Category Archives: Security

Sailing, Security

Im Memoriam: Peter Wenner

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A University of Hawaii sailing team member was involved in an 18 foot skiff accident this past weekend in Honolulu and has just passed away. Facebook has a Friends of Peter Wenner page with details:

His trapeze harness became tangled in the netting of the wing when the boat capsized. Peter was underwater on and off for a few minutes while they were trying to get him free. The safety boat acted immediately to call 911 and as soon as they were able to get him out of his harness they rushed him to Honolulu harbor in the support boat were an ambulance was waiting.

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PJ died doing what he truly loved. Blasting downwind on the 18′ skiff at very high speeds with good friends. PJ said with a big smile to Willy that day now that he’s been skydiving and sailing on the 18′ skiff his life was complete. PJ was a real inspiration to us all. I know we will all remember him for the rest of our lives, smiling, laughing and cracking jokes. The sailing team are all going out on the big boat Tiare on Friday at 3pm to spread flowers and celebrate PJ’s life.

The picture below shows the Pegasus 18′ skiff in action, and the crew standing on one of the big wings with netting:

Tragic, even though they say the best way to go is doing what you love.

I will take a minute to think of PJ and his family, and also double and triple check my safety gear when I next go sailing. The harness is perhaps the most terrifying piece of gear to wear on a dinghy, as the hook easily can become tangled and pin a sailor.

History, Security

Protecting Obama

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Executive Protection News is a great source for details on protecting the President Elect of America:

When Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, the level of security was described as “unprecedented” although I think “Presidential level” is probably more appropriate. Among the measures in place was a ballastic glass shield surrounding the podium, the entire Chicago Police force of 13,500 (although clearly not just to protect Obama) was on duty, a no-fly zone was established over the city, and all off-duty firemen went home with their gear in the event they had to return to duty. The total cost for security that evening was reported as $2 million USD although much to their credit, the Obama campaign will reimburse Chicago for the costs (I’ve been advocating that the political parties pay for convention security since this election started). These measures were appropriate in light of the arrest the week before the election of two white supremacists who alledgedly were planning to assassinate Obama.

I look forward to the day when the US is not compared to a military dictatorship like Pakistan:

Despite it all, we only need look at Pakistan to understand what happens when a nation fails to protect its’ key political and government leaders to understand why it is important to take the necessary measures to protect Obama as well as every President. The alternative is unacceptable.

Instead of Pakistan I probably would have tried to draw lessons from assassinations of (dare I add Malcolm X) Lincoln, Kennedy, McKinley and Garfield into the story, let alone attempts on Reagan, Ford, King, Truman, and Roosevelt, but maybe they’re just history. Another good modern example is Sri Lanka:

Social Services and Welfare Minister and EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda was lucky for the twelfth time after a female suicide bomber yesterday failed in an attempt to assassinate the Minister but killed his Public Relations (PR) Officer while injuring two more.

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The Defence Ministry said that according to initial investigations the LTTE had set the explosives around the woman’s breast, deviating from its usual tactic of placing explosives in the lower abdominal areas of suicide bombers.The Ministry recalled that Minister Devananda has been in the LTTE assassination list ever since he came into mainstream politics.

Twelve attempts thwarted. Whoa.