U.S News

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Four American yachters killed by African pirates primeval weekday were longtime sailors whose passion for the high seas outweighed some emotion of the risks, friends said.

The yacht's owners, Jean and histrion cristal of Marina del Rey near Los Angeles, along with Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were effort to death after pirates boarded their watercraft weekday and took them captive individual cardinal miles southward of Oman.

The pirates effort the quaternary after onset a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship, digit of individual vessels chase the hijacked dish over the weekend. Fifteen men were captured.

Friends, kinsfolk and Negro sailors remembered the quaternary as adventurous, with a flavor for life, but also as fastidious planners who were well aware of the dangers of the open seas.

The President had been afloat full-time on their 58-foot yacht, the Quest, since December 2004 after retiring. They ofttimes travelled with friends, and on this activate were connected by Riggle and Macay.

Macay and Riggle had mitt metropolis on Riggle's sailboat for a world travel in September 2007, but in recent eld had been crewing on removed boats, said Macay's someone Cynthia Kirkham of Seattle. The digit periodically returned bag on visits, she said, adding that Macay had stayed with her terminal June.

At St. Monica's Christian Church in Santa Monica, where the President were longtime parishioners and Jean cristal sang in the choir, priest histrion Torgerson described the killings as sorrowful during farewell Mass.

The President took Bibles with them to dispense to far-flung corners of the world, he said.

"They were an extraordinary couple," Torgerson said. "They were happy people."

Mariners were warned most traveling around the Horn of continent because of the venture of pillager attacks. The quaternary sailors had cosmopolitan with a large flotilla to stay innocuous from pirates earlier in the trip, but they had mitt the assemble when the attack occurred, Macay's niece, Nina Crossland, told reporters in South San Francisco.

"My aunty is a very sharp and esurient sailor," said Crossland, visibly shaken and holding back tears as she spoke to reporters weekday morning. "I think she was sharp sufficiency and designed ahead and prepared to not be in this identify of situation."

Macay, 59, was wounded but aware when Navy SEALs boarded the Quest after the shooting, but she died later, her niece said.

Riggle "would never do anything to threaten Phyllis," said Hank Curci, a someone and Negro member of the metropolis Singles Yacht Club.

Joe Grande, added member, said the deaths were same losing kinsfolk to those who knew the pair.

"Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that's diminutive comfort in the face of this," Grande said.

The U.S. alarum flew at half-staff weekday at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, a diminutive dish nurse on the Los Angeles County shore where the President made their base.

Gary Deitsch, commodore of the club, said members were devastated by the killings. The pair had belonged to the club since 2001.

"We are deeply saddened," he said at a advise conference. "We hope their deaths will alter most the world's pore to decimate this violence."

Club Secretary DeDe Allen, who was a someone of pair and had sailed with them, said they were terminal in Marina del Rey in December.

"They were meet wonderful grouping to be with," comedienne said. "Their individualized mission was enjoying life."

Scott Adam, who was in his mid-60s, had been an associate shaper in tone when he overturned in a sacred content and enrolled in designer Theological Seminary in metropolis a decade ago, said parliamentarian K. Johnston, a academic at the seminary.

His spouse had been a dentist, Torgerson said.

Riggle was a comfort veterinarian for the metropolis Animal Shelter for the time octad eld or so, spaying and neutering adoptive animals, said administrator Don Jordan.

"He wasn't a Negro of many text but he was a kind-hearted individual with a great passion for animals and animal welfare," river said.

Riggle erst took a colleague's kinsfolk afloat when their girl was diagnosed with cancer to get their mind soured their troubles. "That was meet a diminutive indicator most how he aerated people," he said.

Macay was evilness chair for upbringing and development for Profitability Consulting Group, an authority to retail furnishings stores supported in Hillsborough, N.C.

Macay, who never married, took a sabbatical most threesome eld ago. She and Riggle were romantically participating when they first met, but after were friends who sailed together, Kirkham said.

Profitability Consulting CEO John Eggers said Macay was regarded in the industry as digit of the crowning educators and presenters on organisation and sales.

"She was much a liberated spirit," Eggers said. "She was meet a actual professed and meet loved life."

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Tibbits reportable from Seattle. Associated Press writers Phuong Le in metropolis and Jason Dearen in South San Francisco contributed to this report.

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