Is Sailing in Numbers an Option ?

[niel12]

Hi everyone, thanks for that interesting information. Yes, Somalia has indeed become deadly, such a pity. Some of the world most beautiful anchorages are on the West coast of Africa and is now totally out of reach for honest yachties.

[capn_billl]

The ,for right now, isolated incidents on the west coast of Africa is exactly what I was afraid of. The longer the Somalian pirates are allowed to operate with impunity, the more likely other regions will take it up. Eventually piracy will be rampant everywhere. First the choice targets large undefended freighters will be taken, then eventually all boats.

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by niel12

Nowady threats of piracy affect all of us one way or another and searoutes and some beautiful scenery is all of a sudden out of bounds just because pirates seem to be in control!

I don't particularly want to challenge pirates, but is there no safety in numbers?

So i am wondering if one can plan a Atlantic crossing say to Gibralter in a group so one would need to advertise in all the yacht clubs and advertise you travel plans. Hopefully a few travellers might join up.

I am just wondering how possible such aventure would be!

I've never heard of piracy on the cross Atlantic routes
where did you get that?

[barnakiel]

Perhaps it depends on the kind of piracy. Maybe it is safer to be a group in an anchorage in Venezuela but I doubt it will help anything when transiting the Indian/Red Sea route.

If there is piracy somewhere, do not go there. There are plenty of safe and beautiful places to sail.

b.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by niel12

Nowady threats of piracy affect all of us one way or another and searoutes and some beautiful scenery is all of a sudden out of bounds just because pirates seem to be in control!

I don't particularly want to challenge pirates, but is there no safety in numbers?

So i am wondering if one can plan a Atlantic crossing say to Gibralter in a group so one would need to advertise in all the yacht clubs and advertise you travel plans. Hopefully a few travellers might join up.

I am just wondering how possible such aventure would be!

The Atlantic is safe offshore, as are almost all the worlds oceans. Crossing in company because of piracy fears is pointless.
I crossed Cape Verde to Brazil with 2 other boats just for some company, worked OK, nice to have someone to chat to on VHF. Biggest problem was with different boats going at different speeds, we would regroup each morning, fast boats waiting for the slower.

[terra57]

It is done all the time. Not too many worries about pirates until you leave the Med and enter the Red Sea.
However most boats that arrive in Bermuda find a small group of boats to travel with to the Azores and do the same on to Portugal or the Med for general safety reasons.
It is good to be able to talk on your Ssb or VHF with other boats while in route, compare weather or know that someone knows where you are and could assist you if serious problems arise.
You can expect to find like minded cruisers departing from Bermuda, the Azores and the Caribbean. Plan on staying in port long enough to find a group to depart with. Try to find at least a couple of boats that will travel at about the same speed as your boat.
Make arrangements with Herb, the weather guy, before you leave the states. He will talk to you every day by SSB.

[niel12]

It seems the piracy is a real organised thing as it became evident that the pirates operate from a mother ship somewhere offshore. This is the only way they can operate from Somalia up to the Mosamique channel and off Madagascer.

There were thoughts that the pirates were getting food and fuel off Magascar or perhaps Tanzania but both these thoughts proved wrong and the only other solution is a mothership that seems very elusive!

These pirates are very brave behind rocket launchers and machine guns and they will kill any opposition regardless if it is a plastic boat or a passenger liner. We are not allowed to arm ourselves and most of us, even if we were is there no way one could defend yourself against those maniacs.

I think it is high time governments act against the pirates! No feeding program of their hungry will change anything as their ransome never reach the hungry and sick! Conclusively, piracy is a personal thing of criminals that are empowered with state of the art weapons. On land we call it organised crime and agencies deal with it. On the sea, o well, it's hunger and sickness that is behind it all!

Wake up world .... it's criminals!

[swagman]

Mark J sailed through in convoy but the situation seems to have got a lot worse since he did it. His blog is well worth reading.

The British Prime Minister has just announced they will be licensing British registered vessels to allow them to carry firearms for protection. No surprises that he quotes stats showing armed ships do not get successfully attacked. Not sure yet if that means a yacht on the British Register can do the same.

On the same subject, this quarter The Cruising Association has advised all it's members it is now simply too dangerous a region so cruisers are recommended to stay away until the situation has been addressed. As Barny has said, there are plenty of other nice places to go sail.

The only positive aspect is whilst it might be frustrating, at least it is manageable.



John

[Dulcesuenos]

Kind of surprised by the article in the latest CW, the writer stated that amateur piracy is becoming more and more prevalent in the caribbean and if he were traveling again he would bring a gun even though he had been anti gun for years, not sure what to think about it.
Guess well have to see for ourselfs

[Jim Cate]

Hmmm,

So here I am, Joe African Pirate, looking for something to do today. I get on the internet and do some surfing. I see references to the ARC, and the fact that lots of apparently rich yotties (big fast boats, very high entry fees, etc) are congregating somewhere and are going to depart on a known voyage on a particular day. I lick my lips and start planning...

Right... join ARC or similar for safety...

Cheers,

Jim

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm,

So here I am, Joe African Pirate, looking for something to do today. I get on the internet and do some surfing. I see references to the ARC, and the fact that lots of apparently rich yotties (big fast boats, very high entry fees, etc) are congregating somewhere and are going to depart on a known voyage on a particular day. I lick my lips and start planning...

Right... join ARC or similar for safety...

Cheers,

Jim

ROFL..............

[niel12]

Yes maybe avoidance is better than trying to fight the pirates from a sailing yacht! Arming their ships/yachties the Brittish are F.... agianst thunder! Yachtie guns poping off like crackers against pirates hardware sounds like a imballance to me, when are they sending warships and shoot the bastards out of the water, the survivors they can take them to court!

I can only repeat myself by saying the pirates are violent criminals, nothing more nothing less. What makes them diffrent from land criminals, only water i guess! Yet the sentiment is the poor country, perhaps we should then also say to the Mafia the poor children or the poor wifes or perhaps the gangs shame their poor sons and daughters! BS

The sooner Governments can realise that feed programs will not solve the pirate problem the sooner we will be able to handle force 8 or 10 winds and speak about it afterwords.