Olecapt .. I am not in a position to help financially but if I was anywhere
near where they are I would do whatever I could to help.

Why? Because this can happen to anyone. That's why. The best sailor on
earth has run aground.

I ran aground in New Bedford Mass once. That is not easy to do, I did it.
Sure enough if another sailor didn't help me get off the mud, give me a ride
to a coffee place, help me get set up at a marina .. and he was just doing
his thing.

I've never forgotten that man. He was Portuguese. I also remind every
Portuguese person I ever meet what great people they are.

It is the little things.. that is why folks help out.


ps:: this doesn't mean I would help out a nut job such as Ken Barnes, the
screwball with the beautiful people family.

Ya gotta draw the line somewhere.

ps ps ps .. not helping out Donna Lange either. She is another nut job, and
giving her something will only encourage her to go out and kill herself.


But with Flying Pig .. what you have as far as I can see from here is a
simple case of "oh ****".

You tell me the sailor who hasn't said "oh ****" and I will introduce you to
someone who has never taken the boat out of the marina.


-------------
"Olecapt" wrote in message
...
OK - I will go for it. This couple seems unsuited for short handed
sailing. Helping them out simply helps them to kill themselves.

Why would you do that?


"Larry" wrote in message
...
For the first time since this whole thing happened, Iâ?Tm really angry.
Not because of what happened, but because I just finished composing a
letter to the Log, which immediately disappeared into the ether. So,
ARGHHHH!! I say to you. :/

I wanted to say a few more things before we (hopefully) get wrapped up
tomorrow in trying to get back to living on our wonderful home, Flying
Pig.

We are so grateful for all your love and support, well wishes,
encouragement, and beautiful, warm emails. You have no idea how
sustaining they have been to us both.

There have been many, many offers of help, ranging from car loans, to
vacant boats to live on temporarily, to cash donations. Iâ?Tm not able
to answer all those mails individually as yet, but I wanted to make
these blanket comments to those of you who have made offers.

There are some Angels out there, disguised as sailors, who have taken
steps to set up a means to make donations. (Email not posted here), aka
William V Hoyle Jr. has set up a Flying Pig Trust account, into which
some people have wished to contribute by snail mail. His address is:

10401 Warwick Blvd
Newport News, VA 23601
(Office phone not posted, either)

(another email deleted here) has also set up a PayPal account in which to
make
donations.

Having said that, I must also tell you that among the cruising
newsgroups, there has been some dialogue about whether or not we need
any financial help, and that perhaps we should have been consulted
first before Angels stepped in. These are my thoughts on this:

I am comfortable sharing with you that our boat was insured for $140K,
subject to the underlying mortgage of $64K. The salvage of Flying Pig
from the reef to Marathon, some 25 miles, which involved a 70â?T, 1000HP
landing craft, two SeaTow boats, a BoatUS boat, a ferry boat, 4
divers, 2 helpers and the salvage Captain, cost $30K of which $7K is
covered by insurance. Obviously there will be a shortfall. We
anticipate that all other repairs will be covered by insurance. Any
costs for living expenses incurred since the wreck, has been absorbed
by the Red Cross, to whom weâ?Tre very grateful, with the exception of
the car rental for a week. We had just gifted our van to a needy guy
in the old boat yard we left, the day before we departed. In truth,
he needed it more than we.

I will also tell you that while we donâ?Tt have the shortfall at hand,
we would be mortified and very uncomfortable if anyone out there were
to make donations based on anything other than desire and ability.
For those who have the ability and are not driven by desire, thatâ?Ts
entirely OK by us. We donâ?Tt expect anything, and we wouldnâ?Tt have
felt either disappointed or abandoned if these Angels-posing-as-
sailors had never brought this subject up. So, for those of you who
want to help us financially, we thank you with all our hearts. For
those of you who canâ?Tt or donâ?Tt, we thank you too for following your
comfort level, as we would have done, Iâ?Tm sure, were the shoe to be on
the other foot.

We are Pay Forward people, I think, and over and over, it has paid us
back. We carry spares for others that we know we would never use for
ourselves; in kind, we have received spares we needed from others we
didnâ?Tt have. This is part of the cruising mentality. And itâ?Ts
good.
However, we donâ?Tt expect anything; in return, it seems, we have
everything.

So, thatâ?Ts that. I mean it.

As to the grounding â?¦

There are some of you who might be sitting back, scratching your
heads, wondering if we were out there playing â?osilly buggarsâ??, as my
British ex-husband would say. Well, we obviously werenâ?Tt adhering to
our own rules of safety.

1. We were exhausted and sleep deprived when we left.
2. When I got seasick on my second Scopalamine patch while I was on
watch, I didnâ?Tt wake Skip, knowing he badly needed rest, to get help.
As discussed in earlier log posts, I feel this really impacts your
judgement.
3. As a result of either the patch (which Iâ?Tve heard affects vision)
or just the rough seas and exhaustion, I didnâ?Tt focus well on pretty
much anything, including the instruments.
4. While we diligently checked the weather in St Pete and Marathon
before leaving, which looked very good for a downhill run, we werenâ?Tt
adequately prepared to hit surprise bad weather.
5. We were in a hurry to leave, to reach George Town, Exumas by 3/1
when my son and girlfriend were arriving by air to join us. I didnâ?Tt
want them arriving without us being there to greet them. Big no-no.

We live and learn ï?O

We were taken out for a wonderful dinner tonight by Jay and Diane,
more amazing people weâ?Tve never met, who happened to be in a slip in
Key West and contacted us. We had a marvelous evening together.
Weâ?Tre so grateful for them, and for all of you who have lent your
shoulders as props.

Stay tuned â?" this will be the last mail from me before weâ?Tre safely
back on the boat in the Keys Boat Yard, Marathon, which we anticipate
to be tomorrow. Yay for that â?" Iâ?Tm ready to kick butt again ï?S

With love, Lydia (and Skip)