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Their frequent social media posts showed a happy side of cruising life, that friends and relatives aid belied a rocky relationship.
The husband whose wife disappeared during a dinghy ride has been released from Bahamian custody without charges being filed against him. Brian Hooker, 59, may be guilty of poor judgement or worse, but his choice of local lawyers appears to have paid off.
Attorney Terrel Butler said police questioning suggested they were trying to obtain evidence that Hooker had murdered his wife Lynette, 55, on Saturday, April 4. Hooker told police she fell out of the dinghy after they left the Abaco Inn on Elbow Cay and were enroute back to their Morgan sailboat Soulmate, anchored about two miles away down by Lubbers Cay.
Winds were blusterly, the water was choppy and, according to her husband, Lynnette somehow took the magnetic shut-off device for the motor when she went overboard.
A magistrate approved Hooker’s detention for 96-hours—the maximum for someone not charged—to give police time to gather evidence and question their suspect. Why, for example, did it take 8 1/2 for the engineless dinghy to reach Marsh Harbor, 4 miles dead downwind?
Terrel Butler is a prominent Nassau attorney. She represents Brian Hooker.
Butler said her client underwent intense questioning Friday and earlier today, but never wavered in his insistence that what happened was a terrible accident, not a murder. “I am happy to see justice, that justice is really working in this country. They had no choice but to release him,” she said. Hooker can be re-arrested if police find evidence of a crime in the future—for example, if Lynette’s body were found and yielded incriminating information.
Brian Hooker got little support from social media, where many commenters voiced their certainty that he was a killer, particularly after stories about their rocky marriage were published in the subsequent media frenzy. Lynnette Hooker’s daughter voiced her own doubts about her stepfather’s account of events.
Some of the coverage being amplified by social media was completely false, a phenomenon that many of us have not gotten used to. CNN and the tabloid New York Post had solid coverage but one of the best stories was published by Fox News, which included this map as its reporter traced the dinghy’s route that night:
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Cruisers’ Net unites with United States Power Squadrons (USPS) / America’s Boating Club to help maintain and enhance the accuracy of the Cruisers Net marina listings.
Greetings Fellow Boater!
National Safe Boating Week is May 16–22 and quickly approaching.
Districts, squadrons and members can play a vital role in promoting this event by combining education, outreach, and community engagement. One of the most effective strategies is to host or support local boating safety classes, offering both in-person and virtual options to reach a wider audience.
Members can partner with marinas, yacht clubs, and community centers to distribute safety materials and encourage boaters to complete certified safety courses.
Public visibility is important. Local clubs can set up informational booths at waterfront events, boat launches, and fishing tournaments to help spark conversations and raise awareness about life jacket use, navigation rules, and emergency preparedness. Squadrons should also leverage social media by sharing safety tips, personal experiences, and event updates, using consistent messaging aligned with the national campaign.
Collaborating with local law enforcement and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary units can strengthen credibility and expand reach. Additionally, vessel safety checks offered during the week provide a hands-on way to engage boaters and reinforce best practices.
By being proactive, approachable, and consistent, we can attract new members, significantly influence safer boating habits, reduce accidents, and make our waterways more enjoyable for everyone. There are many resources available for free to assist with this mission. They can be found at safeboatingcampaign.com.
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
This is the dinghy the Hookers were riding in when Lynette Hooker went overboard.
“Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be explained by simple incompetence.”
Most of you must have found the news coverage of the American woman who fell off a dinghy in the Abacos at least mildly annoying. She went overboard on Saturday and hasn’t been seen since then.
Brian and Lynette Hooker had been spending time at the Abaco Inn, which is on White Sound at Elbow Cay. Many news accounts describe how the couple then got underway and headed to Elbow Cay, where of course they already were. They were actually heading to where they had anchored their boat somewhere along the Elbow’s western shore, reportedly about 2 1/2 miles away.
To make the whole episode even more confusing, many of the news reports had Lynette Hooker failing overboard with the keys to the outboard. Nobody bothered to explain to the writers that the woman was probably attached to the motor’s emergency kill switch by a lanyard, so when she tumbled into the water the thing went with her.
Turns out, the outboard was an electric Torqeedo, so the kill switch wasn’t really a switch as per conventional gas motors. It was a magnet, coated in orange plastic, that nests atop the tiller causing a connection to happen inside. Unlike the button switch on conventional outboards, you cannot use a pair of needlenose vice-grips or tightly wound string as workarounds if that type of cut-off device gets lost, that little yoke thingy and lanyard.
