SH!T HAPPENS. WHAT DO WE DO NOW? AND WHAT'S THE STATE OF MOORING BALLS IN THE BVI? 

Alan, your humble nature and candour make you deserving of the love and support you are receiving from around the world. It's all going to work out just fine. Keep the faith!

Thank you for educating us, sharing with us, and allowing us to be part of your journey

Excited to see your spirit is not broken

I can understand your feelings. Three years ago in Florida keys we purchased a new World Cat 26' boat. On first ride out, Chart plotter went dark. We stopped to adjust and a 38' boat came crashing onto our stern. Our Port engine was damaged, and T top completely destroyed. Sh!t does happen. We were just blessed to be alive. It takes time to get over these things. Boats can be replaced. Be thankful that no one was injured. Keep up the great videos and great attitude.

We are pulling for you. Our family took the trip of a life time because of you and your videos. We will be back, and I am glad to hear you will be too. I hope for the best for you and your boat! Thank you for being so transparent and open throughout this process.

I’m a zero seasoned sailor, but have been so inspired by your videos. Can’t tell you how happy I was when this video dropped. I thought based upon the last I might not see the hillbilly again. The information passed along and the manner in which you state it, from plugging your intake in the gulf, to this very unfortunate accident continues to educate and inspire. Don’t stop. Rise of hillbilly 2.0….

I’m glad you are in a better headspace! Keeping you and your family in my prayers.

You are truly blessed to have Simon in your corner.

Onward and upward. You're the best!!

The true measure of a man is not realized or seen when he is at the top, but when he is in the valleys on the journey to the top once again. You have displayed your true character publicly and it is brilliant. Always forward Alan. Always forward. - Bob Wall

you are an inspiration. Love your attittude

How a man faces pain is a testament to his character, your still going and I learning more stuff strength. Great videos wish you well

What a humbling experience. Good luck regrouping and thanks for sharing an incredibly vulnerable ordeal.

Nothing to add about your loss. Just wanted to chime in with what a prince of a gentleman you are! I've known some interesting, wonderful, people in my life and you are (virtually!) one of them! Best regards from Toronto!

hey💌 hey💌 hey!!💌 so happy you are in better spirits and coming back to us with the update! Thank you for sharing all the great info, especially the "salvage insurance" report. stay strong!

Yes, stuff happens. Watched the other videos, and you did do what was right. Great quote read. Hope to see you on the water some day.!

Love to watch your videos very informative. Keep it up! You’ll get back your strong and smart, hopefully it’s not a loss and you can move on from the unfortunate shit!!! Keep sailing.

Hoping for the best! Thanks for the update.

Alan, the fact that you can take the hardest hits that life deals you and still get up and continue says it all. You are winner.

Glad to hear your spirits are better. I’m now hooked on your story.

Alan, you have a beautiful soul and it shows through on all your videos. I almost didn’t watch your first video because I thought, why watch an old man just like me, but I watched and was taken in by your humility and centered personality. I’m hooked on your adventures, your videography and your editing skills.

again, so sorry that this happened. The advise you just gave to all of is amazing! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Alan, good to see your positivity! As my sons have heard me say this after they wreck a car/dirt bike/boat/iPhone … mechanical things can be fixed, as long as you are ok, we will recover; it’s much more difficult to fix people. You kept everyone safe and no one was hurt. I have followed you for over a year and find your videos to be wonderful. We will be on our bare boat sailing cat charter out of Nanny Cay the week of the 25th if you need to get out on the water you are welcome to join us. John

First time watcher (actually the grounding video was the first - it came up in my feed as a suggestion and of course I had to watch) and new subscriber here. Fellow longtime boater (formerly had a 42’ SeaRay Sundancer, 68’ Viking/Princess MY, 84’ Viking/Princess MY, but now just a 23’ Boston Whaler Outrage…and looking for my next boat). I felt your pain - I can totally imagine that kick in the gut first seeing your boat on the beach! Really so sorry this happened to you and your family but glad no one was hurt (physically at least). The heart and the wallet are another story for sure. Hope to watch a lot more of your story and hope you’ll be back on the briny soon!

