Boarded, Attacked and Beaten

"Our voyage from Cape Town to Trinidad covered 5,503 nautical miles in 33 days of sailing, during which time we crossed both the prime meridian and equator. We also enjoyed 11 days at four interesting stops, and caught more fish than we could eat," writes Kirk McGeorge.

"All-in-all, it was a nice and uneventful crossing — until we got to Fortaleza, Brazil. Within minutes of dropping anchor, we were boarded, attacked, beaten, bloodied, bound and robbed. I lost quite a few valuables — and a bit of blood from numerous knife and machete wounds. They even stole my laundry detergent, thinking it was a big bag of cocaine, I suppose. We’re all okay now, and am sporting several new battle scars that are healing pretty well. But the thugs stabbed my poor inflatable dinghy to death.

"I’ve gotta say that it’s good to be back in home waters again, I’m lucky to be alive, and glad to know my skull is harder than a coconut. To Life!"

The background to this story is that about six months ago, McGeorge, who had circumnavigated before, his wife Kath and son Stuart decided they would relocate to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they lived previously aboard their Hylas 49 Gallivanter. They decided that Kath and Stuart would fly to the U.S. Virgins from their then-home of Brisbane, Australia, while Kirk would make the long trip to the USVI on their boat. He and his crew had to battle nasty conditions in the Indian Ocean, but nothing as dangerous as the sub-humans in Brazil.