Phillip Merril's Sailboat Found Empty In Chesapeake Bay

[Sandero]

I don 't know Mr Merrill, but I have a sneaking suspicion he was up to no good and he knew it and either his conscience got to him, or someone suggested suicide would be cleaner than being offed.

If he was a close friend of Cheney... he had reason to be depressed or scared or both. Another casuality of the war on terror....

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[sneuman]

Hey, maybe it was murder! Remember Vince Foster?

Don't know what his politics were, but it just wouldn't be right for a politician to die without some sort of conspiricy theory.

[Vasco]

One of the reasons for this board's popularity is that most refrain from political rants. It's unfortunate that some let their animosity towards the government of the day affect their outlook on life to such an extent that they introduce it as a factor in the suicide of an unfortunate old man. Let him rest in peace.

Vasco, that was totaly tongue in cheek. I assure you that no political rant was implied.

[Vasco]

Kai Nui,

My reply was in response to Jef's. There was no political rant in yours.

[Sandero]

I know what his politics are... do some googling. I did not bring politics into this discussion per se, except to allege that IF it was a suicide.. there would be reasons that someone would taker their life... and we don't know the reason.... we can only guess.

And since it wasn't an accident, it could have been a murder to appear as a suicide and then there would motive.

Since this wasn't an accident, the circumstances surrounding the life of Mrs Merrill are germaine to his death.... all circumstances.

And one of them was Cheney speaking at his funeral. It may mean nothing at all. It may mean something. You decide.

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[staehpj1]

In any case the reasons for his apparent suicide are not all that appropriate to this venue. I think that discussion of his motives would be fair game IF the topic were appropriate to begin with, but it isn't.

OK here is a nudge towards being back on topic:
Discussion of aspects of the case that relate in some way to cruising or at least sailing are appropriate. I had hoped to hear back from the folks who were quick to criiticize when they still thought it was an accident. I have to wonder if they really practice what they preach. I have to guess that they don't as I have never seen a single person using a harness on the middle or upper Chesapeake.

Pete

[BC Mike]

I wear a harness when I am alone. I wear a harness when it is rough with two people on board. I wore my harness during almost the entire Swiftsure race. I can swim quite well and am hoping to attain the ability to walk on water, but I may not live long enough.
There must be more to life on earth than American politics.
Some of the boats going to Hawaii from San Fran are light weight small boats, like the Kirby 24. Hope those guys are well strapped in.
Michael

[DeepFrz]

Jef, did Cheney have his hunting jacket on?

[Sandero]

He has the SS with him.

[BC Mike]

I guess there is no end in site to the US only version of the world. Boys and girls: who is the 2IC in England Australia NZ Canada or any other of the countires that our members are from? Geez, who is the prez or PM ? The American members do not readily know, or probably care, so why must we keep hearing about unrelated US crap. I have a TV for crying out loud. The US has been eliminated from the world cup of soccer, so has the land of Ozz on a lousy call.
Michael.

[Starbuck]

Making judgments about someone's behaviour is best left to whichever god one subscribes to.

We can't see into anyone's heart, so judging motives is pretty dangerous business; however, behavior is external, and we'd be fools not to make judgments about people based on their behavior. Snap judgments, no; but after enough evidence is in (and it doesn't really take that long, usually) you'd be living in a fool's paradise if you didn't make judgments about people's behavior 100 times a day.

As Merrill's case unfolds, it appears he was diagnosed with some terminal disease, and so killed himself rather than endure the ordeal in front of him. I don't admire that, because at its core, it's a selfish, easy way out. I admire the man who goes through the fire, not the one who upsets the checkerboard because he's losing.

Food for thought as you sit sipping wine on your yacht I really have no opinion about his actions, as I did not know him, and he is not family. As I mentioned earlier, the only concern I have is if he left his vessel in a position to be a hazard to other boats. Even the solo sailor who chooses not to wear a harness is accepting the consequences for that decision, and only concerns me if he becomes a danger to me or others. The fact is, we live in a very "safe" society. We seem so concerned with protecting people from themselves, I think we often lose site of self responsibility. As sailors, this is even more of an issue as we have to be so self reliant in order to do what we do.

[coot]

Originally Posted by BC Mike

I guess there is no end in site to the US only version of the world. Boys and girls: who is the 2IC in England Australia NZ Canada or any other of the countires that our members are from? Geez, who is the prez or PM ? The American members do not readily know, or probably care, so why must we keep hearing about unrelated US crap. I have a TV for crying out loud. The US has been eliminated from the world cup of soccer, so has the land of Ozz on a lousy call.
Michael.

hmm.. let's see what I can do from memory:

I only speak American, so I don't know what a "2IC" is, but:

England: Prime Minister is Tony Blair. Labour party. There is some speculation that he my not be PM for much longer. I forget the name of the shadow PM, but he's a Tory with a very distinctive speaking voice. For a while, his tag line was "And that's why nobody belives a word that they say", referring to Labour. The PM is required to address parliament regularly (is it once or twice a week?), though lately it seems the MPs just want to score points by putting him down. It would be useful if the US president had to answer to congress in a similar fashion, but that would require changes to the constitution. b.t.w. I often see reference to the "constituion" of the UK, but there is no such document.

Australia: John Howard. Conservative. He seems to be quite the social conservative. Trivia: The head of state of Australia is Queen Elizabeth II, and her royal governor (name escapes me) just rejected a piece of legislation in the past couple of weeks. Australia voted to retain a monarch a few years ago, but the pro-republic faction claims it was because the referendum didn't really say anything about what the republic would be.

Canada: PM is Stephen Harper, a conservative. He is recently elected a few months ago. The big news lately is that he just apologized for previous governments imposing a high fee on Chinese immigrating to Canada.

New Zealand: Sorry - I don't remember. I do know that New Zealanders were unreasonably angry at several professional sailors who took jobs with non-NZ boats at the last America's cup. As I heard it, public opinion was against the sailors in spite of the fact that the New Zealand entry did not offer them jobs. New Zealand is a politically stable country, though there are still tensions between the Maori and the whites.

So, you see not everybody in the US is totally ignorant of politics in other countries.

Now for the bonus question: Who is Michele Bachelet?