FL FL - Isabella Hellmann, 41, catamaran off Cay Sal, SE of the FL Keys, 14 May 2017 #1 *GUILTY*

[Satchie]

I agree, the family may be jumping to conclusions out of grief for losing Isabella and fear of losing the baby too, and they may well dislike LB because he's from a different culture and didn't fit in, or want to fit in, with them.

I still have lots of unanswered questions, not because of the family's comments, but because the couple's life circumstances seem so murky and ambiguous, it's very confusing, and raises to me the possibility someone's hiding something. Is it possible to be a jet setting/yachting 39 year old plumber living on three continents? Who were the people he transported, why have none of them commented to the media about what a great skipper he was? And requiring a Kim Kardashian-like non-sailor, on her belated honeymoon, to take a 5.5 plus hour night watch just seems kind of....not something a loving husband would do.

It's very possible they were just two wacky 40 something soulmates who weren't going to let little things like geography and finances get in the way of their grand life together, and in that case taking long night watch shifts and falling overboard is just part of the wackiness.



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[Jersey*Girl]

Something confuses me...

Did they have more than one sat phone? Lewis went down to sleep at 8:00pm. Isabella called her sister at 8:30pm using a sat phone. Lewis called USCG at 1:00am using a sat phone. Was it the only sat phone? If so, that'd mean that it was still on deck either tethered or just lucky enough to have survived a fall overboard.

Also, it's VERY weird that Isabella wasn't home on the 12th like she said she'd be, considering her sister that she's close with was graduating. Its EVEN MORE weird that Isabella didn't inquire about or speak with her daughter considering Sunday was Mother's Day - her very first Mother's Day.

While there isn't enough info to judge if there was a wrong-doing or not, and considering many many people have opinions on Isabella's disappearance, I would myself consider what her family is saying. Lewis does deserve the benefit of the doubt, and families do speak out of emotion, <modsnip>

 

[JerseyGirl]

Something confuses me...

Did they have more than one sat phone? Lewis went down to sleep at 8:00pm. Isabella called her sister at 8:30pm using a sat phone. Lewis called USCG at 1:00am using a sat phone. Was it the only sat phone? If so, that'd mean that it was still on deck either tethered or just lucky enough to have survived a fall overboard.

Also, it's VERY weird that Isabella wasn't home on the 12th like she said she'd be, considering her sister that she's close with was graduating. Its EVEN MORE weird that Isabella didn't inquire about or speak with her daughter considering Sunday was Mother's Day - her very first Mother's Day.

While there isn't enough info to judge if there was a wrong-doing or not, and considering many many people have opinions on Isabella's disappearance, I would myself consider what her family is saying. Lewis does deserve the benefit of the doubt, and families do speak out of emotion, <modsnip>

Yes, the phone calls, the extra port stops, the delayed return (missing mothers day and her sister's graduation) all don't make sense.

Also not making sense is the fact that LB did not give IH a PLB when she stood watch that night in the dark.

 

[GigTu]

Maybe the Virgin Islands was a last minute decision to extend their trip to include a "real" honeymoon part of their trip, or maybe it was a ruse for him to plan something sinister. Maybe she fell asleep and fell off, or maybe he pushed her and flooded the boat. Maybe every accusation her family has is substantiated, or maybe it's just fabrication because they are in denial and/or they blame him for putting her in a bad situation. Maybe she lovingly insisted on taking watch so her honey could get some well needed rest, or maybe he tricked her into the shift knowing she would fail. Maybe she really was on watch, maybe she was never on watch. Maybe he is distraught and in deep pain, or maybe he is satisfied that he is getting away with something. Maybe all, maybe some, maybe none. None of us here on WS knows, we can only speculate and theorize based on opinions we read in the papers. We know nothing!

 

[cbeagle]

I am curious about why they went to the British Virgin islands as they are east of Puerto Rico and Cuba so it was out of the way.

If they started off at St. Maarten they aren't they along the way to Cuba?

 

[TTF14]

Its EVEN MORE weird that Isabella didn't inquire about or speak with her daughter considering Sunday was Mother's Day - her very first Mother's Day.

Wow, I didn't even realize that, and YES that is weird!

 

[Hiandmighty]

I agree, the family may be jumping to conclusions out of grief for losing Isabella and fear of losing the baby too, and they may well dislike LB because he's from a different culture and didn't fit in, or want to fit in, with them.

I still have lots of unanswered questions, not because of the family's comments, but because the couple's life circumstances seem so murky and ambiguous, it's very confusing, and raises to me the possibility someone's hiding something. Is it possible to be a jet setting/yachting 39 year old plumber living on three continents? Who were the people he transported, why have none of them commented to the media about what a great skipper he was? And requiring a Kim Kardashian-like non-sailor, on her belated honeymoon, to take a 5.5 plus hour night watch just seems kind of....not something a loving husband would do.

It's very possible they were just two wacky 40 something soulmates who weren't going to let little things like geography and finances get in the way of their grand life together, and in that case taking long night watch shifts and falling overboard is just part of the wackiness.



