Rival 38 'Lynn Rival' EPIRB Activated - No Information

[s/v Jedi]

And the BBC news: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Kent | Pirates 'seize UK yacht couple'

[GordMay]

Assembled from various news sources:

The search for the missing Britons was being co-ordinated by the UK Maritime Component Command in Bahrain.

Involved in the hunt over an area of about 1,000 square miles are the European Naval Force, the international Combined Task Force 151 and Nato’s Task Force 508.

A spokesman for the European Naval Force said the five ships were within 400 miles of the last known position of the Lynn Rival, but it was not yet clear in which direction it had gone since sounding the alarm.

The options facing the navies are limited. French commandos took action in April when a French yacht was seized by Somali pirates en route to Zanzibar. But one of the hostages was killed, as well as two of the pirates.

Naval authorities plan to wait until the suspected pirates take the yacht to one of the usual Somali landing spots before a ransom is demanded.

Aircraft from Seychelles and the European Union searched for the couple over the weekend. EU and U.S. naval forces are assisting in the effort, a statement from Seychelles said.

A Somali pirate called Mohamed Shakir told a London media source that he has captured the British couple.

A resident of Somalia's coastal Haradhere town, a hotspot for pirate activity, said he had spoken to a member of the pirate gang that claimed to have captured the boat.

Abdi Nor Osman said that eight pirates were aboard the yacht, which was towing two skiffs. The yacht was expected in Haradhere, in central Somalia, on Tuesday, he said. Osman said he was a member of the pirate gang, a claim supported by local residents.

Paul Chandler

[Dale]

Just caught Fox News was reporting the story. No new details yet.

ETA: Fox News is saying that a Spanish helicopter has reported that they believe they have spotted the yacht.

[starfish62]

This came over the Bloomberg Wire.

Yacht Carrying Two Britons Hijacked Off Somali Coast (Update2)
2009-10-27 11:21:38.812 GMT


(Adds location of pirate attacks in final paragraph.)

By Hamsa Omar and Kitty Donaldson
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- A search has been launched for a
British couple who were hijacked by pirates while traveling on a
yacht off the coast of Somalia, a piracy monitoring group said.
The vessel, known as the Lynn Rival, was seized after
sending out a distress signal on Oct. 23, Andrew Mwangura, head
of the Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said in a phone
interview today from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. The yacht was
on its way to Tanzania, he said.
“She lost communication and then the pirates confirmed
yesterday they are holding a couple,” Mwangura said. “The
pirates’ target is always money and they are typically gentle as
long as the people cooperate.”
Global piracy attacks so far this year exceeded the total
for 2008 after a surge in incidents off the coast of Somalia,
according to the International Maritime Bureau. The number of
attacks in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast more than
tripled to 47, from 12 in the same period a year earlier, the
bureau said on Oct. 21.
The British Broadcasting Corp. identified the couple as
Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 58 and 55, of Tunbridge Wells in
southern England.
The yacht carrying the couple is “missing at sea” and out
of contact, a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, who declined to be named, said in an interview today
from London. The office is “in touch with the family in the U.K.
and the Seychelles coastguard,” the spokesman said.
Somali pirate activity for the moment is limited to a 350-
kilometer (218-mile) stretch of Indian Ocean coast in the center
of the country, including the pirate lairs of Garacad, Hoboyo
and Harardheere, says Ecoterra, an environmental group that
monitors the region. Somali elders in the north of the country
and Islamic militants in the south have suppressed piracy in
their areas, Ecoterra says. Somalia has lacked a central
government since 1991.

For Related News and Information:
On Piracy Off Somalia: TNI SOMALIA PIRACY <GO>
Most-Read Africa News: MNI AFRICA <GO>
Top Regional Stories: AFTO <GO>

--With assistance from Sarah McGregor in Nairobi. Editors: Paul
Richardson, Karl Maier.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at
+27-11-286-1999 or pmrichardson@bloomberg.net;
Kitty Donaldson in London at +44-20-7976-1795 or
kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at +27-11-286-1934, or
asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

[cchesley]

Okay, I've really got to ask the obvious here. If you go cruising personal enjoyment, exactly why would you really be in this area known for numerous attacks on yachts and ships?

I mean, it's bad enough heading up to the Red Sea, and yes, I understand the hazards and time requirements for a S. African Cape rounding but this is really hard for me to understand. At least, sailing in company seems wise here. Perhaps they really have friends and family in Tanzania but it sure doesn't seem to be a very good choice of destinations these days.

I imagine that folks going into this known area either don't think it can happen to them or figure they'll just take their chances. Personally, I'd rather take my chances around the Southern Capes, but then, that's just me...

Even so, I hope it turns out well for them.

[GordMay]

Rachel and Paul Chandler’s blog (Lynn Rival’s Voyages)
➥ Lynn Rival's voyages - Rachel and Paul Chandler

and from the NY Times:

“... British maritime officials said the Lynn Rival’s course would have kept it at least 800 miles southeast of the Somali coast at the point when Britain’s Maritime Rescue Command, at its headquarters in the English coastal town of Falmouth, picked up a brief radio signal from the boat’s emergency beacon at 11 p.m. British time Friday....”
... A spokesman for the Seychelles coast guard warned against drawing premature conclusions. “We are monitoring the situation and at the present moment there is no confirmation that the Lynn Rival has been taken by pirates, even if the probability of hijacking is high...
... If the couple’s capture is confirmed, the case would give further evidence that the Somali pirates, under pressure from American and allied naval vessels deployed against them in the Gulf of Aden, have moved the focus of their operations further south, and much further out to sea. After a period in the late summer when monsoon weather and rough seas had seen diminishing hijackings, a number has been reported recently from the vicinity of the Seychelles...”

