Posted on 08/25/2006 6:20:48 AM PDT by Marius3188
Aaaaargh! Glad ye posted that, Mate! I almost overlooked the date.
Time flys when yer havin' rum.
I remember a tale about a boat that was found deserted. It was thought that the guests and crew all went for a swim, without a rope ladder or other such device so that they could climb back on board, thus they all drowned. A huge mental blunder.
Keep in mind, this might just be an old rumor without any fact.
Especially in crowded sealanes, like the Channel.
Sounds like the yacht ran under, probably after striking floating debris and breaching the hull. Could be floating anything, what cruisers really hate is deck cargo washed off a container ship. Make solid contact with one of those and you'll go under in one piece, never to be heard from again.
Coolest user name, ever....:)
Yep...I've been on all types of boats since I was young...I usually think that these type of incidents happen with inexperience boaters. Depending on someone's knowlege of the area where they are boating...unknown hazards are a common occurance.
I am very happy to be utterly land-locked up in the mountains, right now....:D
"I've sailed offshore almost all my life - Atlantic, Pacific, Med, & Southern Ocean, as well as the Great Lakes"
Even us Great Lakes Boaters have intrigue. Last summer on Huron, there was a similiar event. A woman attorney, O/O disappeared from her vessel which was underway to Macinac. The vessel was located, empty about seven miles offshore several days later. Her boyfriend was with her and even though they found her body several weeks later, he has disappeared. Lots of mystery because of the evidence left onboard.
Anybody who's thinking about cruising ought to crew with somebody else before they take the plunge. And bopping around in a safe area like the Bahamas is a good idea for a starting place.
I don't mind telling you the Great Lakes scare the heck out of me. Probably because the only place I've ever done any sailing is the Caribbean and the FL-GA coast.
The Great Lakes are not for the faint at heart. Lots of shallows, rocks, and Erie can be devastating in storms. Thank God for electronic charts......
Worst thing in the Caribbean is the darn coral, which is NOT always on the charts. But you can see it coming, just post a lookout in the crosstrees and proceed with caution.
Hurricane season, we tie everything down and stay on shore.
"I have a punctured dinghy."
I don't know if mine is punctured or what, but sometimes it leaks a bit. Is that a puncture, or just another aging malfunction?
Have you been to Sardinia? There haven't been any "Barbary Pirates" there in quite some time.
In other news: Terror Fears As (Islamic) Radicals Reopen Vital Port (Mogadishu)
Look at a map. Find Mogadishu, then find Sardinia. Note: they're not particularly close.
So I would be interested to hear from you when the great shift in Islam occurred and they gave up piracy. They were supressed, but that doesn't mean they are gone.
Pirates operate out of Somalia even as we speak. Today we have US Navy ships assigned to the Horn of Africa in order to supress them. Is it so outrageous to suppose that one of the many failed states in North Africa could also be home to pirates?
Remember, the original term for hijacking was "Air Piracy". These terrorists have been siezing and destroying airliners for fun and profit for decades. Tripoli, a scant 500 miles from sweet, peaceful Sardinia, was behind the bombing of Pan Am 103. Why is it so unthinkable that somebody in this area is up to their old tricks?
I did a brief check on any reports of piracy in the Med and found nothing reported in 2006. Why bring-up Somalia?
And if this mystery is never solved, it won't show up on the report for 2006, either.
Why bring-up Somalia?
That just happened to be the only story in yesterday's paper about a major pirate safe haven opening up for business.
People have the notion that pirates are a thing of the past, and went out with sailing ships and wooden legs. The fact is that piracy and air piracy is a thriving enterprise in much of the World, and that because of the general antipathy toward the Infidel, many of the pirates are Muslim.
The above is the only reason I chose to comment on this thread.
That's what I was thinking! Ever seen the German remake from the '70s?
Yes I have! :-)
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