Day 121: At Sea … Gulf of Aden … the HRA and the IRTC

Sunday, 7 May 2017
At Sea — In the High Risk Area … En Route to Bab-el-Mandeb

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:00p (GST) … UTC 4:00p (7 May)
Temp: 84.7F (29.3C)
Position: 12.49.43N / 47.41.71E

The only question in life is whether or not you are going
to answer a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure.
~ Joseph Campbell ~

Today was the first of four days we have at sea en route to the Suez Canal.  We are sailing towards Bab-el-Mandeb — which translates as the Gate of Tears.  This narrow strait, which separates Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula from Djibouti and Eritrea on the Horn of Africa, is the riskiest section of the HRA … the area of once rampant piracy activity.  Such activity is far less than it used to be, but after no attacks last year, there have apparently been three already this year.  I have to do more research to see if they were successful or not.

I have not been writing about our days at sea … and today will be no exception.  But Captain Maroje Brajcic gave a special presentation this morning that I thought is worthy of a post.  The topic — anti-piracy — predictably drew a lot of interest and it was standing room only in the Insignia Lounge.  From what I understand, he is one of the few — maybe the only — captain who gives this presentation, which was actually developed by his father, who was the master of sister ship Nautica when it successfully averted an attack by pirates in 2008.

Captain B started out by defining what a pirate is and went on to say that piracy is the second oldest profession in the world … that, of course, drew chuckles from the audience.  He described the area where attacks have been most prevalent as the High Risk Area (HRA) and explained that though pirates are still active, the number of attacks and hijackings are dramatically down from 2008 when such activities were at alarming levels … with Somalian pirates behind 56% of them.  The drop in the attacks is attributed to the strengthening of anti-piracy measures, policing of the region, and application of best management practices.

Photo grab from one of the slides in Captain B’s presentation.

Captain B also talked about the IRTC — Internationally Recommended Transit Channel — established in 2009.  The 492 NM long ‘virtual channel’ — 50-70 miles off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia — consists of an east- and westbound lane … each 5 NM wide, with a 2-mile wide buffer between the two.  Vessels are grouped with others of similar speed (not convoyed) for the transit of the IRTC.  This allows the ships to pass through the most dangerous area at night, and ensures they are all together at first light … regardless of their speed capabilities.  In this way, coalition naval vessels are better able to monitor progress of the ships and respond in the event of an emergency.

There was a surprising number of photos of the pirate attack on the Nautica included in the presentation.  Captain B made it clear that all of the photos had been taken by passengers who went on their balconies or the open decks with cameras instead of going indoors as we practiced a few days ago.  The Staff Captain — who was Third Officer on the Nautica when it was attacked — reiterated this fact, and once again asked that we pay heed to instructions to remain indoors should the worst occur.  In the case of the Nautica attack, the worst the passengers experienced was about an hour of uncomfortably warm temperatures as the ventilation system was turned off to boost the ship’s speed.  I hope we don’t ever have to find out if our passengers will obey the instructions or not.

Captain B reiterated that our vessel’s speed and height above the waterline are our biggest weapons.  He didn’t go into details of the security plan in the event of an attack, but did say that in addition to high-pressure water hoses, there are noisemakers onboard.  And we have a number of special forces guys traveling with us through the HRA.  We’ve noticed crew members standing guard around the ship as well.  All in all, I figure we are as safe as we can be.

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