Posted on 10/27/2009 10:38:45 AM PDT by KJC1
European Union Naval Forces spotted a yacht towing two smaller boats behind it Tuesday after Somali pirates claimed to have seized a British couple and their boat in the Indian Ocean during their round-the-world voyage. The couple have been missing for four days.
Commander John Harper told Sky News a yacht resembling the 38-foot craft had been spotted by a European Union Naval Force Somalia helicopter.
He said that the boat they had found was about where they might have expected the hijacked yacht to be by this point.
He added that although it was too dark to make out the name on the side of the boat, the fact that it was towing two skiffs behind it made them suspicious.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Can somebody explain to me why a sixty something couple would sail a boat off the coast of Somalia...maybe someone can explain this too me.
The article says they were sailing around the world. I think to do that, you have to pass by Somalia sooner or later.
It's best to travel in groups, and to be armed. Brits don't have guns and are sitting ducks.
Unless you are going to round the Cape of Good Hope and catch the Antartic Circumpolar - 40 days at sea - you pretty much have to sail by Somalia. It's costal, circumpolar or beat to weather in the south equitorial. So, like sharks, the pirates congregate in the most opportune waters.
Not to mention that most of them are really nice people with bad teeth who are really good at fore-play but not the actual act!
Time for target practice again.
The Seychelles Islands lie about one thousand miles off the coast of Africa and a little bit south of the Equator. The land is made of granite on the inner islands, and the outer islands are made of coral that sticks above the water line, which is called atolls. The inner granite islands of the Seychelles are the tips of a giant plateau under the water, which broke off from the African continent when the plates shifted millions and millions of years ago.
The Amirantes are the largest of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, and lie south of Mahe. The main island of the Amirantes is Desroches. Desroches is really accessible only to guests of the Desroches Island Resort, which is a first-class luxury establishment.
http://www.seychelles-s.info/seychelles-map.php
Ouch! Well what do you expect, no gun, no shooting.
Was wondering the same thing, damn place sure isn’t a tourist attraction.
Now SAS can have a go at it.
It’s a 38ft sloop. Pictures and record of their travels are linked in the article. Kindof interesting reading.
Not the ship in the foreground, carrying Oto-Melara 76mm and NATO Seasparrow box launcher SAM instead of the Type 22's Mk8 4.5" and Seawolf launcher.
It's the Deutsche Marine Karlsruhe
The ship in the background isn't a Type 22 either with that prominent AirSearch radar aft.
Thanks!!!!
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