Pirate-Attack Survivor Dies as Boat Wrecks on Colombian Beach

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Adopo

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Calypso
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1981 Fairchild Scout

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Dang. Some final destination stuff there....
 
Swedish sailor Magnus Reslow, who survived multiple beatings by pirates in December, was found dead on a Colombian beach earlier this week near his wrecked boat. Local fishermen found the body, and Reslow’s brother Martin confirmed its identity.

Reslow, 64, embarked from Santa Marta on Friday bound for Colon, Panama. On Monday the Dhokus was found awash in the surf off Puerto Velero, about 50 nautical miles west of Santa Marta.

Not sure this contributed to his demise, but talk about bad luck. Hope no one was with him as they think there may have been.

In one of his final Facebook posts Reslow noted that the passage forecasts called for brisk winds. Another post explained that he would be relying on celestial navigation because his GPS had been stolen.
 
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interesting update to story.

Report: Sweden Sends Cop To Investigate Death of Sailor in Colombia

Report: Sweden Sends Cop To Investigate Death of Sailor in Colombia
No ID of the Body; Family Fears Cremation Will Preclude an Autopsy

PETER SWANSON
3/14/2024


Marcus Reslow shows an interviewer the area of his lower arm and wrist with a surgically implanted metal plate, an easy way to idenfity a body.

It sounds like the plot from the latest Netflix series.

A Swedish sailor shipwrecks in the Caribbean, a body washes up on the beach, then… nothing.

No one formally identifies the corpse. Colombian authorities say nothing about an autopsy, even though the dead sailor had recently survived pirate attacks.

Seeking answers Sweden sends its own police investigator to find out what’s really going on, and the sailor’s family waits anxiously back home, fearing the body may be cremated before they can learn the truth.

Unlike most YouTube sailors, Jens Brambusch is an author and experienced journalist. He has been covering the Marcus Reslow story ever since the solo sailor was attacked by pirates in Columbia on December 29. Float is a German boating magazine, which, unlike its U.S. counterparts, has a “true crime” coverage category.

Earlier this week Float published a story, in which Bramsbusch wrote:

Float has learned from family sources that the Swedish police have already sent a special investigator to Colombia. An indication that the embassy assumes a non-natural cause of death? In response to this and the simple question as to whether it is customary in Sweden for police officers to be sent to natural deaths abroad, the ministry diplomatically replies: “We would refer you to the Swedish police authority for further information.” In other words, a Swedish police officer is on site.

Loose Cannon asked Reslow’s brother if he could confirm that the Swedish government has sent an investigator to Colombia. “No, I can’t confirm that,” Martin Reslow said. “We have got very little information from the (Swedish) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the police so far. Not even the identification job is done as far as we know. (Magnus dental records were sent to Colombia more than two weeks ago.)”

In his March 12 YouTube video, Bramsbusch also reported that Reslow’s body—recovered more than two weeks ago—would also be easily identifiable because of a steel plate that was implanted in his lower right arm after an injury.


Sailing on a shoestring, Marcus Renslow used this school Atlas to fill in the gaps in his nautical charts. In fact, no one much doubts that the body in a Colombian morge belongs to Reslow, and it would not ordinary take a conspiracy to explain his death.

Reslow, 64, set out from Santa Marta bound for Panama still hurting from beatings suffered at the hands of pirates. His boat Dhokus was a clapped out Laurin 32 without a working engine. He was relying on a handheld GPS, applying the coordinates in some cases to an old school atlas for areas where he lacked nautical charts.

The Caribbean coast of Columbia is a blustery place. In fact, Renslow’s boat washed up on a beach not far from a kite-surfing resort town. According to Bramsbusch, Reslow had timed his departure as winds were forecast to be even stronger than usual. Wind, waves and current around there often conspire to turn the entire coast into a lee shore.

Bramsbusch is thorough in his coverage of the sequence of events:

In a previous career as a newspaper editor, Loose Cannon would counsel his young reporters with an old saying: “Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be explained by simple incompetence.”

Was Reslow’s death the result of foul play, or is this mystery just a byproduct of routine ineptitude in the Columbian justice system?

 

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Your source is like the National Enquirer of boating, just saying. From the link you posted.

In late December, Reslow was sailing solo en route from from Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands of Panama when he was boarded and beaten by pirates. He fought off three boatloads of pirates attacking in succession…
 
In all respects due he did not die of boredom or old age hats off and beverage dipped.

Santa Martha in Colombia used to be a holiday destination, now it has become more like Cancun in Mexico, lots of drug gangs, crime etc.
The son of a friend of mine was murdered in Santa Martha and the police simply refused to investigate. She did not accept that and went to Santa Martha to find out what happened.
You may think she is a foreigner, but she is not, she is Colombiana, from Bogota, living in Curacao. She knows what Colombia is like and she is not scared of anything or anyone.

She went there, found out where her son had been, with whom her son had been and where he was last seen. Passed all the info to the police, who told her basically to p*ss off. That was 4 years ago and up until now she still does not know who was responsible for the killing of her son.

I can't say for sure what happened to this sailor, but seems to me that he was stirring the hornet's nest a bit too much and they came after him.
Just a pity he did not decide to steer due North to get out of there as fast as possible.
 
Santa Martha in Colombia used to be a holiday destination, now it has become more like Cancun in Mexico, lots of drug gangs, crime etc.
The son of a friend of mine was murdered in Santa Martha and the police simply refused to investigate. She did not accept that and went to Santa Martha to find out what happened.
You may think she is a foreigner, but she is not, she is Colombiana, from Bogota, living in Curacao. She knows what Colombia is like and she is not scared of anything or anyone.

She went there, found out where her son had been, with whom her son had been and where he was last seen. Passed all the info to the police, who told her basically to p*ss off. That was 4 years ago and up until now she still does not know who was responsible for the killing of her son.

I can't say for sure what happened to this sailor, but seems to me that he was stirring the hornet's nest a bit too much and they came after him.
Just a pity he did not decide to steer due North to get out of there as fast as possible.

Looking at the vids and reports seems he wasn’t risk aversive. Have done multiple races using just celestial. Know when it’s bumpy even doing local noon or at night lower limb of the moon is a struggle and your circle of likely position is quite large. Also there are days when just seeing a celestial object or the horizon is impossible. So his going off with being totally dependent upon celestial seems foolhardy. Same with being a solo sailor. In recent years my experience is that most insurance companies require you to have a certain number of crew for passage. Prepping a boat for single handed passage requires a lot of work and money. Little is offered about the boat but it’s suggested he had limited resources. That raises the suspicion redundancy and strength of key systems might have been deficient. We don’t know about foul play or structural failure.
Big believer in KISS and always been impressed by those who single. Still unlike the Grenada tragedy agree with Mambo at that locale with this passage it was when not if. Seems like the ABCs you need to head due north quietly when leaving. Get some distance from the potentially leeshore and from human troubles. Had the huge pleasure of chatting with Webb Chiles when we kept the boat in Hilton Head. Striking how different his experience was. Safety concerns were weather and the boat not humans from what he has written and related. Mambo stories delineate an unfortunate reality. You need to be aware of the situation in that country not just the boat and weather.
 
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