April 16, 2004

Today’s Photos of the Day are of the 245-ft megayacht Mirabella
V motoring in the Solent in England, and recently undergoing
sail trials in the same area. This is the yacht, you’ll remember,
that has such a tall mast that she wouldn’t clear the Golden
Gate Bridge roadway by about 80 feet!

We’ve heard fish stories before, but Hogan Beatie’s tops them
all. The 34-year-old professional sailor was riding in Pyewacket‘s
36-ft protector when he was attacked by what appears to have
been a barracuda – in the boat! The incident occurred on Wednesday,
April 14, in the late afternoon. Beatie and three or four other
Pyewacket crew were blasting out to sea from Pyewacket‘s
base in St. Maarten at over 30 knots. Hogan was not driving,
but was standing in the stern of the boat on the port side, wearing
only shorts.

All of a sudden, “He was hit in the stomach so hard that
he thought he’d been shot,” says Mik Beatie, longtime Bay
sailor and Hogan’s father. The blow laid him flat on deck, where
he looked down to see a squirming silver mass. Hogan pounded
on it a few times and the fish went back in the ocean. The whole
incident happened so quickly that the other guys aboard the boat
only saw part of the three to four-foot fish as it was going
back into the water. (In fact, no one is positive it was a barracuda,
but scales left aboard – and on Hogan – suggest that it was.)
The attack removed a portion of skin and left Hogan’s stomach
area with deep lacerations, one of which extended up into his
chest – Hogan commented that his slight beer belly probably prevented
more serious injury! Fortunately, no organs or muscles were damaged.
Also fortunately, Pyewacket crewman Mauricio was aboard
the Protector. A male nurse, Mauricio was able to stop
the bleeding with towels as the Protector blasted back
to the dock, radioing ahead for an ambulance to meet them.

Instances of yacht piracy on the West Coast have been very rare,
so we were surprised to get the following report from Les Sutton
and Diane Grant of the Northern California-based Albin-Numbus
42 Gemini:

“Yesterday at the Internet cafe here in Balboa, Panama,
we heard about a piracy of a Japanese vessel on the rhumbline
between Panama City and the Galapagos. I did a 20-minute interview
this morning with Shigeo and Kazuyo, the two people aboard, who
are fine and in good spirits considering their ordeal, and learned
these facts:

Yumemaru, their 40-ft Japanese-flagged sailing vessel,
was attacked on April 5 at 3 p.m. at 03 degrees 20 minutes north,
084 degrees 44 minutes west – of the Pirate Vessel [Editor’s
note: Or a couple of hundred miles off the Pacific Coast of Colombia
about one-third of the way to the Galapagos.]

The fishing vessel was approx. 15 to 20 meters in length, red
bottom paint, black topsides and a white cabin about two-thirds
of the way back from the bow. The boat was made of wood. Once
the boat collided, blue paint was visible underneath the black
paint.

Shigeo and Kazuyo were heading to the Galapagos and had observed
a 15 to 20 meter wood fishing vessel, black topsides and white
cabin, for some time. She had no name or lettering. At 3 p.m.
local time, the fishing boat deliberately rammed their port quarter,
and five men wearing masks and carrying pistols and knives boarded
their vessel. They were quickly tied up in the cockpit, and their
boat was systematically stripped of all electronics and personal
possessions – including their boat registry papers and all their
charts. In the process of boarding, their radar arch was severely
bent along with three stanchions and their lifelines. Although
the couple estimate that there were more men involved, only five
came aboard.

The following gear was taken from their boat:

VHF Radio, SSB Radio, 3 GPS units, depth and speed instruments,
two pairs of binoculars, three watches, 100 charts, boat registry
papers, and three cameras. No food was taken. Their computer
and money was in a locked chart table that wasn’t apparent to
the pirates, so they weren’t taken.

It looks as though John Sweeney’s dream for raising funds for
a Sausalito YC America’s Cup entry on Ebay seem to be heading
toward fruition. Within the last 36 hours, there have been three
bids to be the main sponsor of that effort. The opening bid was
$18 million, but it’s now up to $18,600,100. No names have been
mentioned.

Pacific Sail Expo, the West Coast’s biggest sailboat show, is
having a good run, and continues through Sunday in Jack London
Square. If you believe the handout program published by Soundings,
Latitude isn’t in the show. But we’re are. In about the
same location as always.

At 4:45 this afternoon, the Wanderer will be giving a seminar
on the differences between cruising to and in Mexico, and to
and in the Caribbean. He considers questions such as which one
is easier to get to, where the people are friendly, which is
less expensive, and so forth.

At the close of the show tonight, all Ha-Ha vets are encouraged
to stop by the Latitude booth and have a beer or glass
of wine during a little bit of a reunion. Foxy of Foxy’s in Jost
van Dyke will play guitar and regale everyone with stories. We
hope to see you there!

Saturday at 6 p.m., the Wanderer will be giving the featured
presentation of the day, on the Baja Ha-Ha.