Sailing Oman to Yemen “Pirate Alley”

February 26, 2004 Salalah, Oman to Aden, Yemen “Pirate Alley”

Most of the world, and us included, don’t even know where these two fairly large countries are. We are getting a real geography lesson! Oman and Yemen are on the south side of the ‘lump’ north east of Africa we think of Saudi Arabia. They are two very different countries – from our perspective, one rich and one very poor. Check it out on your atlas, or our ‘maps’ feature in this website. This is “Free Radical” at anchor in Oman
The Gulf of Aden, which is the southern entrance of the Red Sea is known by the cruising community as having a very real threat of piracy to mom and pop cruiser. We think the word has gotten out that we rich “yachties” are easy marks. Most of us are unarmed and provide no resistance to robbery. “To them we are rich and can certainly afford to share the wealth. Most of us are forced tocarry thousands of dollars to get up the Red Sea since there are no ATM’s on the way.
This, of all our passages, was the one we looked forward to with the most apprehension. The rumor mill was full of reports of what has happened in the past, and full of advice on how to avoid piracy on the high seas. Here’s what happened to us:
February 20th was a busy day trying to get “Free Radical” organized for the 616 mile run down to Aden. We walked up to the “Oasis Club” to use their computer to upload our last minute update to the web site. On return we busied ourselves hiding all our valuables from the pirates in various difficult-to-get-to locations.
We split our money into four separate bundles and hid all but one. If they took my wallet they would get $100 US. If pushed we would cough up another $50 wrapped around a big wad of Indonesian money (worth nothing) hidden in our fairly obvious “secret stash”. Our real money we hid in the woodwork around our chain plates and inside a zipper in the dodger. It is interesting to look around your boat and think like a criminal! Where oh where to hide the stuff!!!
In easily found spots, we ‘hid’ all of our useless electronics, long dead from the salt-water environment. This included a cheap pair of binoculars, a dead lap top computer, dead video camera etc., etc. We were sorry we didn’t save our old drowned GPS. We heard the hot items for theft were binoculars and GPS’s (the better to hit up more rich yachties in the future!). We hid all the good stuff in a waterproof bag buried behind all the junk in the steering compartment under the cockpit floor. It took a long time just to move all the junk to hide the stuff! We emptied a hiding spot for our Ham Radio, good binoculars, GPS, and hand held VHF Radio in behind the stove. This area could be accessed quickly, as all this stuff was needed to navigate the boat! All the boats in the anchorage felt the stress. It was awful. There would be a lucky 14 boats departing Saturday. Safety in numbers? It would be a big convoy! Our group of 6 boats left a few days later. The time was right. According to sage advice of past years, it was the ideal time to cross the ‘danger zone’. The best time to move was during the week (as opposed to a weekend) on a new moon (so they couldn’t see us because we would be running without lights).
After hiding our valuables I dove on the prop and cleaned the barnacles off for the extra speed and efficiency. Julie got our paperwork sorted out to give to our Eddie Murphy look alike cruiser friend Mohammed.
For no charge, he was going to get all the boats cleared out that day for departure on the 21st. What a guy. We spent the last of our local currency on chicken & rice meal and cans of coca cola at the local restaurant in the port.
Mohammed returned to the dock from customs & immigration at 7P.M. that night with everyone’s clearance except one. Guess who? It appeared to customs that our original arrival document was a photocopy, and therefore no good! They gave us that form but would not accept it for clearance. Mohammed said it would be fixed the next morning and it was. It turned out one of the officials had been lazy and he was the one who photocopied the form to make his job easier. The whole mess delayed our departure by three hours from port but would cost us another night at sea. As the Aussies would say – “Buggah!!”
Day 1
Something was wrong with this passage right from the start. About 5 miles out we caught a fish trap. Luckily as Julie was frantically calling out “Line! Line!” and hyperventilating, I slipped the engine into neutral, stopping the drive shaft. This avoiding having the rope wrapped around the prop and yours truly having to dive down there to free things up. We maneuvered around for a few minutes until the rope finally slipped away and we were off again. No Wind so we motored. Julie made Pizza for supper.
Day 2
Found us making good speed considering we were motoring with no wind. We had loaded extra fuel on deck just for this so we were well prepared. Because of the mess with our paper work we started at the back of the pack. Timing was critical. We had agreed, at a cruiser meeting before leaving Salalah, that we would sail at our own best speeds to a secret rendezvous waypoint, and meet at sunset. In addition, we met every 6 hours on a secret channel on the radio to update each other on our positions. We would form convoys at the secret waypoint, and proceed together through the worst of the pirate area. In the past, these pirate attacks occurred usually within a sixty-mile stretch of water, most of them in the early morning, and on weekends (ours, not Muslim weekends). The strategy was to reach the bad area at dark, on a weekday, with no moon. The perfect time for us was to reach that area the next day at sunset, so we had to slow way down. Timing… it was tough, really tough. You were constantly trying to figure out your average speed and miles to go and time your arrival.
On the radio net that morning, Don on “Honeymoon” reported ahead of us that he had aggressive fishermen try to board him. They were after booze & cigarettes. He used some good old “Nasty” Australian cuss words on them, but he said they were persistent. They finally took off after receiving nothing, but Don was still fuming when he called us on the radio to warn the fleet. We sailed that night in company with “Solara”, “Revision II”, & “Klondike”.
We were actually chilly that night – the days are hot here but at night we found we needed sweatshirts and blankets on the bed! The phosphorescence in the water was the brightest we have ever seen – and sometimes a very weird patch of green glow would drift around and under the boat – it looked like something was surfacing from underneath! So bright it lit up the sails. It was spooky looking.

