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 risking allin Pirate AlleyCOLIN FREEMAN

Chief ForeignCorrespondent

N A V A L C O M M A N D E R S haveaccused British sailors ofputting themselves at needlessrisk of kidnap by organisingconvoys through the pirate-infested Gulf of A den.

Undeterredby the abductionof Paul and Rachel Chandlerlast year, the convoys sail information through "PirateA lley", supposedly providingsafety in numbers.

The perilous five-day, 650-mile journey between theIndian Ocean and the Red Seasaves a detour of thousands of

milesvia SouthA frica for yachtsheading to the Mediterraneanand also offers the ultimate taleto tell back in the clubhouse.

Bu t it has alarmed com-manders in the internationalanti-piracy force, who say theunarmed convoys are sittingducks for the pirate gangs.

We watched

with dread asa large rusty

boat revealeditself in the mist

Officers from European UnionN aval Force Somalia spelt outtheir concerns to yachtsmen ata meeting last week atN orthwood, the Nato headquar-ters near London.

They said that, unlike com-mercial ships, which are bigger,faster and harder for pirates to

board, yachts are particularlyvulnerable.The meeting came in the

week that Mr and Mrs Chan-dler, who were snatched enroute from the Seychelles toTanzania, marked their first fullyear in captivity.

"This area poses an extremelyhigh risk to shipping, and aneven higher risk to yachts spe-cifically, as I think is obviousfrom the kidnap of the Chan-dlers last year," said SimonChurch, industry liaison officerfor the Horn of Africa MaritimeSecurity Centre. "Yachters do of

course have the freedom to gowherever they like,bu t our pref-

erence would be that they gosomewhere else."

Th e anti-piracy force's stance

is at odds with convoy sailorswho are upset that the navalships are not willing to givethem an escort "I do not seewh y they are mandated to pro-tect commercial vessels, but notthe taxpaying yachtsman," saidTom Sampson, a retired RAFofficer, who writes in the latestedition of Yacht ing Monthlyabouthisroleorganising a con-voy last spring.

M r Sampson, who sails withhis girlfriend Nicolette Knoop,supervised a convoy of 27 yachtsfrom 17 nations, whose crews

included women and an elderlycouple.Before setting off from the

port of Salalah in Oman, hedrilled them in techniques forformation sailing in groups ofsix. All participants had to beable to complete the journeywithout refuelling andwere toldto keep lighting and radio useto a minimum.

He admitted that some in theconvoy found the journey fright-ening. At one point, sailors lis-tened anxiously to the radio asreports came in of piratesattacking a commercial vessel

just 30 miles away.In another account of the

journey given in last month'sCruising World, one yachtsmanwrote: "We watched with dreadas a large, rusty fishing boatslowly revealed itself in themorning mist... it wasexactlywhat we hoped to never see."

He described the panic whena skiff set off from the fishingvessel and headed for one yachtat high speed, scattering theconvoy immediately. It turnedout to be a group of fishermenbegging for cigarettes.

Critics believe itwas as muchby luck as judgment that disas-ter did not strike.

"There is no safe place any-where in the Gulf of A den," saidone kidnap andransom expertBut, despite the warnings, moreconvoys are expected to goahead next year.

Alan Green, the chairman ofthe International Yachting Fed-eration's regulations commis-sion, remained unapologetic."Fortunately, people still havethe freedom to sail where theywant, and the only people whowill stop them going through

the Gulf of Aden are the piratesthemselves."

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