So good to hear from you Alan. You have a lot of support and love from all of us. Cant wait for the future updates

Glad to see you coming round Alan and so glad you're getting so many positive messages, you deserve them all. Really hoping the Hillbilly is repairable. You both will come out of this far stronger, for the experience 👍 Love from England, Neil x

I wasn't going to make a second comment knowing how overwhelmed you are with the accident. I do want you to know you have set the bar for inspiration and fortitude for me to follow in the future. Thanks Alan and Godspeed.

I'm so glad to see your spirits are lifting. My husband and I just bought our first big boat. 'Big boat", it's only a 37 ft sea ray, but it's our joy. So I kind of get it. Being on the ocean has given me back something I had taken from me 12 years ago. I broke my back and have been unable to continue my horse trading career. But, being abroad this boat, well.... you get it too. Freedom, adventure. Conquering your fears at doing something new.Ill be watching and wishing you well, as you return to your former self and excitement. You got this.👍🏼👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👋🏼❤️👍🏼much love....OLE TUBB BOAT👋🏼

Alan,I am sorry about your boat and hope all will be well soon.Im glad everyone was ok.Went to BVI last week and chartered a power cat.It was an amazing trip.One of my best friends set everything up and invited me.Your videos was an inspiration for me and I will definitely return.

Alan, this too shall pass. I was crushed for you to see your last couple videos. But you are a staple in this BVI boating community and I will eagerly await your return...And I know you will return soon! I started sailing just last year and am already planning my 4th trip on a big cat. This is partially due to boating enthusiasts like yourself. Best wishes Pal!

As time passes, you will look back on this a a learning experience and be richer for it. In the mean time, just keep plowing ahead until you are back on the water. Many of us were living the dream through you, now we get to help with the nightmare as best we can. Stay strong

Alan, I am so grateful you are sharing your story and experience. By doing so, you are potentially saving someone else the heartbreak you are going through. It is evident you are not alone in the heartbreak, by the comments of others, as am I, we too are heartbroken for you. SHIT does happen but how you handle it is what truly makes you a Captain. THANK YOU, CAPTAIN

glad your outlook has improved. I can't believe some people would say negative things about your experiences after you have inspired so many of us in such a positive.. Literally the only thing I ever judged you on was your selections of scotch on your boat. And that is very correctable flaw. Seriously, Love ya man. You inspire me with every video.

I have a lot of respect for you. Great content, great subject and you are well spoken and easy to listen to, plus your videos are incredible. I wish you well. 😊

Alan, I count myself among the many “invested” in your journey. You chronicle an alternate reality for myself and a myriad of other aspirant dreamer “captains”, separated by the opportunity, means and/or simply the balls to do what you are doing. It is a joy to witness, and you are clearly a very decent human being. Following you is watching this alternate version of ourselves…the highs, the lows, and now the horrendous. It obviously can’t compare to what you are feeling…but yes…this one hurts. I am grateful that nobody was seriously injured! Best wishes in whatever you choose to do going forward…I will be rooting for you!

Hillbilly, I've really enjoyed your journey and pray for your well-being. I'm not a sailor but I've taken the motorhome route and we've traveled to our beautiful country. If it was easy, everyone would do it. "It's not the critic that counts, but the man in the arena." That's from the Teddy Roseavelt. God bless and stay strong.

Thanks for sharing! Hope you keep us viewers updated. Good luck to you

The sail will always be with you! Thank you for your channel,post and experiences along the way.

I miss you and the ever-revolving crew! I can't wait to see the Hillbilly back in the water, taking us to some exciting places.

Alan, my wife and I feel like we know you. We felt terrible about your shortcomings. We appreciate all the content and lessons you so selflessly provide. Hang in there, after all is only money, but, the experiences you will continue to accrue with your family and friends are priceless and ultimately, will erase this horrible tragedy! Hail to the Wonderig Hillbilly !

Glad you are feeling better about this experience. I can imagine it shook you to your core. I hope everything works out for you and you are back on the water as soon as possible. Good luck.

