Departure delayed from El Gouna

Well, we have been delayed form our departure from El Gouna.

The “wind” got up…… Well it is true, it did.

And it blew red dust all over the boat which upset Marlene as she had spent a long time getting it all pristine and clean!

It blew at about 35 knots, gusting more, which Tony says it just what the boat needs ‘to really fly”.

 

So the Port Authority closed the port and prevented us from leaving.

But we had another delay.

Our navionics chip in the Raymarine navigation device has been stolen.

We discovered this during last minute checks on the boat systems.

This most likely happened while we were away and the key of the boat was with the Harbourmaster.

We had a meeting with the Port Authority, which is the Harbourmaster, and offered a reward! We are also trying to locate another one, which has its own problems, because to get anything sent to us it has to go through customs.

Tony claims that this is all for “Backsheesh”, and so far his experiences with customs seem to bear this out.

The other problem was that a local “driver” was caught trying to deliver some diesel to us from a fuel station, and this is illegal in Egypt. It turns out that even in this modern marina we have to get fuel sent in a fuel bowser from 30 kilometres away, and they are disinclined to do that for a 100 litres or so.

It was much easier for us to get fuel at our other “stops” in Egypt with the boat where the local taxi drivers did the service for us and the process is acceptable.

 

This delay gave me some time to communicate with the naval forces that are on patrol in the pirate High Risk Areas.

 

I will give some of the emails back and forth below.

Please skip if you find it boring.

 

 

I received this message via a friend from the commander of United States Naval Forces in Bahrain, who apparently co-ordinates and resists pirate activity.

 

        Unfortunately the resources that provide support for safe transit to commercial vessels do not afford the convoy/escort protection to recreational vessels.  This is due to the generally slower speeds they travel at which would slow the entire convoy.
        In fact there is a notice we developed in 2013 as a coop between EUNAVFOR, CMF, UKMTO, MARLO, and NATO Shipping Center that clearly states the activity from Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) and warns that all recreational vessels are sailing under their own risk: "Its conclusions are clear and incontrovertible - all sailing yachts under their own passage should remain out of the High Risk Area or face the risk of being attacked and pirated for ransom.."  To the best of my knowledge issues with regards to recreational vessels have not changed.  If you look at the latest PATS msg, it contains the contact info for the convoys in the area.  They may be able to provide updated information.

Please note all the acronyms. They prove that this is an American Communication.

My response to this was to my friend was:

I have been thinking about this reaction from the USN and I am not impressed.

What they are saying is that they are there to protect the commercial vessels and not the private individuals.

I am troubled by this because it is the individuals that pay their taxes to provide these naval people with their careers.

The commercial ships they are protecting are registered in places like Panama and Liberia and pay no taxes.

This is rather the same as the Police saying that they will only protect the passage of large trucks on the Highways of the world and that the private citizens can be swept aside and killed with out compunction.

I think this is a dangerous and ill conceived attitude.

As I said before, the naval forces should be delighted to have an opportunity to live up to their responsibilities and protect the people who keep them where they are.

On the other issue, I really admire the Somalis for protecting their fishing grounds.

They are the only people in Africa who have combated the rape and destruction wrought by the Israeli, Spanish, Japanese and Russian trawlers and seiners.

This is what I have written to the MSCHOA:

Good afternoon Antonio

Thank you for your response and concern regarding the piracy problems.

We have registered with MSCHOA and we will be complying with the times and routings as far as is possible with a sailing yacht under power.

We feel that it is important for people like us to exercise our right to navigate the oceans, and we do not wish to be intimidated by either terrorists or pirates. We all have experience of wars in Africa and we know what we are confronting. I hope that the "powers that be" will see us as an interesting "bait" to entice some activity, for which action can be taken.

We are an American registered yacht with a mix on board of British, Canadian, South African and French connections.

If something happens to us I am sure that one of these countries will see it as an opportunity to give their naval forces a reason to rise to their responsibilities.

Thank you to you and your team for working to keep the seas safe for navigators of the high seas.

Best

 

Chris

 

Perhaps the outcome will be that we are attacked by a drone from the USN Bahrain!

Let’s see if we can shoot it down with a crossbow.

After all, it wasn’t far from here that David slew Goliath.