This is message the Boags recv'ed from one of there Dutch Friends. Dan
The departure from The Gambia waters was very exciting, and damaging. About 8 to 10 miles off-shore a 25 foot white wood/fiberglass boat with 2 small Yamaha outboards on it started heading our way. Only one of the twenty something hp motors was working, and the boat didn't look like the typical local fishing boat. The boat had five or six African guys in it, in the 18 to 28 age range. No name on the boat. No number, No signage, No life preservers, horn, lights, flags, or radio. We were doing about six knots under sail only, joe at the helm. The boat appeared shortly after we passed three small fishing boats. The big guy on the bow kept yelling, "turn off your engine and stop your boat." He and four other crew members we wearing third world hand-me-down T shirts and shorts with no footwear. The leader of the ocean going Thugs was in the middle of the boat and was wearing a well worn World War I jacket with home-made epaulets on his shoulders. The leader kept yelling, "Stop for Senegal Customs inspection." Needless to say we didn't stop, and yelled back that we weren't using a motor and we were NOT in Senegal waters. This pissed them off, yet the guy seated in the boat with a vintage machine gun (or set of pipes welded together to look like a gun) didn't move. We stayed our course, yet they got too close and hit Vision Quest in the rear quarter. Minor damage, we think. The big bow guy grabbed our toe-rail. Jim pushed him away and off balance. More yelling and excitement... I started the motor and headed west at over 10 knots while our crew went below to prepare other defensive steps. The BS Thugs motored a short distance away for awhile, then made the wise choice to turn towards shore.
We are just north of Boa-Vista island, Cape Verde. Hope to make Mindelo by sunset. Winds have been close to 16 to 24 knots just off the beam so far.
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