The Crew Report

captains’ & engineers’ updates
For full listings of both Captains and Engineers go to Yotcru.com.
To update a listing please contact Vam@theyachtreport.com
yacht captain
Andiamo Denis Dicic
Blind Date Jamie Whitehead
Dilbar Wayne Neale
Elee Jason Langford
Fansea Francois J Devys
Hayat Manthos Gaitis
Lady Marina Malcolm Jacotine
Liberty GB Richard Hutchinson
Lionheart Thomas Jones
Samar Robert Corcoran
Solea Conor Craig
Tiziana Ian Storer
Phocea Olivier Kerhofs
Wind Piers French
Olivier Kerhofs
Francois J Devys Piers French
10000 Marine and Yacht Engineers.
8000 Deck Officers and Deck Crew.
4000 Yacht Chefs and Crew Cooks.
6000 Stewardesses and Stewards.
yacht engineer
Jana Stephen De Vooght
Lady Marina James McKenzie
Rasselas Lindsay Smith
Second Chance Steve Mctague
The One Brett Julian
Tiziana Dean Filewood
Vent D’Est Shane Furze
Wellenreiter Luke Bonanos
Joe Hodgson
44 (0) 771 363 5381
joe@wizzwazz.com
just4engineers.com
seamanship
piracy: threat or fiction
When cruising the more volatile areas of the world with unstable political regimes, how safe are you
as yacht crew and what measures can be taken to ensure you can deal with an attack should it occur?
Our crew correspondent Juliet Benning does some delving into the issue of modern-day piracy.
In October 2006, I set off with a crew of four others to deliver
the 102-foot maxicat best known as Enza from Qatar to the
Maldives – I was the only female aboard. I’d heard that on
the trip from Bristol down to Qatar pirates had threatened the
crew, and joining the guys I felt understandably a little
apprehensive about a repeat performance.
Enza had been making steady progress up the coast of Somalia
towards the Gulf when they noticed that they were being followed
by a small RIB, the five crew of which were brandishing semiautomatic
rifles. In a good wind the sailors knew they could easily
outrun the bandits, but this was not their lucky day and soon the
followers had caught up and began demanding loot. Being a
stripped out race boat, Enza had nothing onboard of great value
and the pirates left with the skipper’s supply of whiskey, cigarettes
and porn magazines (I am assured that the crew had been tipped
off that the latter would be useful for fobbing the pirates off and
was not for their own use).
The story had captured my imagination a little too keenly, and
consequently while on watch as we sailed back down the Gulf
towards the Indian Ocean I let my mind
wander. As the only female onboard I came
to unhappy conclusions. Should pirates
board us I would be the most vulnerable.
Even if I had followed whims to imitate
Uma Thurman in Kill Bill what good was
any kind of self defence or martial art
where guns are involved?
At night my paranoia would swell. We had
sailed through the oil fields of the Gulf where,
out of the darkness, there were strange
columns of flames coming from the rigs,
while down in the Indian Ocean we were to
see many more lights as the fishing boats
blinked out of the darkness. To me these
sporadic dots of white light represented
something far more threatening and I’d
be relieved to see the dawn break.
About four days into the passage we had
some visitors. I heard the watch shouting
and climbed out from the narrow bunk where
I was sweating. On deck my crew mates were
watching a fishing boat that was intent on
catching us up though we had a stiff breeze
and were sailing well. As the Dhow got closer
to us my heart started pounding with nervous
anticipation. The crew were energetically waving and shouting,
their weather-beaten wrinkled faces and toothless grins appealing
to us frantically. The others seemed unfazed by our followers and
to my horror encouraged the fishermen. I quietly observed
proceedings as my fevered imagination gripped me. The scene
that unfolded was perfectly innocent. The fishermen implored us
for money. We obliged them with a crisp five-pound note and some
cigarettes, which was all we had, and in exchange they generously
threw us a substantial chunk of tuna, which we seized like hungry
dogs. We got by far the better deal, so I had actually had nothing
to fear after all and arrived in the Maldives a few days later none
the worse for wear. Had my fears been the product of an overzealous
media or was I right to feel vulnerable?
Another article that caught my eye recently was the account of
a pirate ordeal in the February issue of (the UK-based magazine)
Yachting Monthly. The drama started with a VHF call from a
Venezuelan fishing boat asking for assistance. The storyteller
changed his course to help before considering the possibility that
these “fishermen” could be pirates. No sooner had this idea been
hatched than the conclusion was reached that these were indeed
THE CREW REPORT 71