SALAYA, India, Aug 7, 2009 (AFP) - Building and sailing wooden boats or dhows has been the mainstay of local life and work for generations in the village of Salaya, on India's western Gujarati coast.

The boats are moored for repairs during the monsoon season, giving the men who sail them a chance to relax and celebrate the many weddings and religious festivals that add vibrant splashes of colour and deafening sound to the muddy streets.

But this year's rains also bring another dark cloud as the new trading season approaches - fear that a spate of hijackings by heavily-armed pirates off the Somali coast will be repeated when the boats put to sea once more.

Imran Anwar, 24, sails on the Shah em Shah Medina, plying a route over the often uninviting, stormy waters of the Arabian Sea between India, the Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

Last trading season, pirates armed with rocket launchers, hand grenades and firearms in three speedboats seized the motorised dhow soon after it had delivered a cargo to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

"they took control and told us they wanted to find an oil tanker or a container ship and forced us to sail, threatening us," he told AFP TV.

"After travelling 600 nautical miles, we reached near a big container ship, but they weren't able to capture it.

"We travelled another 24 hours, then they abandoned us. It was really tough and frightening for all of us. We were thinking about home."

The pirates also took the vessel's only radio, leaving them unable to send any messages to shore. But their release after a week prompted wild celebrations, he said.

Somali hijackers attacked more than 130 merchant ships off Somalia last year, a rise of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

A multinational anti-piracy force, comprising more than 30 ships and aircraft from 16 nations, including members of NATO and the European Union, is operating in the lawless waters to ensure the safe passage of vessels.

The seizures of large oil supertankers in what is one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes have captured world attention, amid no sign of a let-up in the pirates? reign of terror.

And the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet, part of the international Combined Maritime Forces, this month warned of an increase in pirate attacks on all vessels when the monsoon season ends.

That includes the vulnerable dhows, which travel under both motor and sail, and typically weigh upwards of 700 tonnes.

For Salaya's seafarers, their wives and families, the terrifying experience is becoming all too familiar and prompting many young sailors to consider a different way of life.

Rashida, 20, has been Imran's wife for nearly a year, although he has been at sea for 10 months of their married life.

When word reached the village that his boat had been seized, she prayed for his safe return. News of the boat's release sent her running into the streets shouting: 'my husband is coming back! At last, he's coming back!"

Now she knows what can happen, her attitude has changed to her husband's occupation.

"I wish he'd never go back, but I know this is the only source of income for us," she explained.

"While my husband was on the ship, my elder brother-in-law fell sick. We spent a lot of money for his hospital treatment, so we are now facing a financial crisis, so he has to go back to sea.

"I have got to be very practical about this. I'm afraid, but I have to let him go. It's not only my husband but my father-in-law is with him (at) sea. I have to be strong. I have to send him."

When the Somalis stormed the dhow, Imran said his first thought was not to go to sea again, as sailing around the Gulf of Aden had become too dangerous.

But he too admits that he has little or no option in Salaya, where boatbuilding and sailing are among the few sources of employment.

"I don't want to go back, but there is no choice because the business is there," he said.