Winlink Proves its Value Again!

QUOTE

    In late September, 2002, we (Jim & Katie) were sailing our boat "Asylum" from Aruba, Dutch West Indies, to Cartagena, Colombia, in company with 2 other sailboats. We were following an established route along the coast of Colombia which identified locations thought to be safe for overnight stops. On the second to last day of our trip, one of our companion boats developed engine problems. We all pulled in to the last recommended anchorage at Punta Morro Hermosa, about 50 miles north of Cartagena, to allow for repairs and to rest for the evening. We planned to leave before dawn. However, the engine problems on our friends' boat recurred as they were hoisting anchor so we stayed another day while they continued to work on the engine. We all went to bed early that second night in Punta Hermosa as we planned once again to set out for Cartagena early in the morning.

    We were awakened at 2130 by loud banging on the closed and locked companionway hatch, and by someone yelling in Spanish to open the door. There were 2 men in the cockpit. From inside the darkened cabin, we turned on our deck light, broadcast a VHF alert to the other 2 boats, and Jim sprayed "Bear Pepper Mace" into the cockpit through an open port, causing the men to flee into a motorboat tied alongside Asylum and take off. Only one of the other boats responded to our radio call, a single-hander who fired flares at the retreating boat full of bandits. He then took his boat to our other friends, who appeared on deck shouting "armed robbery!" Jim repeatedly tried to contact the Colombian Coast Guard on VHF, and also tried the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300 USB, with no responses. By now it was close to 2200.

    Asylum and our single-hander friend rafted with the 3rd boat and found it had been stripped of almost everything--clothing, passports, boat papers, electronics, gear, etc-- by 5 armed and drunken bandits. We helped them clean up, provided spare electronics, PFDs, radio, etc., and left at 2400 for the 10-hour trip to Cartagena. While underway, we used our Winlink system to send emails to people in Cartagena alerting them to what happened, our condition, and our friends' lack of paperwork and their/our need for assistance when we arrived. When we arrived in Cartagena, the marina had been alerted, as had the Coast Guard and Customs/Immigration agents.

    In the following days, as the word got out about this incident, we used Winlink to help several other cruisers coming the same way, passing on info about safe anchorages and advice from the Colombian Coast Guard, receiving cruisers' position reports to pass their passage info along to the Colombian CG, and generally keeping in touch with them as they progressed when SSB radio propagation wasn't good enough to actually "talk." We also sent via Winlink an account of the incident to the cruising community via the Seven Seas Cruising Association enabling its publication to its 11,000 members almost immediately.

    In short, Winlink continues to prove to be an invaluable system for the cruising sailor, not only for the ease and convenience of regular onboard communication with our friends and families, but more importantly for communicating in emergency situations, providing security information to other people, obtaining critical weather information, and generally helping to support the safety and security of the cruising community.

    FYI & 73s,

    Jim and Katie (KP2CR)

    Onboard Asylum, a Winlink-equipped cruising sailboat.