Day 3
Sailing slow the next day was not a happy thing after burning all that diesel the day before because we were going so fast. “Destiny” & “Honeymoon” were ahead of our group and would enter the danger area that night. Our group would enter the next night. At sunset things got worse. We heard “Klondike here – we have an emergency, emergency!!!” In the pitch dark, a very aggressive boat was chasing “Klondike” who were ahead of us by 12 miles. In a fairly short time, they outran it at 7.5 knots. We all listened intently on our secret VHF channel as they reported everything as it happened. We felt helpless, and now everyone was scared. We knew the bad guys were in the area.
At 10:30 PM it happened again. This time the boat much more aggressive. This boat was larger, faster and diesel powered, maybe even equipped with radar. Poor Klondike ran in front of it for 2 hours at over 8 knots in the pitch black. When they turned the pirate turned with them (radar?). They couldn’t shake the attacker. All this time Katie was on the VHF and SSB radios reporting to the fleet their situation. After calling a MayDay several times, Don finally sent up two parachute flares, which we could all see clearly. “Solara” called the Australian piracy center on his satellite phone. They in turn called the piracy center in Malaysia. In short there had been no support for “Klondike” immediately from any and all the May Days issued by them or our little fleet. It was dark and dangerous.
Finally the “Bad Guys” gave up the chase and broke off the attack. We were all relieved but very nervous now. “Klondike” joined up with “Blackwattle” that evening, and they in turn joined up with our group the next day…We were now 5 in our little convoy. We all stuck together in a little flock, shining no lights and watching each other on the radar.

Day 4
Started with all five boats in sight of each other. No way were we going to separate. If you can imagine, we were still supposed to be in the ‘safe area’ and had not even hit the bad spot yet! It was with a sense of doom that we all slow sailed to the start of the pirate area.
Just when we felt we were all alone, and all was negative, a coalition war helicopter over flew us. Wow! They radioed every boat, took vessel information and said they were there to protect us. “Solara’s” phone call had really got the ball moving. Not long after that a huge grey coalition war ship arrived.
It was thrilling to know the big guns were in town. We were all excited and optimistic. They launched an inflatable and boarded “Klondike” to get all the details of the chase incident.
They wanted to find out what else they could do to help the yachts transiting the area. The crew on the coalition ship were Spanish Navy, and before they left they gave us all a bottle of wine to make us feel better (it did).