➥ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/wo...28pirates.html

[highseas]

The reason they say where,when they are leaving, IS so others know of their plans.If you say nothing,how would anybody know they were overdue, or travelling in unsafe waters?(had they not been able to set off the Epirb)

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by highseas

The reason they say where,when they are leaving, IS so others know of their plans.If you say nothing,how would anybody know they were overdue, or travelling in unsafe waters?(had they not been able to set off the Epirb)

E-mail?

[Jamel]

Lynn Rival observed 30 nm S of Hobyo, Somalia. Efforts being made by local elders to have them freed unharmed.

Reported on ECOTERRA INT'L SOMALI MARINE & COASTAL MONITOR

[MarkJ]

Not that we could trust anything that the hijackers would say but:

Abdi Yare said.
"This was an unexpected catch because nobody could have predicted that two people on their own would have dared to venture out in the Indian Ocean at this time," said Yare, speaking by phone from Harardhere.
Another local pirate leader, who refused to be named, explained that the yacht was attacked by two pirate skiffs.
"Thirteen pirates on two speed boats snatched this small boat very far from the Somali coast," he said, without specifying the exact date of the hijacking.

If the failed hijacking of a ship only 40mn's away is true then we can understand why this one was taken. A white sail can be seen some considerable distance away... quite a considerable distance...

To have gone west from the Seychelles seems to have been a miscalculation and better to go east of Seychelles, then due south to the top of Madagascar then west.

[Jamel]

MarkJ quote."To have gone west from the Seychelles seems to have been a miscalculation and better to go east of Seychelles, then due south to the top of Madagascar then west."
__________________

The seas during this transition time between monsoons tend to glass out with very little wind to enable sailing ( allowing pirates to motor small skiffs with ease). Who would contemplate MOTORING their yacht EAST( how far?) then south before turning west, if your intended destination is west of your start position?

A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time IMO. Anyone cruising in this area of the Indian Ocean or venturing though the Red Sea now or in the future alone or in company with other yachts are taking a great risk of losing everything!

[Jamel]

Found this this morning by typing "lynn rival news" in google,3rd or 4th heading down.

Maritime Monitors relayed at 20h10 local time that the abducted sailing yacht S/Y LYNN RIVAL was observed around 30 nm south of Hobyo at the Central Somali Coast, ECOTERRA Intl. reports. Further reports from local elders indicate that the British couple held on the boat are well and that efforts are made to have them released unconditionally and immediately.
More from ECOTERRA - SMCM Piracy - ECOTERRA Intl. SMCM Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor. Issue No. 277

Nothing further heard.

[Dale]

Four days after their distress call was sent out near the Seychelles and received by the naval crisis centre, the abducted 13m, one-mast sailing yacht S/Y LYNN RIVAL with an elderly British couple on board has reportedly already reached the Central Somali coast, while EU NAVFOR statements still speculated about a boat with sails and skiffs in tow apparently observed by a helicopter 200nm off the Somali coast at the same time.

S/Y LYNN RIVAL and British Sailors held along Somali Coast

[GordMay]

An interesting, but disturbing update:

“... All Somali officials and regional analysts, however, wonder why the situation was not immediately reported by the responsible centre receiving the distress signal to other search and rescue centres and to the Somali government at the time when the distress call was sent last Friday. Somali Prime Minister Sharmake was only informed by other sources briefly before he met with the British Foreign Secretary in London on Tuesday, who confirmed the incident to him, but had no details. Also the Somali PM promised immediate response to solve the case as soon as possible and achieve an unharmed release.

Why the naval forces took so long to respond with so little results after over 72h since the distress signal was sent remains likewise unexplained.

Somalia's anti-piracy envoy Ismail Haji Noor* noted that he receives more and better information from the ground or the media than from EU NAVFOR's Atalanta headquarters in the UK. "While the Somali government reports any occurrence to the command centre of Atalanta, the information flow and co-operation from the side of the naval forces is very sparsely forthcoming - if at all," he remarked ...”

➥ S/Y LYNN RIVAL and British Sailors held along Somali Coast


*I've variously seen Ismail Haji Noor described as:

- special anti-piracy envoy for the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, Ismail Haji Noor

- a former Somali security official who has established a secular militia

- a former soldier named Ismail Haji Noor, described as a warlord who established a militia to fight Al Shabaab and their foreign allies.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Jamel

MarkJ quote."To have gone west from the Seychelles seems to have been a miscalculation and better to go east of Seychelles, then due south to the top of Madagascar then west."
__________________

The seas during this transition time between monsoons tend to glass out with very little wind to enable sailing ( allowing pirates to motor small skiffs with ease). Who would contemplate MOTORING their yacht EAST( how far?) then south before turning west, if your intended destination is west of your start position?

A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time IMO. Anyone cruising in this area of the Indian Ocean or venturing though the Red Sea now or in the future alone or in company with other yachts are taking a great risk of losing everything!

From today's 'Lectronic Latitude, the report on the taking of Lynn Rival concludes this way:

* * *

". . .several attacks have been reported in the last few weeks, so it's unclear why the Chandlers chose to leave when they did. Even the pirates say they were surprised to find the couple out during peak piracy season."

* * *

To read the whole piece, go to:

Latitude 38 - The West's Premier Sailing & Marine Magazine

Scroll down to "Pirates Capture Cruising Yacht"

TaoJones