Report on Red Sea Passage 2003

Created by doina. Last modified on 2005-06-28 12:21:14
Contributors:
Countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Oman, Sudan, Yemen

Concerning the convoys, there was no need of searching for buddies : we were at least 150 boats going up the Red Sea at the same time, ie between February and April. So we organised all the convoys directly from the anchorages, especially Salalah in Oman, in function of programs, speed, language, etc.

All the convoys worked well, except 2 attacks from the Yemeni coast. It is like nearly every year, a percentage of 1.5 % of problems. Fortunately, nobody was wounded and several army boats have proved very helpful. The Red Sea has been enjoyable in terms of discoveries : wonderful countries and people.

Sailing became this year much easier than in the past thanks to the weatherforecasts of buoyweather.com, received by email and broadcasted on the Red Sea net (8173 this year). They proved very accurate, even 7 days in advance.

Rene Ortmans

SV Fare Nui ( now in Ithaca, and very soon on the market for sale in France)

For details of the attacks mentioned above, see Recent Pirate Attacks