Pirate hostages to sail away again

Freed hostages Paul and Rachel Chandler are to take to the seas again
12 April 2012

A couple who were held hostage for more than a year by Somali pirates will take to the seas again in the yacht they were sailing when they were kidnapped.

Paul and Rachel Chandler spent 388 days in captivity after armed raiders boarded their 38ft yacht, Lynn Rival, as they sailed from the Seychelles to Tanzania in notoriously dangerous waters.

The retired pair, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were released last November after a ransom of up to one million dollars (£620,000) was paid.

The couple, who were beaten by their captors when they refused to be separated, told BBC Breakfast the boat was their home and they loved to travel.

The couple, who have written a book about their experience, Hostage, will sail to the Caribbean "this time next year".

Mr Chandler, 60, said: "We decided some years ago that (the boat) was our home for as long as we were fit enough to maintain that lifestyle. It's what we do."

Asked if they were worried the ordeal could be repeated, Mrs Chandler, 56, said: "If you have an adventurous spirit, there are always risks.

"Independent travellers always face risks. And you can't think about it.

"We love to travel, we love to sail, we love to go to different places and meet different people - that's what we are. If we didn't do that, we would be defeated by this and we are determined to carry on."

Mr Chandler said the majority of the kidnappers were "misguided youths".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in