I’m writing to inform you of an incident that happened 50-70nm off the Atlantic coast of Morocco as a warning for any slower boats making their way to the Canary Islands.

I want to share what happened to me whilst sailing solo 50 miles off the coast of Morocco – to see if anyone else has had a similar experience.

On Tuesday 12th December I was sailing SW on a passage from Spain to the Canaries. At around 0830 I noticed a boat on my AIS, heading SE and due to cross my course quite close to me.

The AIS info said it was a 65ft pleasure craft (see photo below). I only have an AIS receiver so I don’t transmit any data. I kept an eye out for the said vessel but didn’t see it until late because it was actually a 20ft construction of wood with a car engine lashed to the stern and a few bits of fishing gear onboard; it generally looked like something from the film Waterworld and immediately raised my suspicions.

The boat continued until it was directly ahead of me and then did a 90 degree turn heading straight for me. At this point I put my engine on and changed my course. The other boat immediately changed to block my route. I changed again and the same thing happened. This is when I went to full revs and showed my broadside to the other boat. I saw two guys onboard signalling me to stop and indicating that they wanted food.

I indicated back in no uncertainty that I wouldn’t be stopping. I certainly didn’t feel in the mood for a ‘meet n’ greet’ after the aggressive attempts to block my route and misleading AIS info. I continued on my way and they made no attempt to follow. When I was some distance away I went back to sailing, very slowly, whilst monitoring the other boat on AIS.

Later that same day around 1900, after the sun had set, I was checking AIS again and I noticed a vessel with almost identical details to the one earlier. The only difference was one digit in the name (see photo below).

This vessel was also on a course to intercept my course, so I instantly stopped the boat, dropped all sails, turned off all navigation lights and had the engine ready. By the time I’d done all this the boat had changed course and was heading straight for me, around 1.5nm away.

I instantly engaged the gears and shot off into the darkness in a new direction. I could see on AIS that the vessel had changed to intercept my new course and had sped up. This happened a few times, with every change I made and I deduced that they must have had me on radar because it was a very dark night and I wasn’t transmitting anything.

I eventually went full throttle towards NW, about 6 knots on my small sailboat and I could see them in pursuit on AIS and that they seemed to max out around 5 knots. Along with my 1.5 mile advantage, I managed to put some distance between us, although they were very keen to catch me and stuck with the chase for around an hour before finally giving up.

I eventually resumed my course and got out of the area as fast as possible, still in a state of blackout. I never got to see the boat that was chasing me but what I do know is it was very terrifying!

Has anyone else encountered anything similar off the coast of Morocco? This is a popular route for sailboats and if this is more than a one-off then we should be sharing the details in the community.

Being chased by another boat 70nm out in the Atlantic is traumatic and feels a lot like the ‘P’ word right here on our doorstep.

• The 1st encounter happened about 50nm off Essaouira:
  31°50.602’N 10°43.674’W
• The 2nd encounter happened about 70nm off Essaouira:
  31°26.951’N 11°10.453’W

Mark
SV Dark Shark

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.

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