Notes on the Red Sea
Blue Water Sailing, September 2002
The Red Sea has a reputation as being a very difficult body of water. Some have described it as their most difficult passage of all those around the world. We were among the class of those going through the Red Sea in March/April of 2002, and it has upheld its wicked reputation.
Actually, our prime concern was pirates in the Gulf of Aden. In the event, however, that did not become an issue. In fact, 2002 might have been safer from that standpoint. There were many warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden. We saw French and German fleets and an aircraft carrier and support vessels of undetermined flags. Other cruisers saw British fleets and were overflown by patrol aircraft. We heard American and Italian warships on the VHF. So there was a lot of activity, and I did not hear of any pirate report. We took the middle route by keeping more than 100 NM off Somalia and more than 30 NM off Yemen. We also went as fast as we could, maintained radio silence, maneuvered away from any approaching boat, went through the most risky area at night, and went directly to Djibouti from Male in the Maldives. Other boats which we were in SSB contact with stayed closer to Yemen, but traveled in a group within sight of each other. We used a prearranged code to describe our positions on SSB. For most of the way down the Gulf of Aden we had favorable winds so that passage was not at all difficult.
The challenge began in the Red Sea. About three days before we entered, a large catamaran with a German couple aboard was demasted in the Bab el Mandeb Strait. They were unable to cut the mast free so they issued a mayday. They abandoned ship and were picked up by helicopter and brought to Djibouti. It was reported that the boat was recovered later, but it had been stripped. When we went through the Strait, about three days later, the seas were choppy and disturbed and the wind hit 45 knots from behind. We had no difficulity, and we were glad that we had successfully passed the most pirate prone areas.
Three other boats were reported lost, but there was no loss of life. A French boat, Chamoise, with two crew aboard went on the reef at Marsa Mubarak at night when they were attempting to seek shelter. The boat was holed and sank but they were able to save personal possessions. A large Chilean boat, Hussar 3, went on the reef near Sharm el Sheikh. The boat was reported to be lost. Finally, a New Zealand boat, Cariad, with a couple aboard went on a reef. The boat was pulled off but sank before it reached shelter.
The above information is as it was reported on SSB transmissions in the region. I had no first hand contact with any of these boats or crew after the reported incidents, although I had seen several of the boats previously.
For our part, we did sail the Red Sea about as easy as it gets based on all of the experiences that we heard about. Our boat, Escapade, is an Oyster 55. We sailed directly from Djibouti to Port Sudan, where we entered in a sand storm which reduced visibility to about 0.1 NM. Thanks to accurate electronic charting we were able to enter through the narrow gap in the reef as the radar was of little use. We decided to go there as the wind had turned on us. Then we were able to reach Safaga, Egypt, before the wind turned against us again. We had to pound into a bad chop for six hours before we reached shelter behind some reefs. Then we were able to motor up the coast to Hurghada and then to an island in the mouth of the Gulf of Suez. From there we made it directly to Suez with a following wind which reached 40 knots, with sand again, and which closed the port of Suez. We hid behind the breakwater before we were permitted into the Yacht Club the next day. The actual trip up the Suez Canal was uneventful, and even boring. In total, it took us 19 days from Djibouti to Larnaca, Cyprus, our first port in the Mediterranean, a distance of 1,682 nautical miles (from March 16 to April 4, 2002). We were happy and relieved that it was over and we were back in friendly and first-world waters again. One reason we were able to sail successfully in trying conditions was that we had a full complement of six crew aboard so we could handle watches with ease. Even when three of the six crew became ill in the bad seas, we carried on without concerns. We also used a weather routing service (Commanders Weather) which proved to be very accurate in predicting wind changes in our specific location.
