As someone who cruises long-term in the Mediterranean I have
long been aware of the flood of would-be migrants from
Africa and some Balkan countries attempting to reach western
Europe and have avoided those waters where their craft may
be traversing.

However, the situation in the waters of the Atlantic between
the African continent and the Spanish Canary Islands is much
worse, despite the longer distances involved. This is
because the people are very often in desperate plights in
craft that are not seaworthy, with insufficient food and water.

What does the group think of the following incident and what
would they consider should be done, both by a threatened
yacht skipper and by the authorities.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.p...fpart/all/vc/1

"BrianH" wrote in message
. ..
As someone who cruises long-term in the Mediterranean I have long been
aware of the flood of would-be migrants from Africa and some Balkan
countries attempting to reach western Europe and have avoided those waters
where their craft may be traversing.

However, the situation in the waters of the Atlantic between the African
continent and the Spanish Canary Islands is much worse, despite the longer
distances involved. This is because the people are very often in desperate
plights in craft that are not seaworthy, with insufficient food and water.

What does the group think of the following incident and what would they
consider should be done, both by a threatened yacht skipper and by the
authorities.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.p...fpart/all/vc/1


This is also becoming a problem on the Algarve and SW Spain. One guy we met
had come across a sinking boat full of refugees and called it in. The
response from (IIRC Tarifa Radio) warned him "if you value your boat and
possibly your life, stand off and wait for assistance, on no account allow
them to board". A customs boat was on scene within 20 mins or so.

We have discussed possible actions at length and, in common with many
others, have come to the conclusion that we would deploy the life raft or
dinghy to help people actually in the water but will not allow anyone to
board.

Graham.

Graham Frankland wrote:

"BrianH" wrote in message

What does the group think of the following incident and what would
they consider should be done, both by a threatened yacht skipper and
by the authorities.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.p...fpart/all/vc/1

This is also becoming a problem on the Algarve and SW Spain. One guy we
met had come across a sinking boat full of refugees and called it in.
The response from (IIRC Tarifa Radio) warned him "if you value your boat
and possibly your life, stand off and wait for assistance, on no account
allow them to board". A customs boat was on scene within 20 mins or so.

We have discussed possible actions at length and, in common with many
others, have come to the conclusion that we would deploy the life raft
or dinghy to help people actually in the water but will not allow anyone
to board.

All good advice. However, in the cited case the yacht was
300nm offshore, the subject boat was a small open one
capable of ca. 8.5 knots with about 50 souls on board. As I
am usually single handed and with a top speed under engine
less than 8.5 knots, I doubt if I could repel such an
invasion of desperate and determined boarders. also, the
Spanish authorities were predicting up to three days before
a ship could be in the vicinity.

This case highlights the need for efficient communication.
At such distance VHF is useless and SSB proved its worth.
Also, another point demonstrated was language difficulties,
both with the boat and the Spanish authorities. As many of
the would-be migrants are from Francophone countries a
working knowledge of both those languages would be useful.

Spain and Italy are bearing the brunt of this problem and I
hope the EU will support them in tackling it by funding SAR
vessels and helicopters. I am convinced it is going to get a
whole lot worse as the economic indicators plus climate
change make things progressively worse on the African
continent.