The Torqeedo kill switch is that little bit of orange at the center of the photo, just above Brian Hooker’s hand.
If the news media was sloppy, the social media reaction to the story descended almost instantly into speculation that 58-year-old Brian had somehow murdered his 55-year-old wife while tooling along a couple hundred yards from the beach.
This theory got a little bit of traction after Lynette Hooker’s daughter was quoted about a prior violent act on Brian’s part. “There’s history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard. So, the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there’s more to the story,” Karli Aylesworth told the New York Post.
Aylesworth also said that the coulple had a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”
There were frequent references on Facebook to the incident being the subject of a TV “Dateline” episode. There were comparisons to the mysterious death of actress Natalie Wood, who drowned near her husband Robert Wagner’s yacht while anchored off Catalina Island in California.
The Hookers had become social media butterflies after they went a’cruising, so there are plenty of images of them online in their eight-foot—I’m going to say it’s a Boss—dinghy. That’s a type of dinghy that’s shaped like a RIB but entirely made of fiberglass, no hyperlon tubes.
Only one photo (that I could find) showed them wearing inflatable PFDs. Images of them in the Bahamas don’t even show any lifejackets in the boat with them, although they could be tucked into the bow locker. They liked to venture out with cold canned beverages in hand.
All the pictures (that I could find) showed Brian Hooker at the tiller. Yet, when Lynette went overboard, the kill switch went with her, suggesting that she was driving. According to news report, the left the Abaco Inn around 7:30 p.m., a few minutes after sunset, so it was dusk.
The forecast for that day called for hazardous conditions with a “near-gale warning/watch.” Weather router Chris Parker, renown for his ability to customize forecasts for discrete areas of the Bahamas, estimated that the winds were blowing from the east or southeast at 20 knots, gusting to 30.
Brian and Lynette Hooker whose social media handle was “thesailinghookers.”
The Hookers were in the lee of Elbow Cay, but they were likely experiencing a short chop, as happens even on a lake when the breeze is up. Brian was quoted as saying that his wife “bounced” out of the boat, which tracks as true. But why was she driving, if she was driving? (Or else we must believe there was some other reason she was attached to the kill switch instead of him.)
With a dead motor, Brian Hooker said he paddled.
Brian Hooker said the last time he saw his wife, she was swimming toward land, which had to be Elbow Cay. She would have been swimming in an easterly direction. Brian also said she was being carried away by current. Any current in this area would have had to parallel the beach. That is, either northerly or southerly.
The dinghy however had enough windage to have been driven by the 20-knot-plus wind toward the west and Marsh Harbor, where it eventually arrived. There is no mention in the news accounts of a VHF radio or a radio call. There was no mention of a cell phone except that Lynette had shared a picture online just as they were leaving the resort.
Photos of the dingy show that it had oar sockets, yet apparently the Hookers did not carry oars and oarlocks (a Loose Cannon pet peeve). That style of dinghy probably would not row well, but it would surely row better than it would paddle.
(The only way for a single paddler to make headway would be to straddle the bow and draw the paddle midships. One way to achieve the best rowing performance from an inflatable is to adapt the set-up for longer oars. Inflatable manufacturers provide placebo oars that are at least a foot too short.)
One news outlet actually reported, “Satellite tracking data captured the powerless eight-foot hard-bottom dinghy drifting a staggering 178 meters in just 12 seconds.” First, what “satellite tracking data?” And staggering, yes. Staggeringly impossible. But that little boat had to have been moving pretty quickly
The search for Lynette Hooker did not begin until after 4 a.m. on Sunday when Brian and his dinghy reached Marsh Harbour. That’s almost nine hours after Lynette supposedly went overboard. What took so long for the dinghy to travel just four nautical miles downwind in Force 5 conditions? (Maybe it got hung-up for a while on the shallows around Porgee Rock.)
This is reportedly the last image that Lynette Hooker sent via text, purportedly showing White Sound just before the couple embarked on their dinghy.
One guy quoted by the news media seemed pretty sensible. Richard Cook, team leader with Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue, told reporters that he thought foul play was unlikely
“It was just a lot of bad decisions,” Cook said. “Night time, very windy, no moon out yet, so it was pitch dark and very rough conditions for the small boat they were in.”
Sure, no one can rule out the possibility of murder, not yet, but more likely this horrible event resulted from a cascade of poor choices, maybe including too much to drink. As I used to tell my reporters, “Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be explained by simple incompetence.”
