Phyllis Mackay and Robert A. Riggle
It was here that California couple Jean and Scott Adam, world travelers who loved the water, often moored their boat Quest when they were in town.
"The Del Rey Yacht Club was their home away from home," Club Commodore Gary Deitsch told the Los Angeles Times.
And they will be missed. The Adams, along with Seattle couple Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle, were killed Tuesday as gunfire broke out between their Somali pirate captors and the U.S. Navy.
Deitsch is just one of the people mourning the grim outcome. "All of us at the club are devastated this horrific event has occurred," he said, going on to describe the Adams as being "very dedicated to serving mankind."
Family, friends and acquaintances of both couples have emerged to share their fond memories – and their confusion over the gruesome events. The big question: Why did the four, sailing on the Quest, break away from the safety of the fleet?Their journey was meant to be part of an around-the-world expedition organized by Blue Water Rallies, whose organizers say the Quest broke off from the group on Feb. 15, taking an alternative route to Oman after leaving Mumbai. The four were reportedly en route to Djibouti to refuel when pirates hijacked them.
"Some of the story just doesn't make sense to me," Richard Peace, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena who was friends with Scott Adam told the L.A. Times. "Why would he depart from the group? That's the only thing that gave him a sense of security."
Adds Macay's niece Nina Crossland: "[My aunt] did her research. Why they were in that area we do not know. She was not haphazardly out on the ocean. My aunt was very adventurous, [but] if this was something that was going to scare her I don't think she would be doing it." 
Scott and Jean Adam
Macay "was living her dream – sailing around the world for this now her third year ... She enjoyed every port and every experience she had," said Crossland.
The oldest of six children, Macay, 59, grew up in Michigan before many members of her family relocated to the West Coast, and she ended up staying in Seattle where she met Riggle when both were members of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club.
Riggle, a vet, chipped in at the Seattle Animal Shelter when it was short staffed. "It has not sunk in yet," the shelter's Dr. Mary Ellen Zoulas told Seattle's KING 5 News. "We're just in shock. We truly thought they would make it back."
According to Scott and Jean Adams's personal Web site, as part of their travels, they were engaging in "friendship evangelism – that is, finding homes for thousands of Bibles, which have been donated through grants and gifts, as we travel from place to place."Scott Adam converted to Catholicism many years ago, when according to Peace, he had a "mystical experience where God was calling him to ministry." And when the Adams weren't sailing, Jean Adam, a dentist, sang in the church choir.
"They died doing what they wanted to do," Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of St. Monica Catholic Church, where the couple worshiped, told the Times. "They found so much joy in doing it."
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