They said they would provide us an escort through to Aden and asked about the yachts behind us. During all this, we did not get a single photo or inch of film – we had hid our cameras so deep that it would take too long to dig them out! Thankfully, the photos here are courtesy of “Revision II”.As the sun was getting low over the yardarm, we all sailed away wing on wing very satisfied with ourselves…..But the wind was just not enough, and we had to start the motor again. An hour or so before sunset, the convoy wanted a meeting on how we were going to arrange to sail in convoy – and because Julie is a Net Controller for our Red Sea Net this year, they looked to her to facilitate the meeting. We discussed over the VHF secret channel whether to run lights (no), what formation (arrowhead chevron pattern), who would be the lead boat (Klondike), and how far apart we would sail (1/2 mile). Sounds easy, but getting agreement among 10 very strong and opinionated, mature sailors used to fending for themselves is quite a feat!

Julie went to bed. We got the team formation in place, just like the fighter pilots do. There was some refereeing to be done by the squadron leader but finally everyone was in place and reasonably happy. It was not easy. In fact I think it was the hardest thing all 5 boats have ever had to do. It was tense, and surprisingly difficult to keep to the V formation, requiring a lot of concentration and effort. Each boat had to keep formation, not run into the boat ahead of them, and watch for bad guys. Everyone blacked out the boat, meaning covering all instruments and any little lights in the boat or cockpit and using flashlights very sparingly.
However at 5AM, still in the pitch dark, Nancy on “Blackwattle” came on the VHF and said “I just woke up and came on watch, and I would like to congratulate all of you on your perfect V” – that made it less serious, and brought a smile to our faces.
Day 5
We broke formation and sailed in a loose group within close sight of each other, all relieved to be out of the convoy formation. We were all excited to be through the bad area and there was much happy chatting on VHF 68. We caught a nice big mahi mahi to share with the guys in the anchorage at Aden. “Solara” and “Blackwattle” broke away and changed course for Massawa, up the Red Sea, and the others – ourselves, “Klondike” and “Revision II” – headed for Aden. It was much easier keeping each other on radar with only 3 boats in the convoy, and the day and night passed without incident.
The Coalition Warship visited us again, and had a chat with “Klondike” on the VHF, wishing us well and continued on their patrols.
Day 6
By morning, we were only 50 miles from Aden, having had good favorable current all the previous afternoon and night of 1.5 knots. We were still within sight of “Klondike” and “Revision II”, and we made our way to Aden.
We entered the harbour without incident except for a bit of confusion when we passed the break wall – lost our bearings a little – with Revision II following us. The harbour master was calling out instructions for us on VHF 16. As we entered the inner harbour I guess we got too close to the jetty and once again the harbormaster called out for us NOT to approach the jetty.
Finally we found our “happy anchoring spot” and got ready to drop the hook…..only the windlass’s down button refused to work at the critical moment. A Chinese fire drill ensued with a little rushing around to get the winch handle to manually release the chain. After a little discussion, we pulled the chain up again (the UP button was working!) and moved slightly ahead to stay away from our neighbors. At least now I have something to fix – I was beginning to wonder what I was going to do when we got to Aden!
We got the dinghy down right away and took out papers to shore and cleared in. We then visited all our buddies who were here. “Honeymoon” invited us for dinner. Thankfully, Agnes had offered to cook up the fish we had caught, and we had a delicious treat of fish and chips aboard their boat while we exchanged lies.
We dropped into our bunks in our perfectly calm anchorage, glad we were still not “out there” and happy to have made it through the pirate zone!!
The adventure continues……

P.S.
One day after we completed this log entry the French Yacht “Notre Dame” a steel ketch was boarded by pirates with automatic weapons and knives.
They were robbed of their camera, binoculars, and various other items…. all the facts are not available. No one was hurt and they arrived at this anchorage last night 2/29/04

A year after our adventure in Pirate Alley our friends Rod and Rebecca Nowlin on “Mahdi” Jay Barry on “Gandalf” had a much more difficult time on their passage. There was just the two boats making the passage. We had spent time with them in Singapore, Malaysia and Thialand.
This is their story….
—————————–
On 8 March 2005, two sailing yachts, Mahdi & Gandalf, were moving SW 30 miles off the coast of Yemen proceeding to the port of Aden from Salalah, Oman.

