Pirates Rob Yacht in the Med

It’s not a powerboat, but it’s still worth mentioning. According to RTL, a French Web site, the 55-meter sailing yacht Tiara was robbed at gunpoint last night in Corsica. Reports say that four masked men sneaked aboard the vessel and got away with around €138,000 (roughly $203,600). Here’s the link to the translated story. More on the story can be found here at the Super Yacht Times.

Piracy Attacks on the Rise

According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, maritime piracy attacks rose 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 from a year earlier, with Somalia and Nigeria showing the biggest increases.

The Associated Press reports that:

While Africa remains problematic, Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, has been relatively quiet, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report.

A total of 198 attacks on ships were reported between January and September this year, up from 174 in the same period in 2006, the IMB said.

It said a total of 15 vessels were hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed.

"If this current trend continues, it would appear that the decline in piracy attacks since 2004 has bottomed out," it warned.

Indonesia remained the world's worst piracy hotspot, with 37 attacks in the first nine months of 2007 - but this was an improvement from 40 in the same period a year earlier, the IMB said.

But attacks rose drastically in Somalia to 26 reported cases, up from only 8 a year earlier, it said. Nigeria also suffered 26 attacks so far this year, up from 9 previously, it added.

IMB director Pottengal Mukundan urged ships to stay as far as possible from the coasts of Somalia and Nigeria, which remained very dangerous with large numbers of violent kidnappings.

"The level of violence in high risk areas remain unacceptable. Pirates in Somalia are operating with impunity, seizing vessels hundreds of miles off the coast and holding the vessel and crew to ransom, making no attempt to hide their activity," he said.

Only four attacks were reported in the Malacca Strait this year, compared to 8 in the same period in 2006, thanks to increased cooperation between states straddling the waterway, the IMB said.

Two Rescued, Four Crew Still Missing

The captain and crew of the charter boat Be Cool went missing last week shortly after leaving with a charter, CNN reported earlier today. The vessel, a 47-foot sportfishermen, "made several erratic movements before heading south" about halfway into her voyage, according to the vessel's global positioning system (GPS). The boat was found floating 160-miles south of Bimini. The captain, Jake Branam, his wife Kelly Branam, and two crew members, Scott Campbell and Sammy Cary, are among the missing.

The Coast Guard reports it has rescued two of the six missing boaters. The names of the rescued are Guillermo Zarabozo and Kirby Archer. Archer is being investigated, as he has the same name as a man who stole over $90,000 from an Arkansas Wal-Mart back in January. Foul play has not been ruled out.

According to Coast Guard reports, family members reported Joe Cool overdue at approximately 5:45 p.m. Sunday after the vessel failed to return to Miami Beach Marina. The crew of the 110-foot cutter Pea Island found the vessel late Sunday. The cutter's crew said the abandoned vessel was in disarray with the life-raft missing.

Zarabozo and Archer were found by an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter approximately 12 miles north of that location and taken to the cutter Confidence. The Coast Guard immediately began searching with a HC-130 aircraft from Elizabeth City, N.C., the Cutter Confidence, the Cutter Pea Island and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Miami deployed to the Confidence.