Vandals and Thieves

Now I get why every property needs a security guard here.

(Image above by JL G from Pixabay.)

July 2024.

Our sailboat Magayon II was stationed in Iba, Zambales, for some time in an area with zero infrastructure for boats we had her mored first in a river mound and then pulled up on the beach. The first time that we experienced that people have very little respect for private property was on Pandan Island. Magayon II was beached for some repairs and local visitors of the resort kept climbing onto the boat without asking permission to take selfies on the boat. It annoyed me big scale. I don’t climb on other peoples cars or sit on their motorcycles either.

When Magayon II was anchored in the Bankal River mound for several month, there was no security guard watching her permanently, but Miriam took her dogs there for a walk almost every day and the skippers of dive boats anchored there too had an eye on her. Nevertheless small acts of vandalism and theft happened. Vandalism because people just destroyed components, they did not take them. That was mostly ropes. Few thefts, e.g. blocks, also happened. It was reasonably moderate, but very annoying

<There were some more pictures here, but when migrating the homepage they disappeared and my iPhone broke so I could not recover them.>

Once the boat was on the beach for repairs, it was a very different story. Even though the boat was only 15 m away from the beach house that served as a residence. During weekends and holiday people climbed daily on the boat, sometimes even when I was around for repairs. It was mostly young locals, but I also caught one overweight old American lifting his young local girlfriend onto the boat to take her picture. He placed her straight onto a spot which I had just painted with white epoxy paint. The girl was very apologetic when I confronted them. He wasn’t. I sincerely hoped her swimsuit was spoilt for good with the white paint. Our boat then had a swimsuit imprint on the aft deck of the starboard hull. Also annoying, but at least not damaging, were many families who used the boat for shade. Often they tied canvass to the different parts of the boat, using it as a tent frame. They never removed the ropes, just cut them when they left, I still untied some pieces when we were sailing the boat to Subic a few months later. And nobody took back their rubbish. After a weekend there were lots of empty bottles and packaging materials next to or underneath the boat. I even found a used condom once in the cockpit.

When I showed up and caught people on the boat I usually asked them: ” Do you have a motorcycle or a car?” Most would respond with “Yes.” Then I asked: “Do you want me to go to your motorcycle / car and sit on it?” A few people then climbed off the boat but In most cases the answer was “No.” When I then asked “So why are you sitting on my boat?” they understood what I meant and climbed off, usually looking in the other direction. Not a single one apologized. This would be worth a social study….

The only pleasant people were the young weed smokers. They usually were underneath the boat to hide from the proper general public and did not touch the boat. When I showed up they would offer me a joint.

Totally annoying was the vandalism and theft that also happened on the beach, but to a much larger extend than in the river. In the river the boat was safer because people did not want to get their feed wet. Following is a list with just some examples:

• The top laminate layer of two solar panels was partly ripped off. This was not normal delimitation by abetting, the panels were new and the way the laminate was detached clearly shows that force was used.
• The rope of the trampoline was cut again, twice. Nothing taken, just cut for the fun of destroying it.
• Two times areas that I just had painted were screwed up because people stepped on them.
• Both main sail halyards got stolen. This is in particular annoying because to fit new halyards through the block at the top of the mast we have to take the mast down. They are also quite expensive.
• The jib halyard was cut, the thief left just enough so that it could be used to raise an emergency halyard system for the transfer of the boat.
• The two blocks of the halyards located in the cockpit were stolen.
• A newly installed rope that holds the starboard seat in place was stolen. This took some effort to remove it because it went zick-zack trough many holes.
• The blocks at the main sheet traveler were stolen.
• All electrical connectors had the strain relief screw loosened. They don’t open by themselves. It is beyond me, why would somebody do that except for a little curious child exploring the world?
• Some damages to the paint in different areas of the boat.

Rubbish on the Beach

One would think the nowadays people care about the environment. Wishful thinking. Every evening the beach is full of rubbish from people who picnicked there. Some groups arriving newly even selected places with lots of rubbish already to pitch their sunshade, as if thinking “Somebody was here before, so this must be safe…”.