As of: March 27, 2024, 4:12 p.m
By: Dieter Roettig
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Paul Piendl (left) is happy about the mast that was repaired using a steel sleeve and an aluminum weld.
And the journey continues towards Cyprus (right).
© Piendl
The Schondorf circumnavigator Paul Piendl was lucky to be able to cross the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Djibouti, which is considered a high-risk area due to Houthi attacks, unscathed.
All the more annoying was a broken mast, which forced him to spend time in the restricted military area of the Egyptian port of Port Berenice on the west coast of the Red Sea.
Schondorf – Paul Piendl (25) can no longer hear the sailors’ greeting “mast and sheet break”.
The boat builder from Schondorf has been sailing around the world with his 9.15 meter long single-masted “Wasa” since January 2021 and has had a painful experience of it.
The mast break, a horror scenario for every sailor, occurred 400 nautical miles or 740 kilometers off Port Suez, the entrance to the Suez Canal.
As Paul described to his father Markus Piendl over the telephone, he was just below deck when he suddenly heard a crack.
The twelve meter high mast was broken above the first crossbeam, the spreader, and fell into the sea along with the rigging.
Only with a lot of strength and a good rush of adrenaline was Paul able to salvage the mast, sails and rigging alone and inform his family via text message.
After the mast broke in the port of Berenice - help from the coast guard
The Egyptian Coast Guard was alerted by his father that night via the German control center of the Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People, or DGzRS for short.
She towed the sailboat around twenty nautical miles to the military part of Port Berenice, where the officers were very cooperative.
Paul was well looked after and was able to talk to his father on the telephone.
He was even given a SIM card for his later onward journey, which he can use close to land.
Paul normally communicates with his family via text messages on his satellite phone.
The broken top part of the mast was reconnected to the lower part by the Egyptian helpers using a steel sleeve and an aluminum weld seam.
With this temporary arrangement, Piendl has now cast off and hopes that the mast and shrouds will last as far as Suez.
The Egyptian Coast Guard towed the “Wasa” with the broken mast to Port Berenice.
© Piendl
Since he can no longer raise the main sail completely, the Egyptians have equipped him with enough diesel fuel in case of an emergency.
The destination of this stage is Cyprus, where the boat comes ashore.
In addition to a new mast, it will also be thoroughly checked and overhauled.
Because it all costs a lot of money, one of Paul's sailing buddies started a crowdfunding campaign.
You can contribute to the costs at www.gofundme.com/f/wasa-broken-mast.
Refreshed and with a new mast, Piendl wants to arrive at the starting point of his journey in Lagos, Portugal, by August/September and thus complete his circumnavigation.
Schondorfer on the way to Cyprus: through the Gulf of Aden
The adventurous crossing of the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Djibouti will certainly remain unforgettable in his memories.
The young sailor had already planned this route via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to Cyprus and the final destination of Portugal long before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th last year.
At the time, no one could have imagined that this conflict would bring Yemen's Houthi terrorist militia onto the scene.
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It declares its attacks on merchant ships as support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war and as a means of putting pressure on many states to bring about a turnaround in the conflict.
After all, a tenth of world trade passes through the passage from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea.
An alternative route via the South African Cape of Good Hope is a good 6,000 kilometers longer.
Paul Piendl had also thought about a short-term change to this approach.
This detour would have been safe, but it would have taken a year.
So Piendl stuck to his original plan and sailed off alone.
He has often had friends on board on such long journeys.
But this time they chickened out because the passage seemed too dangerous.
Paul Piendl in the Gulf of Aden: Right in the middle of radio traffic
You were probably right.
Paul Piendl's “Wasa” was just eight nautical miles away when the Houthis launched a missile attack on the merchant ship “True Confidence”.
Early in the morning on March 6th, the circumnavigator became an involuntary earwitness of radio communications between the freighter and the Houthis, who were posing as a Yemeni government warship.
Piendl finally learned over the radio that the Houthis had fired a rocket at the freighter, killing three sailors and injuring others.
Indian and US Navy ships were able to rescue the remaining crew from the burning freighter.
It becomes shockingly clear to Paul Piendl that even low-flying helicopters and the international warships patrolling here, including the Bundeswehr frigate “Hessen”, cannot offer 100% security.
Tense and watching the horizon with binoculars, Piendl finally reached the port of Djibouti on March 9th, where many Western warships were anchored.
He replenishes his supplies and, together with two other sailing ships, sets off for the Bab al-Mandab Strait between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, which is considered particularly dangerous.
There are huge explosions and fireballs in the sky, but from the American side: US air forces are taking action against the Houthis, but the sailors only find out about this later.
After this life-threatening adventure, the mast break that followed shortly afterwards felt annoying but almost harmless, as Paul Piendl noted with relief.