From a report by the Caribbean Safety & Security Net

Date: 2018-01-18 17:00

Country Name: Honduras

Location Detail: Gorda Bank

Event: Attempted piracy

Hand: 1

Stolen Items: n/a

SECURED: N/A

Details:

A sailing yacht with 2 persons onboard departed Belize for Panama via Providencia. Off the Gordo Banks at 5 PM at a position of 16*36.700N 082*17.280W, they observed a small fishing boat with an enclosure on an intersecting course. They immediately altered course 90 degrees and noticed the small boat continued to attempt to follow. 2 other small fishing boats were spotted about 2-3 miles further away.

Listening to VHF they heard a discussion in Spanish about stealing a dingy (theirs was on the foredeck) and no other vessels were in the vicinity. The crew hailed a merchant vessel located about 15 nautical miles away, and one of the small fishing boats made a false response, attempting to impersonate the merchant’s vessel. A private VHF DSC call was made to the merchant ship. Radar indicated that the small boats were unable to close the gap into difficult sea and wind conditions, and had fallen further out of range as it became dark. The yacht continued without lights or AIS transmit.

The next day VHF traffic in Spanish was overheard discussing “keeping a lookout for a white sailboat that got away last night”. The yacht continued to Providencia without further incident.