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Venezuela: Shooting Attack on Yacht

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Sent by Dave Jones Yacht Navarna III (a Fisher 37 British registered) On Saturday 7th April motoring along the Venezuelan coast just past Tres Puntos, I noticed a penero coming up astern about a mile away. Looking through binoculars I saw 4 men armed with AK47s and shotguns. I headed north out to open sea at full speed. They came up on my stb'd quarter and shot out the aft window in the wheelhouse. A piece of glass hit my crew member in the neck and I told her to get below. I was not going to stop, they were trying to kill us I have no doubt about that. They fired 16 shots to the hull and wheelhouse shooting most of the windows out. I sustained… Read More

Somalia

Saturday, April 4th, 2009
04.04.2009: Posn: 09:36N - 058:35E: Somalia.   Pirates armed with guns hijacked a yacht with it’s five crew members. They sailed the yacht to an undisclosed location and demanded a ransom for the safe release of the crew and yacht. Fearing pirates may take the crew and hold them hostage on land the authorities launched a rescue operation in which four crew members including a child were rescued. However, the skipper was killed in the incident. Two pirates were killed and three others detained by the authorities. On Saturday, 4 April, a French cruising yacht was hi-jacked around 640 km off Ras Hafun in Northeast Somalia. The yacht… Read More

Seychelles – 2 vessels hijacked by Somali pirates

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Seychellois troops have been sent to islands in the Aldabra area after a boat that had been carrying tourists was hijacked by pirates, it was announced yesterday. The Seychelles-flagged "Indian Ocean Explorer" with seven Seychellois crew on board, was on her way from Assumption to Mahe when she was seized, Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport Joel Morgan said. The S/Y INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER, a high-end cruiser designed for oceanographic research with a state-of-the-art technical suite for underwater photography and diving equipment, is kitted out to hold 12 passengers. Ten tourists had already disembarked on Asssumption before… Read More

Thailand, Koh Adang – Yachtsman Murdered and Robbed

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
On Tuesday 24th March, 2009, Yacht "Mr Bean" was lying to a buoy off the SE side of Koh Adang in the Butang Group (20nm NW of Telaga, Langkawi). At around 00.30 three teenage, illegal immigrants from Myanmar (aged 17, 18 and 19) swam out and climbed aboard, where they attacked the Skipper, 64-year-old Malcolm Robertson, in the bow incapacitating him, then his wife Linda, 57, in the aft cabin. She was trussed with rope.The three Burmese men said they climbed on to the Robertsons’ yacht because they were starving after fleeing to a nearby island from rough conditions on a Thai fishing vessel. Malcolm subsequently… Read More

Caribbean, Antigua – Yacht Skipper Shot and Killed

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
A gunman shot and killed the Australian skipper of a yacht in Antigua on Thursday night, 22 January 2009. The victim, Drew Gollan, Captain of the 163 foot sailing yacht "Perseus" (a Perini Navi ketch), was walking after dark on the road between English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour. He was shot in the chest at close range outside the Gallery Bar. A source on the island said that he was shot in front of his partner, Elena and young child. Yachting World were told that Drew and Elena had hired a house on the road behind the Gallery Bar and were on their way home after dinner. An attacker tried to grab Elena's bag and a gun went off in the struggle,… Read More