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Couple of things: I know a man like this one. My friend is a genius. Not only is he super smart, he started buying land at age 15 one acre at a time. Now he owns thousands of acres of timber land, worth millions. He has a biology degree, but if you asked him what he did for a living he would say mechanic. He was an auto mechanic for some time, working at a dealership. He built his own house, a mansion by anyone's standards... it took him 5 years.

Bennett, it seems, was some kind of yacht charter captain. Maybe he was a plumber at some point and that is what he told people because everyone knows what a plumber does. Few people understand boating and sailing and the culture, so maybe he doesn't feel like saying charter captain because it is too complicated to explain. Maybe he charters for super wealthy people and has non disclosure agreements. Any number of things could be in play here.

Maybe she was supposed to wake him at 11 pm, but she fell off before the impact and he kept sleeping until the collision.

Sailors have sailing friends, who are all around the world. They would be hard to track by reporters to get character assessments of him.

There have been no new articles. We will have to see if in the next few weeks anything develops...

 

[Hatfield]

One thing I dont quite understand is where the boat ended up.

"Cay Sal lies about 100 miles southeast of Key West and about 130 miles east-northeast of Havana."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/l...-from-catamaran-wreck/ETtrigyT7Wv24aM7AOTcHO/

Why would the boat be northeast of Cuba? Shouldnt it have been
heading towards Florida and if anything be northwest or west of Cuba?

 

[KelsK]

Couple of things: I know a man like this one. My friend is a genius. Not only is he super smart, he started buying land at age 15 one acre at a time. Now he owns thousands of acres of timber land, worth millions. He has a biology degree, but if you asked him what he did for a living he would say mechanic. He was an auto mechanic for some time, working at a dealership. He built his own house, a mansion by anyone's standards... it took him 5 years.

Bennett, it seems, was some kind of yacht charter captain. Maybe he was a plumber at some point and that is what he told people because everyone knows what a plumber does. Few people understand boating and sailing and the culture, so maybe he doesn't feel like saying charter captain because it is too complicated to explain. Maybe he charters for super wealthy people and has non disclosure agreements. Any number of things could be in play here.

Maybe she was supposed to wake him at 11 pm, but she fell off before the impact and he kept sleeping until the collision.

Sailors have sailing friends, who are all around the world. They would be hard to track by reporters to get character assessments of him.

There have been no new articles. We will have to see if in the next few weeks anything develops...

I understand. Everyone is different, and when unexpected/terrible things happen, who knows how one acts? I know the automatic thought, at least for me, is that he should be showing some signs of distraught or urgency to find his wife, but everyone reacts in different ways. I think the family is blaming her husband, because regardless of if he threw her off the boat intentionally, he was the captain and it was his boat, if that makes sense? I have so many unanswered questions.

 

[Hatfield]

One thing I dont quite understand is where the boat ended up.

"Cay Sal lies about 100 miles southeast of Key West and about 130 miles east-northeast of Havana."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/l...-from-catamaran-wreck/ETtrigyT7Wv24aM7AOTcHO/

Why would the boat be northeast of Cuba? Shouldnt it have been
heading towards Florida and if anything be northwest or west of Cuba?

We can disregard this question as when I just looked at the map I can see how Cuba goes under Florida so I now see how they could have been traveling northeast of Havanna

 

[KelsK]

One thing I dont quite understand is where the boat ended up.

"Cay Sal lies about 100 miles southeast of Key West and about 130 miles east-northeast of Havana."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/l...-from-catamaran-wreck/ETtrigyT7Wv24aM7AOTcHO/

Why would the boat be northeast of Cuba? Shouldnt it have been
heading towards Florida and if anything be northwest or west of Cuba?

I don't understand this either. This may be a stupid question, but it doesn't seem like the boat could've ended up there in the 4/5 hours from the call to rescue?

 

[Hatfield]

I don't understand this either. This may be a stupid question, but it doesn't seem like the boat could've ended up there in the 4/5 hours from the call to rescue?

Wait a minute. Maybe this is confusing

I read one artical that says they left from Varadero and were heading to Key West.

So why werent they going more North to Northwest to Key West?

That part does sound strange. I think they were too far east to be heading to Key West?

I dont know about the timeframe it would have taken them to go that far where they ended up.

 

[Hiandmighty]

I understand. Everyone is different, and when unexpected/terrible things happen, who knows how one acts? I know the automatic thought, at least for me, is that he should be showing some signs of distraught or urgency to find his wife, but everyone reacts in different ways. I think the family is blaming her husband, because regardless of if he threw her off the boat intentionally, he was the captain and it was his boat, if that makes sense? I have so many unanswered questions.

How do we know he wasn't distraught?

 

[Hiandmighty]

Wait a minute. Maybe this is confusing

I read one artical that says they left from Varadero and were heading to Key West.

So why werent they going more North to Northwest to Key West?

That part does sound strange. I think they were too far east to be heading to Key West?

I dont know about the timeframe it would have taken them to go that far where they ended up.

