A terrible tragedy occurred on the high seas this past week. Long-time
J sailors, Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle, from Seattle, WA (pictured
here) were sailing with their friends Jean and Scott Adam on their boat
QUEST off Oman and were headed, ultimately, for Europe. However, the
notorious Somalian pirates boarded and hijacked their boat and crew of
four over 250 miles out at sea. Despite best efforts by the US Navy and
amazing Navy Seals teams, the rescue effort ended in tragedy with both
couples dying in the process.
Our
heartfelt condolences, warm hugs and best wishes to the Adams family,
Mackay family and the Riggle family. Bob was a long-time J sailor,
having recently cruised and circumnavigated the world using the
Equatorial route with his J/109 GAIA-- the inspiration for the
educational blog he wrote and has been part of our J/News introduction
for the past two years. We are deeply sad and feel tremendous sorrow
for Bob and his fellow sailors, extraordinary samaritans and just
amazingly thoughtful people. You can read more about this sailing tragedy at the New York Times.We hope as a tribute to Bob's love for sailing, that we all learn from his example and greatly appreciate the legacy he left behind for all of us chronicling his adventures on the J/109 GAIA's blog at: http://tinyurl.com/j109GaiaCruise