Danish YACHT correspondent Lone Bolther Rubin was the only journalist to gain access to the Quist Johansen family - and the crew of the "Ing" told her all the details about the circumstances of their abduction and captivity on a freighter off the Somali coast. "I wish I had never sailed into the Arabian Sea," says skipper Jan Quist Johansen, 52. "I will never regret any decision in my life again."
It is clear from his account that the couple and their three children, aged between 13 and 17, obviously underestimated the danger. Towards the end of their two-year round-the-world voyage from the Maldives, they chose the route through the Arabian and Red Seas towards Suez - even though the risk of piracy there is well known. However, only one attack on a yacht in the Horn of Africa had been publicised in the previous year, so the risk seemed calculable: why should this happen again, and to them of all people, in a sea area as large as Europe? And not least because other sailors that the "Ing" crew encountered en route also chose this course, they decided in favour of the route through the Arabian Sea. They were attacked there on 24 February.
The family crew, highly experienced sailors, had prepared certain emergency roles for these and other incidents. Experts are not surprised that they all proved ineffective. In an interview with YACHT, Captain Marco von Kölln explains that the pirates are only interested in kidnapping the people they can get hold of: "They are only interested in hostages and ransom money in the millions." And that is also how it worked with the crew of the "Ing". The head of the allied anti-piracy forces put the sum paid at around 2.25 million euros - the Danes were released on 3 August.
The 48-year-old von Kölln heads the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa as part of the EU's Atalanta mission. In the current issue of YACHT, the officer explains that the military has reacted to the drastic expansion of the pirates' radius of action in the recent past and now defines the entire area north of the 10th parallel south between Africa and India as a high-risk zone. This also includes the popular holiday destinations of the Seychelles and the Maldives.
Any timely assistance for sailors cannot be provided with 30 warships on this gigantic expanse of water, "and that is not our primary mission". For von Kölln, there is therefore only one option for sailors, "namely not to sail the entire area with a yacht under any circumstances. Anyone who still pursues their leisure activities in this area today is gambling with their life and that of their crew."
According to the expert, pirates are also showing a greater willingness to use violence. During the period of the "Ing" hijacking, pirates shot the crew of the American "Quest" and the last victim so far was the French skipper Christian Colombo. He was liquidated in cold blood on his "Tribal Kat" in September.
The military's findings mean that sailing around the world on the classic route is now de facto no longer possible. Sailors are therefore left with the expensive option of shipping their yacht by freighter to the Mediterranean or taking the diversions around the Cape of Good Hope, which, including two transatlantic crossings, easily extends the duration of a circumnavigation by a year.
What's more, not even yacht insurance policies are valid there. The Joint War Committee in London, a non-military organisation responsible for the insurance industry, classifies the entire region as a "war zone".
Everything you need to know about this topic can now be found in the current issue of YACHT 24/2011, available from Wednesday 16 November.
