OSASA Warns Members to Beware Upsurge of GPS Signal Jamming

Ocean Sailing Association of Southern Africa raises security concerns

The Ocean Sailing Association of Southern Africa (OSASA) has raised security concerns about GPS signal jamming affecting voyaging yachts.

In a newsletter issued this week, OSASA director John Franklin warned OSASA members to beware jamming that he says has been on the increase since the Russia-Ukraine war. One such episode had lasted 47 hours, Franklin claimed. “GPS jamming and spoofing is not confined to the Baltic area, but appears to be increasingly widespread. This is very worrying for the international ocean yachtsman, who has become almost entirely dependent on GPS for position fixing,” Franklin said. “A European organization which monitors GPS outages reported 985 outages in the first two months of 2024.”

An additional security issue affecting ocean yachts was the safety of free passage to navigation in the Red Sea due to attacks by Houthi rebels, Franklin said. “OSASA is non-political organization, and it is not our position to comment on these conflicts. But we do need to create an awareness of the side issues which affect the international yachting community.”

“Although these instances have, so far, affected only commercial shipping, they have created an alarming sense of insecurity amongst leisure vessels wanting to make transits (mainly northbound) of the Red Sea. Most sensible yachtsmen, especially those with families aboard, are now avoiding the area,” Franklin said.

Security is a growing concern for cruisers along parts of the African coastline. Earlier this year a South African crew was detained for a week by the Mozambican navy after straying into a ‘no-go’ coastal area associated with insurgent activity. The crew were initially suspected of being linked to the ISIS-linked insurgent group, but were subsequently released following intervention from the South African military.