And, as I told my wife, that’s certainly not how anyone with a brain would plan to murder their spouse.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Charleston Harbor: Beginning (TODAY) Wednesday, April 15, 2026, through Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Charleston Race Week regatta will be held in Charleston Harbor from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm each day. https://charlestonraceweek.com/
CHARLESTON RACE WEEK Charleston Harbor, SC
Beginning Wednesday, April 15, 2026, through Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Charleston Race Week regatta will be held in Charleston Harbor from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm each day.
This event will consist of a variety of sailboat races in the areas illustrated. Per 33 CFR 100.704, Table 1, Item No. 2, there will be regulated racing zones in effect for each day of racing. When hailed or signaled by on-scene safety boats, all vessels in the immediate vicinity of these racing zones shall comply with directions given. Failure to do so may result in removal from the area, citation for failure to comply, or both.
All mariners are urged to use caution while transiting the area and should coordinate with on-scene race committee and safety boats via VHF channels 13 and 16.
For questions or concerns regarding this MSIB, please contact the Sector Charleston 24-hour Command Center at (833) 453-1261.
DANGER. I see the word every time my worn workboot lands on the top of that eight foot ladder. Do you disregard warnings like this? And if so, under what circumstances? When you think it doesn’t apply to you? Because the warning seems without threat (those damn mattress tags)? Or because there isn’t any other way to get where you want to go, to do what needs to be done?
The worksite path containing this ladder has been traversed thousands of times and there will be hundreds more before we’re done. Here’s how it goes: with your right foot on the danger icon, you swing your left leg way up, over the top of the scaffold, down onto a crossboard, then three steps across onto a wobbly, borrowed keel block to boost you two more feet up to the top, the level with the most risk, perhaps, and then you walk out to either side of the bow, usually against the wind, always acutely aware of the stunning force of gravity. Usually, at least one of your hands is full and it’s often something expensive and/or sharp; on a really dangerous day, it’s both.
This is a theme in my last month or so; there is a certain risk in many things that we do, and also risk in not doing them. Calculated risk? Maybe, but more so simply part of whatever deal you’ve dealt yourself, and decided to hold your ground, ante up, wait it out, go the distance. Sometimes there is little choice.
Amazing how perspective changes things. That would be a dangerous tumble.
The top of that scaffold looks much higher from the top than it does from the ground, and a misstep would be a mess. So we don’t misstep. And we don’t get too comfortable, either. I think that is when missteps usually occur.
The carelessness of comfort is thinking that there will always be another day.
A few months after STEADFAST arrived at this boatyard for repairs, we were joined by a well-cared-for, classic cruising vessel on its annual haul-out. John, a well-cared-for, soft-spoken, slightly quirky, caring gentleman a generation beyond me, showed up even before his boat did, and then on a very regular, sometimes daily, basis to tinker and check on her and to check on us. She was for sale, he told us uncomfortably, shrugging off the importance of such a thing that was, clearly, very important, a milestone, a seemingly practical if counterintuitive decision that was unwanted and unwelcome, at least for that particular sailor. We shared friends, Friday Happy Hours and random conversations. The next fall, 2025, he struggled with the decision and then with certainty took his vessel southward. We admired him, and secretly encouraged the one-last chance attitude.
Our boatyard neighbor hadn’t told me that he had made a dozen or so solo passages, thousands of miles, on that vessel, traveling many of the same seas that we had, distinctly remembered by folks from the Florida Keys to the exquisite Bahama’s Exuma Chain. He donated hours and hours of time to the National Park there, I learned later, too late to congratulate him on such a worthy cause. STEADFAST has spent time in that region and it is stunning, postcard-perfect, biologically diverse. A place which needed protection because it is too beautiful, too coveted, and that can destroy those sorts of destinations. There is considerable brilliance in dedicating your time and energy to a place you want to be. He knew how important it was to all involved.
John also knew he had aged before he was ready, betrayed, as many of us are, by a body that has become sporadically untrustworthy. I think other things were at work in his decisions; John’s spirit was betrayed, too, by a society that tells us we’re too old for such adventures; it’s not conventional to keep taking risks, wandering the planet, making people wonder what you’re thinking, what you’re doing, where you are. To me, he was torn between what he wanted to do and what everyone thought was best.
John left this world in early January, so suddenly and unexpectedly that the shock brought waves of grief to everyone who knew him. He was a day away from taking his sailboat back to the Bahamas one last time.
