Pirates near Red Sea

[Captsteve53]

Like Wise- Just adding FACT -My info comes direct FROM daily updates from the UKMTO in charge of reports and contacts in the area surrounding the Red Sea Approaches through my affiliation as member of Lloyd's Maritime and the IIMS:

Here's a few quotes from such a lone yacht which crossed in March April 17

1) We also choose to sail alone as we are a very slow vessel (34 ft with a 23 year old motor).
2) We had 3 incidents on this trip which can fall under the head: security.
3)Number 1 At first light we saw two big fishing boats going on a reciprocal course from us, but at one moment they turned 90 degrees and came straight for us. Our crew member put on his pirate outfit and took the gun and stood by the mainsail as the two fishing boats were approaching fast but then they slowed down and changed course away from us.
4) Number 2A few hours later after the plane left an incredible noise broke out on the VHF. It turned out that a commercial vessel just 20 miles astern of us had been "successfully" hijacked and there was also a hijacking in progress 45 miles ahead of us! You can understand our confusion, after five years of nothing there were TWO hijackings happening just as we sailed those waters...and we were in the middle of it. We asked ourselves: is this real? Yes, unfortunately it was. We later heard that the hijacking astern of us had cost at least one life.
5) Number 3-The third incident happened in the Red Sea just before dark,Then it happened! We saw 4 motor vessels about 10 meter long approaching us and with help of a strong telescope we could see that all they had a big, white flag at the stern.This normally means "Truce" in military terms. We counted about 16 people on each boat and they were coming fast in our direction. Again, our crew member put on his pirate outfit, manned the gun and stood watch. In this case he used the laser beam because one of the ships came quite close but after the beam hit them they immediately disappeared. One motorboat came back but another laser beam chased it away. We were not afraid that they had weapons, but we were afraid of an angry "mob", that wanted food or water, which we did not have for so many people.-

SO reading between the lines here I would say they are a VERY LUCKY vessel to get away with the passage un scythed, !!!!

To Note the Gun was a Toy??-(Are you Kidding Me!!)

Cheers Steve (MIIMS)Lloyd's Maritime

[taxwizz]

Originally Posted by Captsteve53

Our crew member put on his pirate outfit and took the gun and stood by the mainsail as the two fishing boats were approaching fast but then they slowed down and changed course away from us.

OK....I have to ask...
What did you use for a Pirate Outfit?
And what did you use for a Gun?
Did you dress like Blackbeard?
Or serious Military?
What kind of Gun?
Blunderbuss?
Or .50 cal Machine Gun?

[daletournier]

Hi Acoee, I have looked at the route for several years. I reached Thailand in 2011 when the piracy really hit its straps, so cruised Asia for years. I almost went in the last two years as there's been little activity.
I decided to go via Africa instead and are currently in the Seychelles and I'm glad I choose this route as the activity of Somalia has seemed to picked up a little again.
For what its worth if I was you I'd take the Thailand, Maldives,chagos, Seychelles, Madagascar, south Africa route. Its an easy run from Thailand/Langkawi leaving January. I went from Oz which is abit windier.

[Jubilee39]

I did it from Jan to March this year, leaving from Malaysia in Jan, arriving Greece in April. Was contacted several times by military in the HRC, French warships in Djibouti were skittish, We had some problems in Sudan wanting to anchor where the military did not want us. By and large we had no security problems. At times we were near other cruising boats but did not convoy. Read the news and make up your own mind, there will be many nay-sayers but I am happy to have done that route. Don't know if the weather would have been better around S.A. but we are enjoying the Med