March 13, 2001
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Pacific
Puddle Jumpers Head West
|
March 13 – Puerto Vallarta It seems like everybody’s doing it! Setting During their crossing, these vessels will participate in the |
 Photo Latitude/Andy |
Gunfire
in Piracy Attack
March 13 – Off Yemen
Geoff and Chrissie Linter of the British registered catamaran
Ocean Swan report that they, as well as the British yachts
Mi Marra and Shady Lady, were attacked by pirates
on February 23 while enroute from Yemen to Djibouti in the Gulf
of Aden. Here’s an edited version of their report:
“The two of us aboard Ocean Swan,
while towing Shady Lady and with Mi Marra about
a mile away, were en route from Mukalla in Yemen to Djibouti on
February 23. Just after dawn, while approximately 6 miles offshore
at 13°48′ N and 48º13′ E, we were being passed by three
30-foot open boats about a mile off on our starboard side. When
the boats had pulled abeam, all three approached Ocean Swan
at speed. One vessel opened fire with automatic rifles, causing
damage to Ocean Swan’s foresails, furling gear and rigging.
The boat firing on Ocean Swan came alongside in a manner
that caused damage to the yacht’s topsides. One of the other vessels
came alongside briefly, then it stood off a short distance. The
third vessel went alongside Shady Lady, the sailboat we
were towing.
“Three men with automatic weapons and
knives boarded Ocean Swan and demanded that we stop. The
leader of the group, a fit man about 5’7″ wearing tan clothing
that looked as though it may have been a uniform, entered the
cabins demanding money from Geoff while another man held a knife
to Chrissie. After they were given all the money onboard, they
proceeded to ransack the boat, taking cameras, radios, bikes,
cigarettes, binoculars and other items of value. After approximately
one hour, they were persuaded to leave. Neither of Ocean Swan’s
crew were physically harmed. Paul Hawton of Shady Lady reports
that pirates took $50 and a VHF radio from him. Nobody was physically
harmed on his boat. Mi Marra, about a mile ahead, was not
boarded or directly attacked.
“The open vessel used to come alongside
Ocean Swan was 25 to 30 feet long, wide, old, diesel powered,
poorly maintained, and had wooden fencing stakes around the boat
to support cargo. It had a flat stern with an outboard rudder.
There was no evidence of extra fuel being carried on deck, making
us suspect it was a local boat with limited range. The other two
were similar in appearance and construction. There were a total
of five men aboard the boat that attacked Ocean Swan. Other
than the leader, they were about 20, although the youngest may
have been 16. The man from the second boat, who boarded Shady
Lady, wore Yemeni attire. All of the pirates appeared to be
from Yemen.
“After the pirates left, many attempts
were made to raise the alarm. Mayday messages were broadcast by
Ocean Swan on all known SSB distress frequencies, but no
reply was received. After some time, a message was relayed by
other yachts to Salalah Port Control in Oman. Later in the day,
a message about the incident was sent to Mukalla Port Control.
We continued through the night to try get a message to Aden Port
Control, but without success.
Photo Latitude/Richard
“There has been such a fuss here over
the incident, that we were afraid it might have been reported
in the international press, and that all our family and friends
would be sick with worry. We are, however, fine. We lost some
equipment to the thieves, and had some minor damage to the boat,
but all is well on board. We arrived in Aden in the middle of
last night to file a report, and have been treated very well.
We were able to contact friends shortly after the attack, and
they were able to make a preliminary report to the authorities
and to send up an Inmarsat distress signal. From then on all hell
broke loose, and the various authorities, the British Consulate,
and the French Navy were all notified. News spread like wildfire
on the radio. We now have a day of visiting all the authorities,
filing reports and trying to calm everyone down. We will probably
get stuck here in officialdom for some days, but hope to escape
soon to continue the trip. We want to stress that we are fine,
and that apart from the loss of possessions we are none the worse
for wear. We have had tremendous support from the yachting community,
and a good response from the authorities. People have been so
kind that we have been knocked out.”
For the last several years, by far the worst
piracy against yachts at been on the approach to and in the Gulf
of Aden, which yachts must pass to get to the Red Sea and then
the Med. Prior to the attack, yachts have been convoying to discourage
attack. But as this most recent attack was against three boats,
the pirates are clearly not afraid of taking on more than one
boat at a time.
The
Race
March 13 – The Atlantic
Cam Lewis and Team Adventure are steaming up the Atlantic,
having covered nearly 600 miles in the last 24 hours. They are
expected to finish on March 23 or 24.
Where Are They Now?March 13 – Fiji We recently stumbled across this photo of the Pimentel family |
 Photo Courtesy Azure |
Crunch in the Canal
March 13 – Panama
Because of space limitations, we won’t have
John Pearlman’s report – on how his Sausalito-based Islander 37
Nepenthe was dismasted and crunched in the Gatun Lock of
the Panama – until tomorrow.
YOTREPS
March 13 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
Weather Updates
March 13 – Pacific Ocean
San Francisco Bay Weather
To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
California Coast Weather
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further links
to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
Pacific Sea State
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you
might check out the Pacific Ocean sea states at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
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