'The Life-Decision I Regret Most . . . '

[Dhillen]

"A Danish family that was held hostage by Somali pirates for more than six months said in an interview published Thursday that it decided to sail alone through the dangerous waters off the Horn of Africa, hoping to sneak through safely. "It was the decision of my life that I regret the most," Jan Quist Johansen, the father, said in the first interview since the family's release.
The parents and their three teenage children were captured along with two Danish crew members on Feb. 24 after their yacht was seized by the pirates in the Indian Ocean."

Read the rest of this sad interview here:
Noonsite: Danish Family held hostage in Somalia regret Sailing Route

A convoy wouldn't have helped them either unless it was with NATO warships.

Dhillen

[svBeBe]

We met Jan, his wife and their children in Sri Lanka 4 weeks before ING was captured. In Sri Lanka, I asked Jan what his plans were for the IO/GoA/RS passage. He told me that he had done a lot of research and that he was going to take the normal recommended routes because there had not been an attack on a yacht in those routes. Now, it appears as though he feels he should have sailed in convoy with another boat.

This past season in the IO/GoA/RS was a game changer. Based on the numbers, there was about a 5% chance of attack this past season...nothing anyone did changed that fact. Blind luck played the number one role in determining who was attacked. Please do not be fooled into believing that one method or another will provide you any degree of safety.

Bill

[JazzyO]

Terrible situation, and it does seem that attacks have increased these past 18 months. But I also think that as far fewer boats take this route now, the ones that do are much more likely to become victims.

All in all, it will be a bad decision to take this route in quite a few years to come, I fear.

Onno