Royal Navy continues its advice: Don’t sail in the western Indian Ocean
New pirate attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean in the last week have renewed calls for yachts not to sail in the area.
The Cruising Association’s Regulations and Technical Services team - RATS – is part of a group closely monitoring events in the western Indian Ocean, liaising both with bodies within the marine industry as well as the Royal Navy.
And the continuing advice has to be: ‘Don’t sail in the high risk area.’
A fully laden super tanker was attacked by eight armed pirates on Friday last week, 230 miles off the Somali coast, and earlier this week a large fishing vessel was approached by two skiffs. Both vessels employed self-protection measures and remained safe.
An advisory put out today by international naval forces, asks yacht skippers not to attempt to sail through the northern part of the Indian Ocean between the Red Sea and India and as far south as Madagascar, emphasises the extreme dangers facing yachts if they sail in the area.
The high risk area is huge and international naval forces from all round the world are doing their best to capture or deter pirates but, as the advisory says, they cannot be everywhere. Their main task is to protect food ships and oil tankers so they can rarely go to the aid of yachts or get to them in time.
Using 25kn power boats, pirates can board yachts in seconds leaving them helpless against men with AK47 guns and RPG missiles. Big cargo ships mostly carry a team of armed guards and can sometimes fight off pirates but it is a lawless area and gun battles between pirates and big ships are not uncommon.
Members of the CA, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were held hostage for a year in Somalia after their yacht, Lynn Rival, was boarded by pirates. They were released after a ransom was paid. But the four crew of the US yacht Quest were not so lucky: they were murdered.
Some skippers feel the area is safer now as there has not been an attack on a yacht for a while but the reality is that yachts have stopped sailing in the area because of piracy. The Royal Navy says: Let’s keep it that way.
Somalia, and to an extent Yemen, is a failed state with an ineffective government and a starving population. Fishing cannot provide enough food; poor harvests constantly fail and education is non-existent. Local people see no alternative to piracy for ransom money.
Yachtsmen determined to get their yachts through the area are advised to use one of the several yacht transport companies using big ships. Information on this is also available through RATS.
For the latest information please see the latest Piracy information or contact RATS through the CA Office on 0207 537 2828.
Beryl Chalmers
PR/Publicity Officer
Cruising Association
0207 537 2828