Arwad in August 2008. They passed through the Suez Canal, and entered the Red Sea to begin their re-enactment of the epic voyage. There would be many challenges to face along the way, including the danger of attack by pirates, who were known to be active off the coast of Somalia. The crew had to be especially vigilant while navigating these pirate-infested waters. They relied on intelligence reports to avoid the most dangerous areas. At one stage they were followed by a suspicious boat, which only vanished when a container ship passed by. Later they came near to a pirate mother-ship, which had made an attack only a few days before. They diverted course to avoid it. The following week they heard that the pirate vessel had hijacked three other ships in the same waters. Having sailed down the east coast of Africa, the next challenge was to round the notorious Cape of Good Hope. The stormy seas of the Cape have long been a terror for sailors, and accounted for many wrecks. Here the Phoenicia met with seven metre waves and gale force winds that tore the mainsail in two. The crew made repairs, and continued their voyage around the Cape. Having succeeded in overcoming this great challenge, the small wooden ship followed a course along the west coast of Africa. There were not only storms to face, Launching the ship but days of adverse winds that caused long