Are we about to be Attacked by PIRATES? | S04E01

the following is an account of a vessel sailing south 23 miles off the Nicaraguan coast in April of 2019 for fishing boats with 20 to 25 men surrounded the yacht and began ramming it damaging the stern ladder and swim platform the hull on both sides and then began boarding the yacht how do we as sailors make the decision to cast our lines and sail into waters or something like this might happen to us hey bud there's a boat off on the horizon they were literally coming right at us I've got the engine going just about full throttle try to board us should I just be here with you or do you want me previously on project Atticus after spending three years refitting our fixer-upper sailboat we left the United States with only $2,000 in the goal of working while we cruised we made it as far as Isla Mujeres Mexico before we ran out of money and had to find work for the next year we did freelance boat repair jobs until we saved up enough money to cast the lines and sail south to explore the Western Caribbean after spending a month exploring the south coast of Cuba we said goodbye to some extremely remote islands and are now enjoying being back in civilization in Grand Cayman it's going trying to get Atticus ready for our passage tomorrow we're hoping to set sail first thing in the morning and sale for providencia which is on our way to Panama and it's about a three-day trip there's a decent chance that we're gonna have strong ish winds you know a little bit more forward of the beam than I'd like it might be kind of a challenging passage let's do thin but let's get a kiss ready for sea wait I'm a clown bud okay monitoring came in was about $50 for a look two huge loads but I thought I would just get some exercise and instead yeah for anybody that's hoping to get into cruising this is what you're getting into you do laundry with a trash can and a plunger all right some food ready for our sounds like we're gonna be hot down here [Music] get it morning what all ready to go time to turn that engine on and get going [Music] here we come our main challenge on this passage is having to sail through waters known for piracy piracy meaning attacks against vessels while underway is actually extremely rare in most parts of the world but the extensive shallows east of Nicaragua known as the Nicaraguan Bank is one of the few places in the world where piracy is still a very real concern in this area there has been at least one incident of piracy every year for the past five years the most common kind of attack in this area is by panga most yachts report that they were approached by one or two pangas asking for food after receiving the food the pangas would stock the yacht from a short distance until more pangas could arrive and eventually 20 to 30 men would attack and board the yacht these types of attacks are made possible by the Nicaraguan bank which extends a hundred miles offshore far from any law enforcement and is full of islands that provide overnight shelter for these relatively small boats the other type of attack which is less common is carried out by large fishing trawlers these attacks generally occur further offshore beyond the range of smaller pangas and consist of the trawler ramming the yacht until the yacht submits out of fear of sinking and allows the trawlers crew aboard our strategy for dealing with piracy was to try and avoid the problem area altogether by sailing 70 miles further offshore than any of the reported incidences although this may sound like an obvious solution the strong easterly trade winds fast flowing current and large seas in this area makes sailing East a serious challenge and adds a significant amount of time to the passage but for us an additional day or two of pounding into waves and putting more stress on atticus was all worth reducing our risk of pirate attack well had a nap down below back up on watch got all three sails up making a ton of easting which is great so I thought I would take a shower because I'm feeling kind of nasty [Music] [Applause] just as recent as I think two months ago there was a family that was boarded by pirates and their strategy was essentially they killed the engine grab the key and then went down below and they had these security bars here that locked from the inside and there's stainless steel and you can still see out essentially they went down below and they just kind of waited and watched as the pirates like came and opened all the cockpit lockers and just like smash things and we're getting angry because they couldn't actually enter down below so as you can see on Atticus we don't have any security bars but it is something that we've been really really wanting to install so that is on our priority list for our Panama refit in the meantime we're just kind of using the strategy like I said is staying off the coast of Nicaragua to try to not even get in a situation of piracy so we're being super conservative which I'm happy about I don't know when you're cruising it's a small enough community that you start reading all these incidents of piracy and it's really easy to just get really freaked out so that's something that I definitely struggle with I'm feeling good about our strategy so I'm not super super nervous but that's easy to say now because it's daytime see any boat on the coast and it's really calm so come come nightfall and the moment I see a boat out there man I'm gonna be freaking out so anyway wish me luck [Music] for some what are we having chef but mozzarella cucumber and tomato salad then we've got some leftover vegetables from yesterday this is the rights that I made the other day and beef brisket pav this would be a really good hot [Music] yeah so our our ms and gooseneck finally died we just said she's I'm too strong probably you know I might actually be able to rig a line on it tomorrow yeah you can see right there so now I've just got some of this paracord kind of wrapped around a couple times and cinched down has the functioning gooseneck it's it's not ideal but it'll work if we only use it in light winds you have too bad but should I turn the light off sure we might not be the only boat running dark in these waters tonight so we're definitely increasing our risk of colliding with another boat but being visible to pirates for miles around is something we have to avoid at all costs start the engine go studies sauce and lights in the distance ten or fifteen miles away what do they look like but that's pretty bright actually I looked up like when the moon was gonna rise and it rises in three hours and so that's why I got the motor going because I figured if we can try and get far away from them we've got basically three hours you know until we would be slightly visible so we're looking at this light and I can't see any like side lights so I can't see it right or green and it does look like it's just like a really bright white light or like multiple bright white lights which sort of implies to me that it might be a work boat like doing something II and