Sad. Sad.
Sad.
This is lifted
straight from the website of Blue Water Rallies.
“We at Blue Water
Rallies are stunned and devastated by the news of the loss of four friends who
have had their innocent lives taken away from them by the pirate menace which is
plaguing the Indian Ocean. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families
of Jean, Scott, Phyllis and Bob. We know that all their fellow
participants are deeply affected by this appalling tragedy.
All four were
brave adventurers. Phyllis and Bob had already circumnavigated the world
with our rally in 2007 - 2009 in Bob's yacht Gaia. They enjoyed it so much
that they came back to do it again as crew on various rally yachts. So
they are well known amongst a host of yachting people and have had good times on
many different yachts. Jean and Scott had only joined the rally before
Christmas and were not so well known but, as is the way of yachtsmen, they
quickly built a relationship with our floating community. Ironically,
after more than 6 years of roaming the globe together, they joined our rally for
the added security we could offer through the Gulf of Aden. Sadly, they
did not get that far as the pirate activity has spread out across the Indian
Ocean at an alarming rate over the past few months.
Although yachtsmen
have been discouraged from sailing through this area for some time, it is a hard
decision when the only other choices are to sail around the stormy, dangerous
seas off South Africa, leave the yacht in the Far East, put it on an expensive
cargo ship, or to sail back across the Pacific which presents more weather
challenges and difficulties. When one has set one's heart on a
circumnavigation, these choices are very difficult to make.
To all
the lovely friends and families that we have been speaking to since the Quest
was captured, we extend our deep heartfelt sympathies and share with you the
pain of their passing. God bless you all”
Jean and Scott
This is a personal
account of Phyllis lifted from a fellow Blue Water Rally sailor (who is a
dear friend of ours): Phyllis
Phyllis was one of the four American hostages shot dead in the early
hours of the 23rd February on board the pirated US yacht Quest that had been
attacked by Somali pirates at dusk.on the 18th Feb in the middle of the Indian
Ocean while sailing alone from Mumbai to Salalah, Oman. The other hostages were
Bob, who had circumnavigated with Phyllis in their 36ft yacht on the previous
Blue Water Rally, and the yacht’s owner/skipper and his wife, Scott and Jean. At
the time the fatal shootings happened, Quest was surrounded by four US warships
including a carrier and a battle cruiser and negotiations had been going on to
free the four hostages for some days but in the end, a panic shooting between
the pirates led to the warships closing in for action, panicking the pirates
still further into shooting their captives. I can’t begin to imagine how awful
those few days must have been.
I didn’t really know the owner and his wife as
they had only joined the rally in Thailand at Christmas and we have been mostly
at sea since then in different ports at different times. (The owner was a very
determined character by all accounts and had decided to sail direct and alone
from Mumbai to Salalah against all the advice). I knew Bob (who was very quiet)
slightly better as he had been on various boats with the Rally fleet for some
months and we met in Fiji. Phyllis however had been with the Rally since the
beginning in Gibraltar, October 2009.
I first met her in Panama last year and
she made quite an impression. She was very outgoing and chatty from the start
with a strong American accent and a way of talking from the side of her mouth
with her teeth clenched tight. She looked and sounded like one of those gutsy
little female characters you see in old American movies who are propped up
against the bar or looking after the menfolk on the ranch and always running the
whole goddam show. She also reminded me a little of Liza Minnelli I
think.
After circumnavigating with Bob in 2007-09, she wanted to do the whole
thing again, this time sailing as crew on other yachts. She had sailed on
several in the Rally for a few weeks or months before she joined Quest and I
remember thinking that she and Bob would have felt very much at home with their
own countrymen for the final legs of the trip across the Indian Ocean and up the
Red Sea into the Med. We were always turning to her for her experiences from
“the last time around”. She told me that the toughest part of the trip for her
last time was the Pirate Alley aka the Gulf of Aden or GoA. Second time around,
GoA had become less dangerous and Pirate Alley is now Pirate Pond aka the Indian
Ocean. Unbelievable.
She was certainly a tough cookie. In October, she had
hired a scooter in Kupang, Indonesia along with other crews and set off to
explore the island. She came a cropper on the terrible roads and really scraped
herself along one side when she hit the ground…..the scars were still very
visible just a few weeks ago in Cochin which is when we last spoke. We hadn’t
expected her to turn up in Cochin either as she had developed an extremely nasty
corneal ulcer while in Sri Lanka which could have cost her an eye. The advice
then had been for her to go back to the States immediately for proper treatment
but she typically chose to grin and bear it and carry on with the Rally.
I
think in a way that Phyllis belonged to the Rally and maybe embodied the spirit
of the Rally too. She will be missed very much by everyone.
I just can’t
believe that she’s gone.
Phyllis and Bob
WHY PUT THIS ON BEEZ
NEEZ BLOG.
This makes us extremely sad for the tragic loss of
these innocent people.
This makes us very sad for the stress it is causing
our friends in Oman at this very minute - we are not naming them for safety
reasons. Currently deciding on transporting themselves and their yacht out at
huge cost.
This makes us sad for our own dream, (this may sound
selfish - it is not meant that way) to miss all these beautiful places and
threaten our own circumnavigation. The one good thing for us is time, it will be
a long time before we are anywhere near this area. Hopefully the world will do
something about this hideous situation. Currently we plan on Thailand and then
review.
We wish to make no
comment or criticism on any decision taken by Quest.
Cruisers are peaceful
people; all they take is photographs and memories.
It should be enough
of an adrenaline fix just dealing with huge winds and the powerful seas.
Nothing
more.
ALL IN ALL
NUMBING
INCREDIBLY SAD AND VERY
WORRYING