For the first time since this whole thing happened, I’m 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. I’m 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 70’, 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 we’re 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 don’t 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, that’s
entirely OK by us. We don’t expect anything, and we wouldn’t 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 can’t or don’t, we thank you too for following your
comfort level, as we would have done, I’m 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
didn’t have. This is part of the cruising mentality. And it’s
good.
However, we don’t expect anything; in return, it seems, we have
everything.

So, that’s that. I mean it.

As to the grounding …

There are some of you who might be sitting back, scratching your
heads, wondering if we were out there playing “silly buggars�, as my
British ex-husband would say. Well, we obviously weren’t 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 didn’t 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 I’ve heard affects vision)
or just the rough seas and exhaustion, I didn’t 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 weren’t
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 didn’t
want them arriving without us being there to greet them. Big no-no.

We live and learn �

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

Stay tuned – this will be the last mail from me before we’re safely
back on the boat in the Keys Boat Yard, Marathon, which we anticipate
to be tomorrow. Yay for that – I’m ready to kick butt again �

With love, Lydia (and Skip)