The attacks on a German and a Swiss charter crew took place at the beginning of February. Both ships - an Oceanis 393 with three sailors and a Sun Odyssey 519 with six sailors on board - had anchored overnight off Tarrafal in the north of the island of Santiago.
Both ships were boarded after dark by a group of men armed with knives. They bound and gagged the sailors and then searched the ships for valuables. In addition to cash and credit cards, the criminals were after mobile phones, tablets, laptops, watches and jewellery. The sailors even had to hand over their wedding rings to the thieves in at least one of the two robberies.
One of the sailors reports that the thieves proceeded very purposefully and gave the impression that this was not their first time on a yacht.
The crews' subsequent call to the police has so far been unsuccessful on both occasions. This is despite the fact that one of the crews was even able to show the police the location of the criminals shortly after the robbery. A GPS location of one of the stolen mobile phones pointed to a nearby address, and someone later made off with the stolen goods to Praia, the capital of Cape Verde in the south of Santiago.
Despite this information, the officers did little. Instead, the sailors were left with the impression that the police were afraid of a confrontation with the thieves and therefore preferred to leave it at random questioning of individual - innocent - villagers.
For one of the two crews, it was the second robbery within a few days. The sailors had previously been victims of theft at night in the harbour of Praia. Unknown persons had stolen cash and a mobile phone from on board while they were asleep, but the sailors only noticed this the next morning.
The incidents are surprising, as such serious robberies, in which no one was physically harmed due to the level-headed behaviour of the crews, should actually be a thing of the past in Cape Verde. Only the capital Praia is still considered dangerous today and should be avoided by sailors. After the recent experiences, such a warning must now be extended to the entire island of Santiago.
According to unconfirmed rumours, the criminals could be a gang from nearby Senegal that has since left the island. At least, according to the experience of one charter company, sailors have already been back to Tarrafal - not to be confused with the harbour town of the same name on the smaller Cape Verde island of São Nicolau - after the robberies, even if only during the day. There have been no further thefts or even robberies.
On the contrary, the crews - even those who have been attacked - emphasise how hospitable the people on the other islands are and how much they like the sailing area.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
