With the piracy threat being such an important issue in this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race one would imagine that organizers would take each and every precaution necessary in order to protect the fleet. For that reason, according to their website, they introduced “a series of security measures because of the threat of pirates operating in a vast area off the coast of Somalia.”
As a result, the five yachts still racing are not sailing directly to Abu Dhabi but “heading towards a safe haven port, where they will be loaded onto a ship for transportation through the worst affected waters and on to a point off the Sharjah coast, where they will resume racing to Abu Dhabi.”
According to the same story, “for reasons of security, the identity of the loading port is not being disclosed, which is why the Stealth Zone has been implemented.”
All these measures are understandable but it is beyond our understanding why the same organization would ever take photos of the shore crews setting up the cradles in the secret port and publish them without taking all the necessary precautions and checks that these are perfectly safe for publication.
The original photo (that we altered for obvious reasons) in combination with another one showing the national flag of the country allowed to pinpoint the exact location of the "secret" port in 5 minutes
In fact, the original photo above (that we altered for obvious reasons) in combination with another one where a national flag of the country was visible on another docked boat allowed us to pinpoint the exact location of the “safe haven port” in 5 minutes. Still, it is probably far fetched to think that Somali pirates would have ever seen those photos (removed by now) but it is puzzling that photos that could even have a remote connection with the port would EVER be made public!
They’d better be more careful next time!!
December 24th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Smart move….so where is it?
Would be a great aril first joke….merry christmas to the sailing comunity
December 24th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Location was Diego Garcia.
December 25th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
So the article hides the details and here comes a not very smart know-all and reveals what could become a problem for the sailors and the race.
Congratulations, you knew where it was. You feel better?
December 25th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Maldives, best place for Xmas.
December 26th, 2011 at 8:42 am
paranoia’s a bitch…
December 26th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Stu Bannatyne on the Camper Facebook Page:
“Still 160 odd miles to go to the finish and you can see its going to be a pretty tight game all of the way.”
December 26th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
I thought Facebook was for girls?
December 29th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I speculated it was Diego Garcia, as well, due to the military presence and infrastructure. Will be interesting to see how Leg 3 is or is not affected by the messaging from Iran about it’s ability to shut down the Straight.
January 18th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Well, now with Sanya crossing the Equator without having reached the safe haven port, we all know that it is NOT (anymore?) Diego Garcia since Diego García is located south of the Equator!
Whether they have changed the location further to the inadvertently disclosure or DG was not the correct location, the fact is that it is somewhere else.