somali pirates hijack Americans' yacht

[Lady Cop]

Just Breaking....waiting for more.

Somali Pirates Seize Danish Yacht With 7 Aboard, Including 3 Children

[BlueTiki]

Better yet, don't sail to shit hole places on your YACHT. No different learning not to touch a hot iron or a burner on a stove.

Pacifist.

Errr . . . . coward.

[Gogo]

Not to knock the deceased, but distributing Bibles in a what for all intent and purposes may be best described as a war zone populated by muslims ...where is the logic in this?

DHL ships world wide. It isn't a secret that those waters are full of risk.

Oh well, pearly gates and all that religious stuff.

[Lady Cop]

the pirates should have been summarily executed on the spot.

NAIROBI, Kenya – The head of a private security company says his guards retook a yacht from Somali pirates after the Dutch couple on board locked themselves in a safe room.

Thomas Jakobsson of Naval Guards said Thursday that six of his guards were accompanying the Capricorn yacht on a separate motorboat. Six armed pirates were able to get aboard the Capricorn but the Dutch couple barricaded themselves in the boat.

Jakobsson says his men had a brief exchange of fire with the pirates before retaking the Capricorn with no casualties on either side.

[Cynical Ninja]

These Somalian pirates don't sound as cool as Jack Sparrow do they?

Gogo has got a point about staying the fuck away from these dangerous places.

Next time take a stack AK47's instead of useless bibles.

[shitstorm]

http://www.sify.com/finance/yachts-shun-...ifcid.html

The first time John Rodriguez tried to sail around the world a hurricane sunk his boat. His second attempt failed because of a scourge bedeviling mariners in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden: pirates.

Rodriguez is among thousands of sailors who once steered their yachts across the warm Indian Ocean without a second thought, but are now rerouting, hiring replacement crews, packing their boats aboard cargo ships and contracting armed guards, or canceling their dream voyages altogether.

With Somali pirates seizing vessels and killing hostages in an area as vast as the continental United States, boatyards, restaurants and other establishments among the yachters' routes have seen business fall, with some of their customer base scared off.

Rodriguez, a 44-year-old Briton, sailed from his homeland to Florida with his wife and two children. But the family didn't push on through the Panama Canal. They knew their around-the-world route would eventually take them past waters infested by Somali pirates, who in 2009 kidnapped a British yachting couple, the Chandlers, near the Seychelles and held them for 388 days under often brutal conditions.

"We bought our charts the day before the Chandlers got taken," Rodriguez said. "Three months of angst followed while we tried to decide what to do ... it's an enormous effort to do a trip like that and you don't get the opportunity very often."

Somali pirates killed four American yachters last month and kidnapped a Danish family aboard their 43-foot sailboat last week. A South African couple taken off their sailboat in October are still being held.

The European Union Naval Force has done its best to warn yachters of the danger, said spokesman Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy. But from their blog posts, it appeared the Danes felt safe enough because of the presence of warships on antipiracy patrol in the area.

"The latest attacks have certainly changed the game completely," said Paul Gelder, the editor of Yachting Monthly.

In posts on the magazine's web site forum Scuttlebutt, worried sailors discuss canceled or rerouted plans and trade frightening stories of witnessing attacks.

Yachts trying to sail from Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal face tough choices. They can't sail in the other direction because the winds aren't right. Bigger yachts can go around the southern tip of Africa, but the Cape of Good Hope is notorious for storms and shipwrecks.

For those who live aboard their boats and want to get home, few choices remain: shell out big money to ship home their yacht or hire guards — or run the Somali gauntlet.

Over the past six months, Peters & May Ltd., a company that specializes in shipping boats and yachts, has seen a roughly 300 percent increase in inquiries from captains interested in shipping their vessels rather than risking going through pirate-infested waters, said managing director Angus Bruce Jones.

Another option is to use a company like Naval Guards, a private security outfit based in Britain whose guards escort vessels on speedboats. They sent their first of three boats to the region in September, and are now working at full capacity, said chief of operations Thomas Jakobsson.

On Wednesday, six Naval Guards employees fought off six pirates who had attacked and boarded the Capricorn, a yacht crewed by a Dutch couple, Jakobsson said.

But some yacht owners can't or won't pay for expensive shipping or guards. Instead, they might hire a crew to take the risk for them, said Mat Sandys-Winsch of Direct Yacht Deliveries. His company used to sail three or four yachts a year through the Indian Ocean to deliver to owners who would meet them in the Mediterranean. But since Christmas, the company has suspended sailing between India and the Suez Canal because of pirates.

