Malacca Strait NOT notorious for yacht piracy

1:58 AM Sat 4 Apr 2009 GMT

'Mr Bean Malcolm swimming with his grandchildren in Phuket' .

Sail-World Cruising would like to point out that, in the interests of providing correct advice to sailors, and contrary to reports in some newspapers recently, the Malacca Straits have NOT been notorious for piracy against yachts for about the last 15 years, and the area is heavily travelled by both local and international yachts.

The tragic murder of long range cruiser Malcolm Robertson was allegedly carried out by straying Burmese fishermen out of their waters, and reported by Sail-World (see original story)and is so far considered to be an isolated incident.

Readers are referred to the world wide Piracy Reporting Centrefor the latest accurate information about piracy in general.

Comment from reader:

> Sender: Bryce Rasmussen
>
> Message: Nice to see the small article defending the safety of transiting
> the Malacca Straights.
> For the past 35yrs I have lived & sailed professionally in and around S E
> Asia & have yet to experience any threat to my safety. As is the case
> anywhere in the world there does exist opportunists, how much gear is
> stolen of yachts in Big city marina's on a daily basis world wide. I would
> hazard a guess & say that the amount of gear stolen from cruising
> yachtsmen would be a small fraction.
> S E Asia is a magnificent place to cruise, granted, paperwork can be a
> problem in some places but it's all doable & part of the cruising
> experience. At the end of the day most of the rules are there to ensure
> your safety, have patience.
> It seems that in the last decade maritime tourism in S E Asia gets a kick
> in the guts every time it starts to get off the ground, the Asian
> financial crash of the late 90's, bombings in Jakarta & Bali, throw in the
> odd tsunami etc & now once again the dreaded word Piracy raises its ugly
> head. There are a number of factual publications available where the facts
> are revealed that 93% of thes 'attacks' were avoidable or instigated by
> the yachtsman through ignorance. I am not suggesting that the recent
> tradgedy in Taratao was the fault of Mr Robinson but is a dinghy worth a
> life.
> We need the media to report facts & every now & then write something
> positive that will help the people of the region. It truly is a wonderfull
> part of the world.........Sail safe!!!
>

by Nancy Knudsen

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