Sailor Lost; 406 EPIRB Activated 30nm N of Key West

[purplecaiman]

I have a contact if needed in Cuba

[captain58sailin]

My Deepest Condolences to the Family.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by purplecaiman

I knew jay since aug,sailed with him on his boat and mine,we ate on my deck many many nights.
I can say he loved his son more than life itself.
You can have peace now .
Rip brother

I have gone from sad to angry. Hearing of a father son relationship that was strong, and is now gone, pisses me off. So many fathers could care less, and the good ones die.

If someone could post an email PayPal address to send the son money, that would be appreciated. Once email PayPal addresses have been posted, someone start a sticky with that information. Everyone sending a little something will help this family a great deal.

[caradow]

Regarding jedi's suggestion on contacting the Comodoro of Club Nautico International Hemingway de Cuba:

Lic. Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich
yachtclub@cnih.mh.tur.cu
Telefax: 537 204 1689
204 6653
204 7627-28 ext :102

After meeting him a few days ago I too would think he would be a very influential person to help in this situation.
Also I see no reason why the Cubans would not cooperate.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by caradow

Regarding jedi's suggestion on contacting the Comodoro of Club Nautico International Hemingway de Cuba:

Lic. Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich
yachtclub@cnih.mh.tur.cu
Telefax: 537 204 1689
204 6653
204 7627-28 ext :102

After meeting him a few days ago I too would think he would be a very influential person to help in this situation.
Also I see no reason why the Cubans would not cooperate.

Great you got the contact info; now may be it won't be ignored ...

[Bluewaters2812]

R.I.P. Jay and fair winds in Heaven await you. Most of us never knew you but we shared concern and tried to find you. I'm sorry for you and your family that it ended this way. To your family, our heartfelt condolences. It will always be sad when we lose a fellow sailor. May you reach Heaven with your sailing spirit and cast a watchful eye over us down here.

[cheoah]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Great you got the contact info; now may be it won't be ignored ...

Maybe I missed some details but I'm under the impression that the issue is cost, rather than bureaucracy? I would be very surprised if the Cuban government is in any way impeding Jay's return, but they don't have the ability to fly him home nor will they foot the bill for Jay on a Delta charter flight.

Very true that the Comodoro could grease all the wheels and keep things moving though, hope it helps.

[H34]

This message is being recorded via Siri. I spoke this evening with the father of Jay. From all of our hearts we go out to those that share our pain and understanding. The phone call has great of helping for greater search and recovery efforts

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

I have gone from sad to angry. Hearing of a father son relationship that was strong, and is now gone, pisses me off. So many fathers could care less, and the good ones die.

If someone could post an email PayPal address to send the son money, that would be appreciated. Once email PayPal addresses have been posted, someone start a sticky with that information. Everyone sending a little something will help this family a great deal.

Since he had a good relationship with his father, that connectedness will always be with the son. I have seen this in both my daughters, who were 14 and 16 when he died. We're all going to die. We're on a countdown from the moment we draw our first breath.

I don't know why he had a colostomy, but I know it's not done lightly, and likely he realized that none of us really know how long we'll be here.

The only reason I didn't compete for the teacher's spot on the Challenger was that I have mild cerebral palsy and never would have passed an initial physical. My younger daughter was 3 when the Challenger blew up and already read her mother well. She asked me if I was going to go up in a space ship. She knew that one of the astronauts was a teacher and a "mommy," and she had already picked up on who I was. When I heard about that opening, I knew it was risky but concluded that they had figured out how to keep such tragedies from happening.

You take your cards, and you play your chances. No way could I have justified dying on the Challenger and leaving my children at ages 3 and 5 -- with an older father, who as it turns out, died when they were 14 and 16. But I wasn't thinking about the risks.

Like Jay, I sometimes sail my boat by myself. My younger daughter (now 29) "got it" immediately. My older daughter really didn't get it until she read my blog, and the blogging experience has been worth it just for that. They know that if something happens to me like what happened to Jay, it was an educated choice on my part.

[David_Old_Jersey]

On a purely practical note, a lot cheaper and a lot less paperwork (can be none!, if simply checked through with luggage) to get a body across borders if they have been cremated first. A body likely will be costing in the thousands and lots of health related paperwork as well.

Obviously family / religious sensibilities to take into account, but just because someone gets cremated does not mean they can't then be interred into a plot and also have a funeral at "Home". Being cremated does not make scattering compulsory / the only option for the remains.

Although Cuba a Catholic (Atheist?!) country and IIRC cremation not such a biggie with that religion it is not forbidden - so I would be very surprised if Cuba did not have some Crematorium facilities.

Anyway, just a practical thought.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

On a purely practical note, a lot cheaper and a lot less paperwork (can be none!, if simply checked through with luggage) to get a body across borders if they have been cremated first. A body likely will be costing in the thousands and lots of health related paperwork as well.

Obviously family / religious sensibilities to take into account, but just because someone gets cremated does not mean they can't then be interred into a plot and also have a funeral at "Home". Being cremated does not make scattering compulsory / the only option for the remains.