His broken-hearted family carefully planned a tribute to his life and gathered today; I was honored to contribute considering how short our relationship was; I miss John, many tears were shed. He was a welcome part of this peaceful, difficult corner of my life. It’s a risk, isn’t it? A danger. Opening up your mind and your heart to someone new, no matter the circumstances. It takes time and precious energy to find commonality, comfort, companionship. He had generously offered us those.
My impression had been that John did not take a lot of risks. We often don’t know what people are really all about do we? Most folks don’t share their stories and often, I wish both that they realized it was important enough to tell and I’d taken time to listen. My website is titled Everybody Has a Story. Many souls and stories are worthy of your time and attention.
I’m trying to finish this piece for publication and tie it all together with a little more cleverness but frankly my sadness has taken over and I’ve given all I’ve got for today. As is our SPARRING routine, I scheduled this for tomorrow, Sunday, 6am on the East Coast of the US, and though I am trying to concentrate, I thought to myself, shit. I haven’t filed my taxes. Death and Taxes— the only two things that are a certainty in this world. Now, you may be groaning but I think my friend John would have smiled his, beautiful crooked smile.
Until next week, let’s not get too comfortable with the fact that there will always be a tomorrow because that is simply not true. ~J
My painting kit. The center item may increase the risk, it also increases the joy. And the stamina. These are finally final coats I’m applying….!
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
Global Hitchhiking was published in July 2025, based on Matt Ray’s boatless circumnavigation from 2016-2019.
This is the Amazon blurb for Matt Ray’s book: A no-nonsense, practical guide to crewing on sailboats and crossing oceans as a working guest, not a paying tourist. Based on three years of experience hitchhiking over 30,000 nautical miles, Matt Ray breaks down how anyone can get started—whether your goal is a short coastal hop or a long-haul ocean crossing.
Loose Cannon: This is a chicken-egg question. Did you set out to hitchhike the world on boats to write a book, or did the idea only come to you as were underway?
Matt Ray: I didn’t set out to hitchhike around the world or write a book. I had just finished my RYA Yachtmaster in Spain and was considering a shift from IT into sailing. But between being colorblind—which limited my certification—and starting later than most, the traditional path didn’t make much sense.
So, I started crewing to get experience and miles under my belt.
One boat turned into another—Virginia to Aruba, Panama to Tahiti, Tahiti to Tonga. It wasn’t until the next leg, Tonga to Malaysia, that I realized I could just keep going west and turn it into a full circumnavigation. Up to that point, I wasn’t chasing anything. I was just sailing.
The writing came even later. I started blogging between Malaysia and South Africa, mostly to explain what I was doing and what I was learning along the way. Those articles eventually became the foundation for this book.
I’m now working on a memoir that tells the full story of the three-year journey, along with a photo book to go with it.
L.C.: Ha! A late British friend of mine managed access to somehow to memorize the color blindness test for full certification. He once ran my boat aground because he didn’t recognize a small red nun for what it was, but other than that he was a good guy to sail with. Can I assume that most of your interactions were positive or you would not have kept at it?
Ray: Yeah, I actually went to South Hampton to the RYA headquarters right after my RYA Certification, to get a lantern test, hoping it would be less stringent than those picture book tests. But it was very telling. They simulate darkness and distance, and drop red, green, and white dots on the wall, to simulate a ship passing in the distance. For me, the green lights looked white. I couldn’t see the green lights. I could see the red and obviously the white, but those greens just disappeared at night. Failed test objectively.
All of my interactions with skippers and boats were positive except for one. I had a skipper from Tahiti to Tonga who turned into the worst skipper I have ever encountered. I wrote about this extensively. Sailing to Bora Bora is an article that goes into a lot more detail about that experience.
The skipper between Australia and Grenada (a year of travel together) and I had personality conflicts. We got along as long as we agreed with each other. I didn’t mind him as long as there was at least 1 other person on board with us. I think if I had sailed with him alone for an extended period of time, I may not have lasted a whole year with him. There were times when the other shipmate and I had to rise up in rebellion when we disagreed with him. But ultimately, it was his boat and his final say on everything.
L.C.: I’ve always believed that three was better than two on a boat. And, in general, an odd number is better than even. Yes, the captain in theory rules but sometimes you need a consensus (this can be for a variety of reasons) and with an odd number, you can’t deadlock.
