commandeered to Cuba

[clakiep]

Originally Posted by billpeerson

I had been sailing tandem for 5 months with one whom I believed to have gotten to know. On June 11 2020 we set sail on my vessel,for Costa Rica via Jamaica where I reside. 4 days into the voyage this person commandeered my vessel, Dancin Lions. During 3 days I locked myself inside the berth with canned food and water, armed with a spear gun and a knife. On the night of the 4th day, (0130 hrs) he called my name. I could not see him in the cabin or cockpit. Upon attempting to open the door, I realized it had been jammed to prevent my exit. I quickly forced open the door to see Tyler floating away in my dinghy.

I realized that I was 300 yards off shore in 50 ft of water. The anchor had been jammed, and I discovered that the jib sheet had been allowed to be wrapped around the propeller. I was eventually able to un-jam the anchor and set it with a scope of 3x, hardly enough due to the winds.

The location was Los Cocos, Near Puerto Padre ,Cuba, next to a wind farm for electricity.
Upon day break I realized that the halyards had been set free and were tangled in the mast, the gooseneck had broken, because the preventors had been released, water in the cabin was coming from the bilge as the pump wiring had been cut, the tiller bolts had also been removed.
Once I felt in control again, I set off my MMSI signal, and was responded to by the Cuban Coast Guard. Several hours later they arrived and towed me to Bahia de Vita, where the vessel lies, confiscated by the Cuban authorities.

I have now been in Cuba for several weeks, of which, not a day has been exactly comfortable.

I have secured a seat on a humanitarian flight to Ft Lauderdale on the 6 of July.

Should anyone have more interest in my story, or the good will to help me save my cal 29, the Dancin Lions, please feel free to contact me at: bpeerson@hotmail.com, I could surely use some help and/or advise.
Good day, and be wary.

You state that after 5 months You believed to know him. I have one question : in what language did You comunicate with him ? I tell You why !
1974 I was in Granada on a brazilian flagged 45' Yawl - we actually sailed up from Brasil. Moored at a pier, at 2 am the captain/owner of another yacht woke me up asking for my help - because I understand spanisch. I went over and found in the saloon of this yacht a man from Peru, with a knife in his hand, drunk or maybe only very upset. He told me than that he had worked in the yard building the boat, was invited by the owner to sail with them, under the promise to be back at home in latest 6 month. I asked the captain how long this man was part of his crew : he said 2 years. I asked him if he knew that the man wanted to go home, at least get monney to enable him to do so ? Captain said well, he sometimes get's upset and mumbles a lot, but I don't speak spanisch so I don't understand....and I kind of need him. Well, there was no murder on board this yacht that night, and I don't know how the story went on, because we sailed the next morning. Sorry if this has nothing to do with Your case...it just popped up my mind.

[Poche]

I think the whole thing is made up. I don't even think a Cal29 has a lockable cabin.
Fun to read, though.

[Discovery 15797]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

A lot of incorrect legal information here.

First of all, it is not true that the lack of CG documentation necessarily makes the boat a non-U.S. vessel, that is, a vessel with U.S. nationality or U.S. "national character" (as UNCLOS calls it). A vessel has U.S. nationality if it is EITHER a CG documented vessel OR an undocumented vessel wholly owned by U.S. citizens (residency is irrelevant) which is (a) not required to be documented; and (b) is eligible to be documented other than tonnage; and (c) is not documented in another country. Undocumented U.S. vessels which are self-propelled must have a state-issued registration number (46 U.S.C.§ 12301(a)).

There are thousands of undocumented U.S. flag yachts roaming the world's oceans. The lack of CG documentation makes it harder to PROVE U.S. nationality of the vessel, which is a big disadvantage (a foreign state could refuse to recognize an undocumented vessel's U.S. nationality, and you would then have to prove it, where as CG docuentation is conclusive evidence of U.S. nationality). It's called "documentation", not registration, because CG documentation is intended to prove U.S. nationality, not create U.S. nationality, of the vessel.

A lot of confusion on this subject exists probably because of all the Delaware registered yachts, especially in the Eastern Med, which are not indeed U.S. vessels, because they are undocumented AND owned by non-U.S. citizens. These vessels are not entitled to wear the U.S. ensign. But the OP most likely was so entitled.

The second error concerns jurisdiction. U.S. courts have jurisdiction over all criminal matters arising from events which take place on a U.S. vessel in U.S. or international waters. For offenses committed on a U.S. vessel but in foreign waters, there is shared jurisdiction. Again, a U.S. vessel is any vessel with U.S. nationality as defined by U.S. law (international law leaves it up to every state to define nationality of its vessels according to its own laws), and not just CG documented vessels. But U.S. jurisdiction goes even further than that --18 U.S.C. § 7 provides for U.S. jursidiction ("special maritime and territorial jurisidiction") with respect to any vessel or aircraft which is even partially owned by a U.S. citizen, including U.S. legal persons, regardless of the registration or nationality of the vessel or aircraft.



There are a number of differences between the legal status of documented and undocumented U.S. vessels. For example, an undocumented U.S. vessel has to pay for consular services abroad; a documented U.S. vessel gets these services for free. But likely none of these differences would have any significance in this case.



And there is no question that U.S. courts (and law enforcement) will have jurisdiction to deal with any crimes which may have been committed on the OP's boat in international waters, if the facts are as he says.

You are correct...technically it is US flagged. I mistakingly suggested that it is "technically not a US Flagged vessel," in referring to the official federal registration in my short-sightedness. The vessel was the property of a US citizen, and thus US property. But, I did not suggest the boat was not a US vessel. However, I stand by my statement that the USCG will likely not intervene in this case.