Although Cuba a Catholic (Atheist?!) country and IIRC cremation not such a biggie with that religion it is not forbidden - so I would be very surprised if Cuba did not have some Crematorium facilities.

Anyway, just a practical thought.

A very intelligent thought... that goat did have a positive influence...

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

On a purely practical note, a lot cheaper and a lot less paperwork (can be none!, if simply checked through with luggage) to get a body across borders if they have been cremated first. A body likely will be costing in the thousands and lots of health related paperwork as well.

Obviously family / religious sensibilities to take into account, but just because someone gets cremated does not mean they can't then be interred into a plot and also have a funeral at "Home". Being cremated does not make scattering compulsory / the only option for the remains.

Although Cuba a Catholic (Atheist?!) country and IIRC cremation not such a biggie with that religion it is not forbidden - so I would be very surprised if Cuba did not have some Crematorium facilities.

Anyway, just a practical thought.

In the mid-1980's I helped a friend bring her father's body back to the US from Martinique where they had met for a reunion after many years of estrangement. Unfortunately, the day after his arrival and their reunion, he suffered a heart attack and died in the lobby of their hotel. The local authorities listed his cause of death as unknown on his death certificate although there was little doubt he's had an MI. His body was placed in a sealed casket for the trip to the US via Air France. We ended up stuck in San Juan for two days as Customs insisted that the casket be opened for the remains to be examined for drugs while the Department of Health insisted that since the cause of death was unknown, and might have been some infectious agent they did not want unleashed in Puerto Rico, the casket could not be opened. In the mean time we sat at the Air France travel lounge, too liberally plied with wine supplied by sympathetic airline staff. Somehow the matter was finally resolved, tho' we don't know how, and we continued on the Chicago, arriving to a late November snow storm. It was a hugely costly, emotionally draining, exhausting effort. Whether it was worth it to her family, I don't know to this day. It is not something I would care to repeat, particularly with the Bureaucracy that exists today.

If he was, or aspired to be, a sailor, perhaps a burial at sea would be best.

[H34]

I spoke with the United States State department today and was able to reach a higher level

[Kettlewell]

Any update? I noticed this story today from the Keys News website:

Thursday, June 6, 2013
Mystery surrounds death of local boater found in Cuba
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
The mystery surrounding a missing Key West boater found dead near his boat on a Cuban beach last week is widening, as one Keys detective says he's struggling to get answers from federal officials.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office Detective Manny Cuervo has been investigating the disappearance of 40-year-old Jay Wesley Rydberg since he vanished May 14 at sea aboard his 39-foot trimaran, 3/4 Time.

The Coast Guard received a distress alert from the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) registered to 3/4 Time. The 4:13 a.m. signal came from about 30 miles north of Key West, according to reports.

Last week, Rydberg was reportedly found dead with a rope tied around his waist near his boat on a Cuban beach, but Cuervo still hasn't gotten confirmation that the remains are those of Rydberg, nor does the detective know where the body is or whether an autopsy has been performed.

Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer John Paul Rio confirmed Friday that its case into Rydberg's disappearance had been formally closed. Coast Guard 7th District officials have referred all questions to the U.S. State Department.

State Department spokesman Noel Clay in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that he was gathering information, but had not called back as of press time. Clay said Friday that officials were awaiting formal identification of the body, but two other government sources who wished to remain anonymous have confirmed it was Rydberg.

"It's my understanding -- again, this is only what I've been told -- that the Coast Guard told his (Rydberg's) family it's him, but I haven't had any communication from them stating how they made a positive identification," Cuervo said.

It's common for sailors to tie a rope to themselves while sailing alone so they don't get separated from their boat if they fall overboard, Cuervo said.

Adding to the mystery is the EPIRB signal. The beacon went off in 3-foot seas and 20-knot winds, with no storms reported in the area, according to the Coast Guard. Was it intentionally triggered?

"That's the million-dollar question right now we're all trying to figure out," Cuervo said.

The detective explained the Coast Guard used that EPIRB information to search for Rydberg's boat using computer models that take currents and weather data into account.

"If he intentionally went in a direction opposite of the drift, they wouldn't have found him," Cuervo said, adding that he would like to know what, if any, GPS information the Coast Guard retrieved from the sailboat.

Given all the questions, Cuervo said he hasn't yet ruled our murder or suicide.

"I don't have any information that he owed anyone money or had been in squabbles with anyone," Cuervo said. "I can't say too much because of [federal privacy laws], but there is some indication he might have had some mental issues."

Rydberg's sister, Jill Lesseig of Fairbanks, Alaska, told The Citizen he sailed from Key West to Fort Myers and was on his way back when he went missing. She told authorities he called her the morning of May 13 and sounded calm and relaxed, and said he would arrive in Key West on May 14 or 15.

Multiple phone messages left for Lesseig this week were not returned.

Rydberg had moored his sailboat for the past year in Man of War Harbor off Fleming Key. He told his live-aboard neighbors that he was going to the Dry Tortugas for a few days, Amber Wright told The Citizen the week he vanished.

But when he did not return, Wright said other fellow live-aboard boaters told her he actually had gone to Fort Myers.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

[capngeo]

Jay's Obituary