If you will allow me an “interview question,” could you share with the readers both the high and low moments on your adventure?
Ray: Regarding 3 versus 2, this is especially true for safety reasons.
The only low time I can think of was when I was with that skipper for 3 weeks, from Tahiti to Tonga. When we sailed into Bora Bora–a place I had been dreaming about my entire life–all I could think of was trying to figure out a way to get off that boat and let the skipper continue on without me. He was an awful person to me.
Aside from this, there were very few other low times. I loved every new passage, every new country, I enjoyed almost all of my shipmates and skippers. I learned things from all of them. I ended up being land-bound for 8 months in Malaysia. My skipper from Tonga to Malaysia lived there and invited me to stay at his house gratis until I found my next boat going west. I used his house–at his suggestion–as a home base while I took inexpensive flights to Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia for extended stays. I loved all 3 of those countries for different reasons. And having the luxury of coming back to Malaysia to relax and continue looking for my next boat was priceless.
Another high time was in St Helena where I was finally able to swim with Whale Sharks after looking for them for 20,000 miles.
I could list another twenty adventures I went on as high times. For me, this entire three-year trip was a mini-retirement, and I enjoyed almost the entire journey.
L.C.: By the way, your chapter on women’s avoiding sex creeps at sea generated a debate on one of the Facebook sailing groups where I had promoted the story. One guy commented that women looking to crew should refrain from posting pictures of themselves in fetching poses or skimpy outfits.
This prompted a woman commenter to go after him for blaming the victim, etc. It turned into a real Facebook shitfight. I have to admit, however, that over the years I have seen these kinds of photos, and they just left me shaking my head. No, these women don’t deserve to be assaulted, but I think this kind of pitch might be seen as an opportunity for pervy assholes. Weigh in, Matt. If you dare.
Ray: Agreed. Sometimes women like to have their cake and eat it too. I agree that women should be able to post whatever pics they want and still have our respect, but there are lots of guys who disagree. Which Facebook page is that? I’d like to follow along. I haven’t seen it in any of my groups.
You’ve even got a post on Substack which borders on the old argument that women shouldn’t be thinking that men are the enemy when planning to crew. Unfortunately, history has proven otherwise.
…Never mind, Detective Matt just found it in Sailing.
It looks like you like to stir up trouble in that group. Definitely get a lot of heated responses. That’s probably good for your Substack readership. I read through the comments on your solo sailing articles and many of them made me laugh. Is the clause about no solo sailing a universal thing with insurance companies?
Sailing stays what it was meant to be—not a job, but a life.
I gotta be honest, after reading these articles I started wondering what I am going to do when I get my boat. Part of me wants to solo sail just to avoid the headaches of having someone else on board. I’ve experienced all kinds of drama and drama on a boat in the middle of nowhere is the worst.
L.C.: I think conventional wisdom needs to be challenged every once in a while. That’s for sure. Hence Loose Cannon, right? So, you’re thinking of owning rather than tagging along. What are your plans, professional and otherwise?
Ray: My original plan was straightforward: build experience, then move into professional sailing. Most likely that meant skippering week-long charters on a 40-foot catamaran or something similar. That was my introduction to sailing in the first place, and it’s why I chose to pursue the RYA Yachtmaster Certificate instead of a U.S. six-pack license. I wanted the option to work internationally, and the skipper on that first trip—a Brit—made it clear that the RYA certification carried more weight abroad.
The colorblind restriction was a complication, but not a dealbreaker. My plan was simple: Get experience, build credibility, and make the jump.
But somewhere out in the Indian Ocean, I started to rethink the whole thing.
Hosting paying guests week after week began to sound less like freedom and more like obligation. Realistically, some percentage of those trips would include people I wouldn’t choose to spend time with. Add alcohol to that mix, and it started to feel less like sailing and more like something I’d eventually resent.
Then I looked at the numbers. Delivery skippers often make around $100 a day. At the same time, I was earning $100–$150 an hour as a computer consultant. That contrast was hard to ignore.
At that point, the path became obvious. Instead of turning sailing into a job, I could keep it as something I actually loved. Go back to what I already knew, earn well, and use that to fund a boat of my own. These days, with tools like Starlink, working remotely from a boat isn’t just possible—it’s practical.
So, I let go of the idea of sailing for a living. The goal now is simpler: Own a boat, sail where I want, invite the people I choose, and keep my livelihood tied to something I’ve spent decades building.
Sailing stays what it was meant to be—not a job, but a life.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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