The yachtsmen
risking all
in Pirate Alley
COLIN FREEMAN
Chief Foreign Correspondent
NAVAL COMMANDERS have
accused British sailors of
putting themselves at needless
risk of kidnap by organising
convoys through the pirate-
infested Gulf of Aden.
Undeterred by the abduction
of Paul and Rachel Chandler
last year, the convoys sail in
formation through "Pirate
Alley", supposedly providing
safety in numbers.
The perilous five-day, 650-
mile journey between the
Indian Ocean and the Red Sea
saves a detour of thousands of
miles via South Africa for yachts
heading to the Mediterranean
and also offers the ultimate tale
to tell back in the clubhouse.
But it has alarmed com-
manders in the international
anti-piracy force, who say the
unarmed convoys are sitting
ducks for the pirate gangs.
We watched
with dread as
a large rusty
boat revealed
itself in the mist
Officers from European Union
Naval Force Somalia spelt out
their concerns to yachtsmen at
a meeting last week at
Northwood, the Nato headquar-
ters near London.
They said that, unlike com-
mercial ships, which are bigger,
faster and harder for pirates to
board, yachts are particularly
vulnerable.
The meeting came in the
week that Mr and Mrs Chan-
dler, who were snatched en
route from the Seychelles to
Tanzania, marked their first full
year in captivity.
"This area poses an extremely
high risk to shipping, and an
even higher risk to yachts spe-
cifically, as I think is obvious
from the kidnap of the Chan-
dlers last year," said Simon
Church, industry liaison officer
for the Horn of Africa Maritime
Security Centre. "Yachters do of
course have the freedom to go
wherever they like, but our pref-
erence would be that they go
somewhere else."
The anti-piracy force's stance
is at odds with convoy sailors
who are upset that the naval
ships are not willing to give
them an escort "I do not see
why they are mandated to pro-
tect commercial vessels, but not
the taxpaying yachtsman," said
Tom Sampson, a retired RAF
officer, who writes in the latest
edition of Yachting Monthly
about his role organising a con-
voy last spring.
Mr Sampson, who sails with
his girlfriend Nicolette Knoop,
supervised a convoy of 27 yachts
from 17 nations, whose crews
included women and an elderly
couple.
Before setting off from the
port of Salalah in Oman, he
drilled them in techniques for
formation sailing in groups of
six. All participants had to be
able to complete the journey
without refuelling and were told
to keep lighting and radio use
to a minimum.
He admitted that some in the
convoy found the journey fright-
ening. At one point, sailors lis-
tened anxiously to the radio as
reports came in of pirates
attacking a commercial vessel
just 30 miles away.
In another account of the
journey given in last month's
Cruising World, one yachtsman
wrote: "We watched with dread
as a large, rusty fishing boat
slowly revealed itself in the
morning mist... it was exactly
what we hoped to never see."
He described the panic when
a skiff set off from the fishing
vessel and headed for one yacht
at high speed, scattering the
convoy immediately. It turned
out to be a group of fishermen
begging for cigarettes.
Critics believe it was as much
by luck as judgment that disas-
ter did not strike.
"There is no safe place any-
where in the Gulf of Aden," said
one kidnap and ransom expert
But, despite the warnings, more
convoys are expected to go
ahead next year.
Alan Green, the chairman of
the International Yachting Fed-
eration's regulations commis-
sion, remained unapologetic.
"Fortunately, people still have
the freedom to sail where they
want, and the only people who ©2010 XEROX CORPORATION. All rights reserved. XEROX"• XEROX a
will stop them going through All other logos, trademarks, registered trademarks or serv ice marks
the Gulf of Aden are the pirates
themselves."