Sailing Into Troubled Waters

So what is it about our sailors which keeps getting them into trouble and the UK into all sorts of diplomatic difficulties?

No matter how enthusiastic I was about filling the mainsail with a good wind, I would make sure I stayed well clear of the waters anywhere near Somalia but the Chandlers (appropriate name for a sailing couple don’t ya think?) breezed down the Indian Ocean and of course the inevitable happened. They were captured and a ransom demand was issued.

Now what made the pirates think a couple’s family could raise a £4m ransom I don’t know, (maybe they heard the Chandlers were from affluent Royal Tunbridge Wells?)and I don’t reckon old Gordon Brown will stump up the cash so it’ll probably end by some charity paying the cash or the Chandlers being released after some military exercise and then of course, they’ll come home as heroes and sell their story for a million!

Then we have the Navy sailors who were captured by the Iranians last week and who were fortunately released yesterday. OK, they were sailing a racing yacht but why sail so close to Iranian waters? And the excuse that their boat developed a fault is just hogwash – why sail so close in the first place? Why not leave a clear distance so that even in the case of a problem, there’s still plenty of water between them and these nutters presided over by that funny little creep – I’ma dinnerjacket or whatever his name is?

This latest navy blunder just mirrors the hostage taking 2 years ago when Iran captured 15 navy personnel who had just happened to ‘drift’ into Iranian waters. In that escapade the hostages were held for quite a few weeks and I seem to recall one of them breaking down because his captors had taken his iPod away from him. Eventually, they were all given cheap, badly-fitting suits, paraded in front of the world’s press and then released as the UK squirmed at the spectacle before them.

What is it about sailors and sailing which seems to turn their brains to seaweed? Is it the constant splashing by salt water or what? They’re all numpties. Rant over!