"The attacks had spread north to the Omani coast. They had basically blocked off the route we were taking," he said, adding that many in the yachting community don't take pirates seriously enough.

"The feeling is that it is a big wide ocean and no one can touch you," Sandys-Winsch said. "That's not true,"

Rene Tiemessem, who is organizing a rally from Thailand to Turkey, said the people on his convoy through the Indian Ocean live on their yachts and don't have the spare cash for guards or shipping.

He's asked for an escort from the international warships fighting piracy off East Africa. But the only vessels who get those are the ones delivering food aid to war-ravaged Somalia, whose lawless shores are dotted with pirate camps. Navies say they are too thinly stretched already to start escorting everyone.

"There's no alternative for us" than to sail this route, he said. "People feel abandoned."

With many yachtsmen abandoning the region altogether, industries dependent on the routes are being devastated.

At Kilifi Boatyard in Kenya, Peter Bateman has laid off half his permanent staff. Ten years ago, they'd see more than a dozen yachts come in needing repairs, paint and other work. This year, not one. Out of 20 yachts considering coming here from the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean this year, he said, 17 had turned around and gone back to Asia and three had gone around South Africa.

The tiny island nation of the Seychelles, a favorite with yachters, has seen tourism revenue drop by 15 percent, while fisheries, shipping and fuel sales to boats are all down by 30 percent or more, its Foreign Ministry said.

Blue Water Rallies, which organized the sailing rally attended by the four Americans before they peeled off and were captured and executed as American warships trailed the seized yacht, has canceled its next rally because of the poor economic climate and fears over pirate attacks, said Blue Water director Richard Bolt, who knew the four Americans.

As the hotels, restaurants and businesses among the yachters' sun-drenched route scan the empty waves expectantly, Rodriguez and his family are back in chilly, overcast England. Abandoning their dream journey was an awful decision, he said, and he was full of regret.

But with every day that passes, and every new attack, he sees that there are many things worse than regret.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s...88&t=h&z=2


If you check out the map, you can see that even in that big ocean, the closer you get to the Red Sea, on the way to the Suez, you get bottle necked near Somalia. I guess the waters going the long way, around the southern tip of Africa, are really treacherous, so the ONLY other way to sail around the world is this way. These fucking pirates have now brought sailing around the world to a near halt.

[shitstorm]

In memory of Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle

http://www.facebook.com/pages/In-memory-...3620305197

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKECdvtsTH4

[Lady Cop]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A Somali pirate warned Friday that a Danish family now being held in captivity on land will be killed if any more rescue attempts are made for the seven hostages.

The warning follows a botched rescue attempt Thursday by government forces from the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland.

"We know they are still in the process of trying to attack us again, but I am telling them that will cost the lives of the Danish people," a self-proclaimed pirate, Bile Hussein, told The Associated Press.

The Thursday raid by Puntland security turned deadly after the would-be rescuers walked into an ambush. Armed forces tried to surround the village of Hul Anod to free the family but were beaten back before. Hussein said Friday that five security forces and two pirates died in the exchange.

Puntland government officials didn't answer calls seeking comment.

The botched rescue attempt comes about two weeks after pirates killed four captive Americans held on their yacht off East Africa. Four U.S. warships were following the hijacked yacht at the time.

Pirates typically demand and receive millions of dollars to release hijacked boats and captured crews. Some of that money is then reinvested in heavy weapons.

Frans Barnard, an independent security consultant who was himself kidnapped and held briefly in Somalia last year, said the pirates holding the Danish family are not as experienced as some older pirate gangs, a fact that could increase the danger the family finds itself in.

Bernard said the risks associated with the Thursday rescue attempt by the Puntland forces were "phenomenal."

The Johansens, their three children and two crew members were kidnapped two weeks ago after pirates seized their 43-foot (13-meter) sailboat.

Maritime experts said the Johansens had placed themselves in grave danger off Somalia's lawless coast despite warnings from naval forces struggling to police the area against pirates.

[Midwest Spy]

The Johansens, their three children and two crew members were kidnapped two weeks ago after pirates seized their 43-foot (13-meter) sailboat.

Maritime experts said the Johansens had placed themselves in grave danger off Somalia's lawless coast despite warnings from naval forces struggling to police the area against pirates.[/b]

Here's the thing: Why in the world would you take your CHILDREN into a potentially deadly enviroment? Holy shit! What a stupid fucker. Now, mom and dad have to watch as their children are potentially tortured, raped and/or murdered. What total assclowns.

