Yacht Piracy off the Pacific Coast of
Panama/Colombia
April 16 - Panama
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.
Once the pirates had taken all they could, they left. With a
Pacific Ocean chart that they have been recording their travel
on, they were able to get a magnetic bearing back to Panama City,
where they arrived about three days ago. Because of their shyness
and the language barrier, the news of their ordeal is only slowly
spreading.
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