I mean like fishing one of the big things you gotta be careful of car is fishing trawlers out here looks like that boat crossed our bow whew looks like their head and just straight West too the Nicaraguan coast oh I was just telling Jordan it's crazy like how one light in the distance can rob you sleep for like an hour I'll just say that like my heart was pumping I think I was I was getting into emergency mode okay oh well the winds picking up just like our forecast predicted and we've got the genoa of and the full main just freaked out because I don't really even know what happened but I just looked like we were gonna drive and then I pulled the main in tight and then we stood then the autopilot starts steering us in another direction and I just grabbed hold of the tiller and was hand steering called for Jordan and I said can you come up and help me so yeah now we're gonna just bounce the boat better take more sleep away from my buddy okay I think being on a passage like this is mentally difficult and it's starting to get to us you know yeah with the possibility of pirates and then the wind pick an option yeah anyway we're we're going in the right direction that's what's important right yeah this is a moment where I'm thinking an apartment with air conditioning is really nice but I always know it's worth it on the other side they're just some hard moments in between hey bud there's a boat off on the horizon you want to come talk about it's kind of a it's a big itch like trawler they've been coming this way for a while we couldn't outrun it we couldn't have weather it like they're going right into the wind right now so like the way I see it is like if they were to be like Pirates of opportunity like hope that they see Atticus that it's small and just keep going on about their business you know Chester fighting yeah I'd say we put the laptop light way back there you know they'll throw a bad ipod out yeah and can do we have a some cash that's like our sacrifice cash yeah let's let's start sewing sewing the important stuff and then get the sacrificial stuff now still haven't changed course try to board us should I just be here with you or do you want me to be hiding down below probably hiding but let's get to work I'm gonna try and see if we can't go a little bit faster with the engine on got our sacrificial stuff just in the company right there ready to grab this is a step that we want online so they come a weakness topped it yeah way way back back there Marilyn cash - behind amazing they're almost directly behind us they were literally coming right at us for a little while I've got the engine going just about full throttle so they haven't still haven't turned so cross your fingers yeah they they haven't altered course at all and they're they're almost like completely out of sight it looked like they had a bunch of traps on the back you know like some sort of large commercial fishing boat so they're probably going off to some bank to just set traps it did look like kind of a dingy trawler again I mean which I've read is what you gotta be careful of and then also they were headed right at us at first fingers crossed we don't see many more of those guys [Music] all right well I'm going off watch Desiree's coming up time for me to go to bed but before I do think it's time for us to switch the Genoa for the jib again Jordan and I have been kind of pushing ourselves for the last since last night things got a little bit crazy and today was a little bit rough just because the seas were really kind of confused and swells were big everything's wet everything all of our cushions the cockpits just got a layer of salt none of our clothes are really dry so it just kind of starts to wear on you you close your eyes and think about you know cruising across oceans sometimes it can be really really Pleasant and you have just like the moon or the Stars dry cozy cockpit no big challenges at the minute one variable changes for the worse and then you add sleep deprivation on top of that and then you add like discomfort physically like being salty sick and man it just kind of spirals into this really unpleasant experience at least for me but I guess Jordan and I were talking about you know what passages do and it is kind of a cool way to reset your brain and set your expectations just for playing survival and it really makes you appreciate the small things I am so proud of [Music] [Music] well it's the beginning of day five took us a lot longer than we thought and we are approaching providencia but the seas are bigger than they've been at any point during the trip it's probably blowing about 20 knots and the seas are getting fried 9 feet and over I'd say this fry the biggest seas we've sailed in with Atticus speech speech I have a Vietnam War captain doesn't want to give me a speech but do you think these waves are big you think these waves are big well guess what's bigger than these waves we are bigger than these waves yeah metaphorically metaphorically speaking okay yeah literally were smaller but but on the inside we've got more courage than these waves you know why because we've got teamwork waves don't have team yeah they go you know late at yeah but they don't have teamwork let's do this for glory glory [Music] [Music] turn 20 degrees of work playing four years from now I don't think I'm going to remember the fear and anxiety from this passage what I am going to remember is the pull of the tiller in my hand and the salt spray in the air as we raced through the channel markers into providencia under sail and the overwhelming sense of pride after overcoming such a daunting challenge whoo all right we're in the wind shadow nice buddy we made it that was crazy welcome to providencia freezing isn't always easy or fun it's often terrifying and stressful but if we try to avoid the hardships we end up missing out on the best parts of cruising we can't remove the lows without affecting the highs the two are intertwined in a way that I'm just now beginning to understand well we made it it's my favorite time of the trip time to turn the engine off Oh clean up Atticus take a shower and pass out for 24 hours if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet please please please subscribe and if you're a huge fan of our videos consider becoming a patron and see you next week [Music] all right oh hey guys hope you enjoyed this week's episode we wanted to thank some of our newest patrons have got Mike regala dan Hartman SP shipshape we also have Larry and Pamela Smith as well as Cindy and Tim gasps guys thank you so much for your support we really put a lot of time love and energy into these episodes and without you guys we just wouldn't be able to do that so thank you and we will catch you guys next week

Channel: Sailing Project Atticus

Views: 3,193,879

Keywords: “sailboat”, sailing around the world, Sailing around the world on a budget, Project Atticus, atticus project, Allied seawind

Id: 0rENqp3blm8

Length: 21min 23sec (1283 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 12 2019