The Crew of Mahdi.. not to be trifled with
At about 0900 two outboard powered boats, about 25 feet long with 3 men
in each one, passed off our stern moving south at about 25 knots. An
hour or two later they returned, one coming quite close and looking us
over carefully. The second boat passed our bows but quite a ways away.
These boats were obviously not engaged in a normal activity such as
fishing, etc. At that time we were south of Al Mukalla, Yemen. The
area around Al Mukalla is well documented as being a piracy problem area
and we started watching carefully for anything out of the ordinary.

Our position was 13 degrees 28 North 48 degrees 07 East.

At about 1600 we observed two different boats approaching us head on
from the SW. These boats were 25-30 feet long, had higher freeboard and
diesel powered. They were coming very fast directly at us. There were 4
men in each boat. The boats separated at about 200 yards, one boat
ahead of the other, coming down Mahdi’s port side and firing into the
cockpit. The other boat was firing an automatic weapon at both Gandalf
and Mahdi from ahead, more at Gandalf. These guys were shooting
directly at the cockpits, and obviously intended to kill us. The first
boat swung around behind Mahdi’s stern to come up and board us. At that
point I, Rod Nowlin aboard Mahdi and armed with a 12 gage shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot, started shooting into their boat. I forced them to
keep their heads down so that they could not shoot at us. I am not sure
I hit anyone at that point although I could see the driver of the boat
crouched down behind a steering console. After firing 3 shots at them
their engine started to smoke and I swung around to shoot at the boat
ahead. At that point, I saw Jay Barry on Gandalf ram that boat
amidships almost cutting it in two and turning it almost completely
over. I turned back around to shoot again at the boat behind Mahdi and
that is when they turned away from Mahdi and were heading toward the
stern of Gandalf. Gandalf was beside us, about 100 feet away. The bow
of the pirate’s boat came right up against Gandalf’s stern and two men
stood up on the bow to board Gandalf. That was a serious and probably
fateful error on their part. I shot both of them. That boat then
veered away and I shot the driver, although I am not sure of the outcome
because they were farther away and I did not knock him down like the
other two.
Mahdi and Gandalf kept going at full speed to put as much distance
between the pirates and us as possible. As soon as we were out of rifle
range we looked back and both boats were drifting and appeared to be
disabled.

If Jay on Gandalf had not had the presence of mind to veer over into one
boat and ram it, the outcome of this attack would have been totally
different. All they needed to do was stand off a ways and shoot us to
pieces with automatic weapons. We were extremely lucky. We broadcast
Mayday calls on all VHF and HF radio frequencies, including two HF
emergency frequencies supplied by the US Coast Guard a few days before.
The Coalition Forces in the area were supposed to be monitoring these
frequencies. There was no response except from a commercial ship in the
area on VHF 16 who approached and observed the disabled pirates for a
bit, then sailed along side of us for 2-4 hours until dark to make sure
we would be all right.

The pirates were well organized and well armed. There were at least 4
boats involved. They had set up a picket line out from the Yemen coast
probably at least for 50-75 miles, so if you transited the area during
the day they wouldn’t miss you. The two boats that attacked us appeared
to have come from the south.

There has been speculation in the past that this ongoing piracy problem
off the Yemen coast was being carried out by Somali pirates. Given the
number, type of boats involved, and the direction the spotter boats came
from, this does not appear to be correct in this case. This problem is
getting worse and the pirate attacks are getting deadly. One could only
expect that the Yemen Government will take more direct action. At the
very least, allow yachts to group in Salalah, Oman and at some point on
the NW Yemen coast to request an escort along the Yemen coast.