Wasn't it that they were originally headed to Boca? Maybe they changed plans and wanted to go straight to Boca again?

 

[Hiandmighty]

Maybe the FBI crime tape is on his door to keep her family out since they already took things (electronics) that maybe could have been evidence?

 

[Hatfield]

Wasn't it that they were originally headed to Boca? Maybe they changed plans and wanted to go straight to Boca again?

You could be right because their path did have them going more toward the Eastern Florida coast and that would make sense if they were heading that way.

But dont they have to file a boat plan or something before they left and if there was a big change of plans then wouldn't they have had to notify someone of the change of plans?

 

[JerseyGirl]

LB said that their final destination was Boca Raton but IH's sister said they were supposed to travel from Cuba to Key West.

So I'm wondering if LB said Boca because he assumed we knew they were taking the cat to Key West then flying/driving to Boca?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Couple of things: I know a man like this one. My friend is a genius. Not only is he super smart, he started buying land at age 15 one acre at a time. Now he owns thousands of acres of timber land, worth millions. He has a biology degree, but if you asked him what he did for a living he would say mechanic. He was an auto mechanic for some time, working at a dealership. He built his own house, a mansion by anyone's standards... it took him 5 years.

Bennett, it seems, was some kind of yacht charter captain. Maybe he was a plumber at some point and that is what he told people because everyone knows what a plumber does. Few people understand boating and sailing and the culture, so maybe he doesn't feel like saying charter captain because it is too complicated to explain. Maybe he charters for super wealthy people and has non disclosure agreements. Any number of things could be in play here.

Maybe she was supposed to wake him at 11 pm, but she fell off before the impact and he kept sleeping until the collision.

Sailors have sailing friends, who are all around the world. They would be hard to track by reporters to get character assessments of him.

There have been no new articles. We will have to see if in the next few weeks anything develops...

You know, you may have a point. Maybe she fell off before the impact. Thinking through this, hypothetically speaking, if Isabella had to pee could she have just leaned over? Knowing her husband was asleep, maybe she didn't want to wake him so she just leaned over? No idea how this is handled at night when a woman is in control of a boat in deep water. Did the catamaran have a toilet? So just thinking hypothetically, knowing she's not a man that has the luxury of an aim & shoot appendage, could she have accidentally fallen overboard innocently? Then the boat could've steered off course a bit and run over something floating just under the water's surface.

Maybe Lewis' response to her sister was aftr her asking what happened where's Isabella, Lewis responding he thinks she fell asleep. Maybe he meant she fell asleep at the helm, accidentally sailed over something, hence she fell overblard...but maybe she was overboard way before that but he didn't know as he was sleeping. Maybe that's why the USCG didn't spot her bc maybe they ere searching the wrong area, maybe they were searching the area near impact.

Re the part about him being a plumber... He was a plumber in the sense of installing hvac, hot water heaters, etc - all through his solar company. It's alot greener than how most of America is as far as energy is concerned. There's alot of money in that.

Maybe he took his child away bc he immediately jumped to protection mode. If he is innocent then he'd definitely not like being accused of something sinistr by his inlaws, especially around his daughter, and especially considering his wife's engagement ring and electronics were stolen from her condo. Btw, did they have a key? How'd they get in?

Isabella's sister said she woke up to several missed calls &/or msgs. Maybe that's why he called his business partner. He needed to get hold of somebody, anybody. Her sisters are going to question everything, they were a very close family.

 

[Hatfield]

LB said that their final destination was Boca Raton but IH's sister said they were supposed to travel from Cuba to Key West.

So I'm wondering if LB said Boca because he assumed we knew they were taking the cat to Key West then flying/driving to Boca?

That makes sense too.

I can see port hopping to make a long trip because I would want to always stay near land as much as possible. If they did leave Varadero then the safest route to me is to head directly to Key West which is the closest land to Varadero.

Going to Key West from Varadero is NorthWest. If those were the correct take off and landing points then they were way too far east if they ended up near Cay Sal.

I suppose other factors like wind and other things come into play but something seems a little strange to me if they were heading to Key West. I dont think they should have been that far eastward if that was their destination.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Wasn't it that they were originally headed to Boca? Maybe they changed plans and wanted to go straight to Boca again?

You could be right because their path did have them going more toward the Eastern Florida coast and that would make sense if they were heading that way.

But dont they have to file a boat plan or something before they left and if there was a big change of plans then wouldn't they have had to notify someone of the change of plans?

LB said that their final destination was Boca Raton but IH's sister said they were supposed to travel from Cuba to Key West.

So I'm wondering if LB said Boca because he assumed we knew they were taking the cat to Key West then flying/driving to Boca?

Is it possible that if Isabella fell overboard before the collision then the catamaran could've veered off course due to the gulf stream crossing the Florida Straights? Wondring if so bc that could explain why Lewis said to Isabella's sister that he was just trying to stay on course. Maybe he said that bc he'd already veered so far off course. Maybe?

Adding to ask where does the actual Gulf Stream start? Could they have made it close using sails and motor or no?