This is not meant to dismiss what I feel about these 'pirates'. Fucking animals. I don't understand why we can't put a few ships 4-5 miles off shore of their supposed lairs and pummel them from the sea. Why aren't we sinking ANY of their boats/ships ANY time we see one? Or are we?

What an entirely fucked up situation all the way around.

[Cynical Ninja]

Taking kids into a dangerous environment like that is criminally irresponsible.

[Duchess]

This is not meant to dismiss what I feel about these 'pirates'. Fucking animals. I don't understand why we can't put a few ships 4-5 miles off shore of their supposed lairs and pummel them from the sea. Why aren't we sinking ANY of their boats/ships ANY time we see one? Or are we?

I don't think we should have to go in & save people who are too stupid to live. *shrugs*

[Midwest Spy]

This is not meant to dismiss what I feel about these 'pirates'. Fucking animals. I don't understand why we can't put a few ships 4-5 miles off shore of their supposed lairs and pummel them from the sea. Why aren't we sinking ANY of their boats/ships ANY time we see one? Or are we?

I don't think we should have to go in & save people who are too stupid to live. *shrugs*

I agree with you about saving the morons who put themselves at risk in pirate-infested waters. I DO, however, have a problem with the fact that 'pirates' in this day and age, are roaming our seas, randomly hijacking vessels. Do you not have a problem with that?

My reference to shelling their hideouts was made because they are the scourge of the earth. They are now, clearly, willing to kill their hostages if their demands are not met. Why is this allowed to continue? The U.S., U.K., South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, etc., all have the military means to put an end to this.

I'm only asking, "What are we/all of us, waiting for?"

[Duchess]

I DO, however, have a problem with the fact that 'pirates' in this day and age, are roaming our seas, randomly hijacking vessels. Do you not have a problem with that?

Why would I have a problem with that? It doesn't concern me. I don't have sympathy for those that don't take precautions in a dangerous place. If they, whoever they is, wants to blow the pirates out of the water that's fine, if they don't that's fine too. I protect my interests.

[Midwest Spy]

Why would I have a problem with that? It doesn't concern me.

You don't have a problem with the fact that there are pirates roaming the seas, hijacking vessels and taking/killing hostages? That, in itself, does not bother you?

You know they've hijacked merchant vessels as well, right? Not just civilians, albeit moronic ones, that are unarmed, easy targets.

[Duchess]

Then kill them. Holy fuck. I. Don't. Care. You present that like it's my problem, it's not. It will never touch my life. If families are sailing there, they are too stupid to live. If companies are not protecting themselves & their interests in that area then they probably deserve what they get. What's so hard to understand about that. Take precautions or don't sail there.

[Duchess]

Look, I'm not a total bitch but people are so fucking stupid, sometimes I can't stand it.

[Midwest Spy]

Then kill them. Holy fuck. I. Don't. Care. You present that like it's my problem, it's not. It will never touch my life. If families are sailing there, they are too stupid to live. If companies are not protecting themselves & their interests in that area then they probably deserve what they get. What's so hard to understand about that. Take precautions or don't sail there.

Cool. I guess you and I shall have differing views of this. No sweat. I would actively choose to eradicate 'evil' in this world, and you, as long as it doesn't affect you, are okay with it. As I said, no problem.

[Duchess]

What part of "kill them" didn't you understand?

[Duchess]

Actually, I was right with the first comment I made. If one is stupid enough not to take precautions, one deserves what they get. It's not like this is hidden, the whole world knows what is going on there. I am fed up with people who count on others to step in & make things right when they were too fuckin' stupid to use their own head. I don't blame you or anyone else when I make dumb decisions or choices.

[Midwest Spy]

What part of "kill them" didn't you understand?

I'm not gonna beat this dead horse any more. I get it, you're indifferent on this subject. I did, however, say in my first post on this topic, that the dad who brought his kids into this situation was a fucking moron. I agree with you there.

I just can't get over the fact that in 2011 there are still PIRATES that hijack vessels and take/kill hostages in international waters. It's not like these people are sailing along the coastline of Somalia looking for a photo op with the fucking Piratas.

There also is a military presence in that area. I don't understand with all of the radar, airplanes and other technology, that no one can seem to catch/kill these motherfuckers.

I'm done.