Rodney J. Nowlin, USN Retired March 11, 2005
S/V Mahdi
Jay Barry
S/V Gandalf

April 21, 2005
Abu Tig Marina
El Gouna, Egypt

Addendum to Official Report of Attack on the Sailing Yachts Gandalf &
Mahdi

The attack on Gandalf and Mahdi, which occurred on 8 March 2005 in the
Gulf of Aden was perpetrated by pirates (?) or terrorists (?). They did not act
like normal pirates (how do normal pirates act?). They were certainly
trying to kill us from the outset. There is a very real possibility
that it was an attempted hostage situation, especially if advance
information was sent from Salalah, Oman that 4 US boats had departed for
Aden, Yemen. The 2 slower boats were 20-30 miles behind us at the time
of the attack. The real motivation for the attack will probably never
be known. You would like to think that it is possible to transit the
area at night, but the area of reported attacks is too large. You make
your decisions based on circumstances at the time and live with them.
We have had a lot of feedback concerning the attack from various
sources. Most of it supportive, but also some from armchair pundits
uttering stupid and ignorant comments and questions. “Walk in our
shoes”! The whole episode was very traumatic and we will not respond to
any of those. Read the attached report.
We have been in contact with Commander Webber, USN at 5th Fleet
Headquarters in Bahrain concerning the attack. He seems to think that a
commitment to provide an escort for yachts grouping in Salalah, Oman and
requesting an escort is possible, but there will have to be some
pressure applied from higher sources (“political”?) or it probably won’t
happen. Let’s not attempt to put all of the pressure on the US Navy.
There are yachts from numerous nations affected. The international
yachting community has the capability of applying some pressure to their
governments to follow up on this (please do so).

As far as we can determine that at the time of the attack the US Navy
and the British Navy were patrolling the Arabian Sea and points north.
The German, French and possibly Italians were in the Gulf of Aden. One
of the yachts with us was stopped in the Arabian Sea, SE of Oman by the
US Coast Guard for a “safety inspection”. They asked the Coast Guard
for emergency HF radio frequencies that the coalition forces would be
monitoring and were supplied with two frequencies. We tried calling on
these frequencies over the next several days. It turned out that they
were fictitious, and no one was listening. One was actually a broadcast
station. All of us tried contacting coalition vessels by VHF radio to
clarify the frequencies but no one would ever respond.

At the time of the attack we broadcast Mayday calls on all known VHF and
HF radio frequencies. The only response was from a commercial vessel
(see report). This vessel sent out reports via satellite. The next
morning a German warship was close by and we were able to report the
incident to them. This was 12 hours after the attack and they hadn’t
heard anything about it. When we arrived in Aden we gave the Yemen
Officials the report and had a long talk with the Yemeni Coast Guard
commanders. They are just getting organized and do not presently have
the capability to actually patrol the Yemen coast. They stated that a
lot of the Yemen coastal areas are tribal and the central government
doesn’t have any control at all. They also warned us to be careful of
retaliation by the families of the bad guys. We then contacted the
authorities in Djibouti to voice our concerns about retaliation and
requested that they keep an eye on us between Aden and the entrance to
the Red Sea. They assured us that they would inform the naval
authorities so that they could provide assistance. We did manage to
contact a French warship outside of Aden when we left there. They had
no information about our request for assistance and if you can believe
this, didn’t even know about the attack 8 days before in their patrol
area! They did consent to watch over us until we made the entrance to
the Red Sea, where we stayed on the west side going north. No sense in
tempting fate twice.

Gandalf was struck by bullets about 14 times. Mahdi was struck 3 times.
Fortunately none penetrated the hulls and no one on either boat was
wounded. Thank goodness for steel boats!

Conclusion:
Emergency HF radio frequencies, like 2182 MHz, no longer exist in most
of the world. No one is listening. Any request for immediate
assistance will probably come from a commercial vessel in the vicinity,
but commercial vessels are not capable of effectively dealing with
attacks of this type. At the most they might scare the attackers off.
These attacks happen so quickly that unless you had an actual escort in
the immediate vicinity getting help quickly will not happen. The
“Coalition Forces” out here are a myth. It appears that there is no
central authority i.e. no one in charge. The right hand does not know
what the left one is doing and most certainly there is no communication
between them.
You are on your own out here and you had better be prepared to stand on
your own two feet.

S/Y Mahdi
Rod Nowlin, USN Retired
Rebecca Nowlin
Jamee Nowlin
>From Clinton, WA USA