More Piracy Near Somalia

[Ken White]

...
Is it common for Luxury yachts to sail near the coast of Somalia?

if the Captain is blazingly stupid...

[wm]

if the Captain is blazingly stupid...

Or perhaps been directed to do so to generate a causus belli to justify a military strike.

Actually, I understand that this yacht does a winter round in the Seychelles area then transits the Suez Canal in April to do a summer round of cruising in the Med. Last time I checked, one needs to sail past Puntaland to get into the Red Sea and the Suez from the Seychelles. The only question is how close one needs to be to that coast. Since this yacht has 3 masts worth of sail power, perhaps it was just following the winds.

[Ken White]

surely not...

Edited to add: I guess it would depend on whether you wished to be captured by Somalis or Yemenis...

[selil]

I read the monthly piracy reports and Somalia has been a hot spot for a long time. Unfortunately if you want to transit the Suez Canal, and you've come up the inland passage between Africa and Madagascar (like coastal sailors are going to), then you end up rounding Somalia no batter what. Some sailors (yachties) are going all the way out to Mauritaus (off the coast of Somalia) to make the swing. Still most of the piracy (way more than terrorism) is against container ships and after the crew belongings more than the cargo.