WRT to the courts...The federal law governing jurisdiction states that a case must have an "amount-in-controversy" of $75,000 or more before a federal court can hear a case. So, this is unlikely to see the inside of a federal court room.

States have little to no jurisdiction outside their borders, but it seems some state AG's make up their own rules...so, perhaps it is possible.

[lituya1617]

Billpeerson: Many strange things happen when sailing, not the worst of which are mutiny, shipwreck, and piracy. The Cubans may have fined you and seized your vessel but I would like to know how much was the fine and the details of the seizure. In my experience, Cuba really has no use for a small, damaged sailboat and you probably could not donate a Cal 29 to them. You do not need any permission to enter Cuba if your vessel is in distress and towed in by the Cuban Coast Guard. Cuba is very welcoming to foreign visitors. I do not know if Puerto Padre is a port of entry but I assume it is because vessels up to 400 feet go in and out of there. It is a commercial port. Even if you were required to enter, it would have been no problem. The Cubans would have allowed you to stay on your vessel and repair it even if they did levy a "fine" for having to tow you almost 40 miles from where they encountered you. The port of Gibara was only a couple of miles from where you say this incident happened - why not tow you there? If your deckhand was accused of mutiny and assault by you and came ashore without permission in the dark, you can be sure he would not be allowed to leave the country until a competent court released him. He would be in jail awaiting trial, not in a hotel. Other weirdness in your story trouble me. If you could see the wind farm at Gibara (12, tall, white windmills) at the place you were initially anchored and your anchor was 300 yards offshore, the mutineer somehow managed to anchor in very deep water, possibly 500 feet deep, not 50 feet as you write. The Old Bahama Channel is 6,000 feet deep and the north coast of Cuba features an abrupt dropoff near shore known as The Escarpment. You cannot anchor on the escarpment because it is very steep. This shore is abrupt and exposed to large waves. Worse yet, the shore is a cliff or sintered limestone, a material that cuts anyone trying to climb the coastal cliffs like a million razor blades. If your mutineer did manage to land on the wave-washed cliff, he paid a steep price to climb it. This makes no sense. There is no safe place to land within sight of those windmills, especially at night. But if the mutineer did land and walked to any place the Cuban cops could find him, he would be in prison so fast you couldn't spit downwind before his cell door slammed! Trust me, you do not just walk into Cuba after landing at night on a deserted shore. Another thing troubles me too. why were you making easting against the strong easterly winds in a small sloop in an effort to reach Jamaica? This is not the proper way to sail to Jamaica from the USA. You would normally take the Yucatan Channel and have the easterly wind abeam, turn southeast at Cabo San Antonio and make for Jamaica on an easy tack. That part of the story is really fishy. Another part of the story is weird too: what were you doing in a small sailboat in that part of the world during hurricane season? That is foolhardy as well as fishy. BTW I have boated in Cuba and visited there too.

[lituya1617]

POCHE: A Cal 29 does NOT have a lockable cabin. I owned one. There is a door to the head that swings across the entry to the v-birth but it really would fall in with a strong kick.

[ben2go]

Doesn't the Cal29 have a sizable hatch over the V birth? If my fat ass can struggle through an 18 inch hatch, I imagine most any reasonably sized person could squeeze through a hatch as small as 14-16 inches.


Being that Bill should have been on land a while now, I see nothing here from him. Anyone have the fakebook posts or any further info about this incident?

[sailorboy1]

I wish we could hear more details from the OP and less sofa comments.

[Bullshooter]

Where are you getting that the OP is a U.S. citizen? He said "As a Costa Rican resident, I can return"

Earlier he said that they "set sail for Costa Rica via Jamaica, where I reside."

If he said he was a U.S. citizen, I missed it. He did say he was flying to Florida, and mentioned a boat in Key Largo...

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by billpeerson

Scam?? Not so. If only you knew! I could have killed the s.o.b but that would be hard to explain.

Do you carry a spare anchor? Do you know how to tie an anchor hitch in the anchor rode? ... Just a thought that would have occurred to me...

FWIW: Apparently Dancin Lions has never had an AIS transponder: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...Dancin%20Lions https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/aisSearc...cin%20Lions%20

Another reason AIS can be helpful. The Cuban authorities may have met the boat as soon as it entered their waters, provided the "pirate" didn't know how to turn it off.

A U.S. documented vessel is entitled to U.S. consular services. That too may have been helpful. A state-registered vessel is just another vehicle, like a car.

Personally, as soon as the boat was back in working order, I wouldn't have stuck around.

[Icarus]

Really?

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by Icarus

Really?

No, probably not. The story doesn't pass my smell test. But maybe they'll use the story to set up a go-fund-me, like the (in)famous Dingbats did: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...hs-192907.html

[Carl-T705]

Not A problem. I have Captain Ron's phone number on my boat somewhere, give me a few days to get to the boat and find it. This is an adventure he has experience in . I believe he made a video about how to go about it. Check you tube.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I wish we could hear more details from the OP and less sofa comments.

That would be nice but that probably doesn't fit in with the set up for a go-fund-me campaign. The more they tell us the more illogical the story becomes and it's easier to confirm or not confirm facts.

[Cpt Pat]

There was a vessel by that name: "Dancin Loins," that advertised for crew to sail from Key Largo, FL to Costa Rica, with a proposed departure in "the end of May."

https://www.sailingnetworks.com/boat/156279

[Poche]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

There was a vessel by that name: "Dancin Loins," that advertised for crew to sail from Key Largo, FL to Costa Rica, with a proposed departure in "the end of May."

https://www.sailingnetworks.com/boat/156279

"Dancing Loins" would be an interesting name for bar or something, lol!