Sailing catamaran “5Oceans”, a Marsaudon ORC 50 crewed by Russian orthodox priest Oleg Dudkin and skipper Dmitry Kuznetsov, took on the Red Sea passage to the Mediterranan due to timing and commitments after crossing the Atlantic and Pacific in a two year circumnavigation. Oleg wanted to sail around the world after retirement and has managed to do nearly all the legs, but he also wants to make sailing possible for anyone. The boat therefore has 2 permanent crew members and the remaining crew places are taken by sailors that join for a leg (or more).

Oleg and Dmitry provided this report on arrival in Egypt after a succesful Red Sea passage.

Red Sea Transit Report

“We left Uligan (Maldives) on 5 January, 2024 and arrived in Socotra (Yemen) on January 13th. This voyage was a distance of approximately 1200NM and took us seven days at an average speed of 6.5 knots. We left Socotra on January 18th and arrived into Djibouti on the 22nd, a distance of 700NM in four days at an average speed of 8 knots.

At first when we left Socotra our course was NNE. We kept this course until we reached the International Recommended Track. When we reached the IRT, we changed course to East and followed close to the southern part of the IRT. Thus, we sailed far from the Somali border, away from potential pirate attacks. During our passage through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, we did the same.

We sailed with AIS (Automatic Identification Systems) on and kept north from the shipping lanes to avoid the coast of Somalia. Then we shifted course south of the shipping route to continue sailing off the coast of Yemen, keeping AIS and navigation lights on at all times, causing uncertainty for some warships in the area.

Unfortunately, with little moonlight some ships were difficult to see, so we recommend doing the crossing around the full moon if possible. Regular reports were also made to the UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations).

The closed Red Sea Passage Facebook group, which is actively maintained by Wade Alarie, is for sailors who intend transiting the Red Sea.  In this group people network, share news and exchange tips. In addition to cruisers, a number of agents have also been admitted to the group who play an important role in the process from arrival to departure.  I (Dmitry) was in this group personally for the voyage.

Our average speed in the Red Sea was genearlly 5 knots. We got fair winds in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and one day made 12-15 knots of speed. However, after that we had upwind sailing and we mixed sail and power with a SOG of between 4 and 12 knots, but VMG was no more 5 knots.

During our passage we never saw any suspicious vessels, or odd behaviour from other ships in this area.  We stopped at Djibouti to refill with fuel, water, food and took the time to visit some tourist sites like the salt lake and volcano.

On arrival in Egypt, we cleared in at Sharm el Shekh and had a good agent so the formalities were simple and easy. The crew visited Dahab, the St. Katherine monastery and saw a camel race in the desert. Overall we have had a wonderful time through the Red Sea, Egypt and transiting the Suez Canal. Our next stops will be Cairo and Alexandria.”

Preparation for the Passage:

Owner Oleg Dudkin explained they took the risk of transiting north up the Red Sea at a time when Houthi rebels were randomly targeting vessels at the entrance to the Red Sea because the aim of his “Five Oceans Club”  is to make sailing around the world accessible to anyone.

“So we try to sail by schedule and my personal opinion is that the risk is somewhat exaggerated by politicians and journalists,” Oleg said.

Skipper Dmitry added that in preparation for entering the Area of Danger, they checked news in many different ways including American, European, Arabian and Russian.

“We also spoke with different sailors who had passed through the Red Sea and GOA before us and registered with MCHOA and UKTMO. Every day we sent a report to the watchkeeper officer for both organisations.”

Dmitry concludes; “Having completed this passage at a time when others are postponing their plans because of the instability, we were of course nervous sailing through GOA and the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the southern part of the Red Sea. However, sailing more than 900NM upwind was much more difficult and all the crew were very tired. We are now very glad that this stage of our voyage has now been completed.”

Oleg Dudkin (owner) and Dmitry Kuznetsov (skipper)
SV 5Oceans

With assistance from:

Bram van Spengen
The Netherlands

Update from Wade Alarie 27 February, 2024:
Four other yachts have just succesfully transited South to North. One UK flagged yacht, another from the Netherlands, one Korea flagged and one unknown.
None of these yachts reported any difficulties passing through the Straits of Bab el Mandab.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising.

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