Gulf of Aden?

[A.Bode]

I thought I had posted this message, so my apologies if this is a second posting.

The Walter Mitty is creeping out of me and again I am looking at routes for sailing round the world. Instead of going round the South of Africa I would prefer to Keep North and visit the Med via the Suez Canal. However that means the Gulf of Aden.

What I'm looking for is information on whether there are people sailing through the area if so how or whether it is a real no go area.

Back in 2007-2011 there were a number of high profile attacks with many horrible outcomes. However over the last 2/3 years I haven't heard of any attacks on pleasure crafts. Why is this? Am I just mis informed or are people sailing through in groups with an armed escort?

Any advice is very much welcomed.

Kind regards,

 

[AndrewB]

Very few yachts sail that way at present, hence no incidents. Despite the fall in piracy affecting ships, owing to greater security, it remains against the advice of all security agencies involved for yachts to transit the high-risk area - see the warning updated last month about the Gulf of Aden at Noonsite: http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy.

There's a report by a yacht that did make it in January, here: http://www.tamariskrtw.com/?p=2969. They hired armed guards.

 

[ffiill]

Check out nga.com
The US national geospatial intelligence agency.
They publish detailed info on world wide maritime security risks and current alerts

 

[ribrage]

I thought I had posted this message, so my apologies if this is a second posting.

The Walter Mitty is creeping out of me and again I am looking at routes for sailing round the world. Instead of going round the South of Africa I would prefer to Keep North and visit the Med via the Suez Canal. However that means the Gulf of Aden.

What I'm looking for is information on whether there are people sailing through the area if so how or whether it is a real no go area.

Back in 2007-2011 there were a number of high profile attacks with many horrible outcomes. However over the last 2/3 years I haven't heard of any attacks on pleasure crafts. Why is this? Am I just mis informed or are people sailing through in groups with an armed escort?

Any advice is very much welcomed.

Kind regards,

Better to sail the North - sell your boat and buy one in Asia

piracy in Western Africa is higher than in East africa now , BUT they operate differently , in the East they will take the ship / yacht as they have a lawless area like Eyl in Somalia to keep it , in West Africa they take key personnel or steal as much as possible from the ship / yacht and go ashore with "hostages" .

Interestingly an incident within 25 NM isn't classed as piracy but theft and goes un registered most of the time, plenty of info on line, things are changing but aren't safe enough in my view to do Suez and onwards, anything low (freeboard) or slow (speed) is an easy target , last time we worked in the region we were armed to the teeth on the support vessels ( pics on the blog ) and we still had one somalia get on board the ship we were protecting.

I want to head East I love Asia , but won't take the risk

 

[A.Bode]

Thanks for that guys. I forgot West Africa has been getting worse. That makes for a long diversion but hey ho, might just have to prelong the cruise/route.

 

[Pete7]

Rebels with allegiance to ISIS have just taken over a large chunk of Yemen, not a safe place to sailing in anything less than a warship.

 

[Shakemeister]

I think the threat from Somalian Coastguards has subsided somewhat, but as commented above the area is still unstable due to the increasing presence of anti-Western Islamists.

The Somalians were interested in holding the ships and cargo for ransom to make money. ISIS want you to star in their latest orange suit propaganda video / snuff film.

The websites that are good starting point to google for are NATO Shipping Centre, UKMTO, and MSCHOA.

Basically, you need to be thinking about a miniature convoy of yachts, armed guards onboard costing $10 000+ USD, possibly some barbed wire around the deck.

What the merchant ships do is in BMP4 (http://www.mschoa.org/docs/public-documents/bmp4-low-res_sept_5_2011.pdf?sfvrsn=0.) Annexe Golf has some advice for pleasure craft.

The information and blogs of recent yacht passages are out there on the above sites and links which will inform your decision.

Good luck!

 

[A.Bode]

Good Luck? I'm going no where near the place. Somalian Pirates are one thing but ISIS/ISIL/those b*stards are a whole different ball game. A convoy might be of interest and the way the USD is going might be good value soon.

My plans are for 2/3 years from now so all could change, but un likely. It looks like it's Seychelles, Cape Town then central Atlantic Islands are the way round! It's a pitty as the few people that have done it have talked of how much of an amazing place it is.

 

[rogerthebodger]

It looks like it's Seychelles, Cape Town then central Atlantic Islands are the way round! It's a pitty as the few people that have done it have talked of how much of an amazing place it is.

Thats the way most people go these days except to harbour hop around the east coast of South Africa as the weather conditions make it that you need to pick a good weather window.

Lots of good advice around and there are lots of nice places to see in South Africa despite the bad press.