As odd as this may seem to you, but what happened also put me into a funk and I’ve been waiting with anticipation as to your next update. My father once said to me “The sea is a lovely lady but she can also kick your ass”., and sadly sometimes “it” happenes as it did to you and to the “family” who has lived vicariously through your videos. The information you have expressed in your update again shows to all the wisdom and spirit we’ve come to expect from you. Following seas and fair winds will be your destiny!

I have been logging onto RU-vid to check your channel every day since the last video to see an update. You have been my inspiration to get into sailing myself, and it breaks my heart to see what happened to you and your beautiful yacht. I hope you're able to rebuild and get back out there. I captained my first bareboat charter last summer after watching all of your videos for inspiration. it was an incredible experience and I can't wait to do it again. My dream is get my own boat and take my friends and family out all the time like you have been. I believe I can make it happen in the next several years. Watching your videos and following you gave me the courage to do it, and I will be forever thankful for that. I will send the Hillbilly all good vibes and hope to see you on the water one day. Captaining a vessel though a place like the BVI is an experience like none other.

Great update.... I love your videos, we too got inspired by you and took a crew of 8 last year to the BVI's and used your 10 day itinerary.... it was awesome. We are going back for sure!! I also have had the experience of finding my boat not exactly where I left it, and it was a terrible day, not nearly as big and beautiful a yacht as yours, but it was all I had...also was a failed mooring (in an overnight storm) lots of emotions that day but it eventually faded and we're still sailing 30 years later...good luck, I'm cheering for you!!

Looking forward to seeing you back out on the water, love the videos.

I captained a sailboat in the BVI with my family twice in the last year…..because of you, thank you. I hope to see you out there.

I started watching your videos because of the BVI content you have shared, including best places to eat, walk around and of course moorings. My mouth was on the floor during the entire last video. Although it was devastating to watch, I am excited to see you so positive with high hopes for the Wandering Hillbilly. Honestly cant wait to see next weeks episode with updates and future plans. See you next week!

I am a landlocked neighbor from Wyoming that dreams of sailing after I retire in 3 years. I have really enjoyed your videos and wisdom. The captain who sent you the message you read is right. You are a captain and a sailor. The real deal. I hope to park my boat next to you some day and get to meet you and say hello and thank you for the knowledge you shared.

Saving up for a charter with my family to the BVI in the next couple years . Videos like yours are the inspiration. Stay strong. One thing I have learned from boating is the great times far outweigh the not so great times.

A positive attitude and the will to move forward is your strength. Wish you the best

Grat video We are all here holding your back, just keep doing your thing. Keep it up

We are currently in the BVIs and will be bareboating our charter next week. Thanks for all the inspiration, your videos were a great source of information for us in planning our trip. I was sad to hear of your misadventure, the important thing is that you and your crew are uninsured and safe. The boat can be replaced. Hope to see you on the water again soon.

The Hillbilly will be back in the "This does not suck zone!!!!" Sooner than you think!!! Thank God everyone is safe and the only thing hurt was your emotions. God Bless and Sail On!!!

Alan it’s great to see your “chin up” and you planning for the future. Thanks for the update. BTW something that may help your travels to and from Tortolla…..American Airlines has a nonstop flight from Miami to Tortolla. From west coast or Midwest you should now be able to “one hop” to the BVI

Glad to hear that your mood improved after what was clearly and understandably a heart wrenching experience. Hope that the Hillbilly can be fixed. I only found your channel a day or so ago, but love it already and hope that more will follow. I live in Iowa and never been boating, but enjoy watching because I love big machines, on sea, on land, doesn't matter. The more complex the machine, the more I love to see it at work. I'll likely never be in a position to have a boat or anything, but then I saw the footage of the Hillbilly heading to shore, my heart sank. As I said in comments of that video, I'm glad no one was hurt. I'm sure it could have been way worse, and your guy Simon sounds like the best person anyone could possibly know. Looking forward to seeing how things go and hoping to see Wandering Hillbilly back on the water in future videos. Stay positive and hang in there.

Keep your head up! This too shall pass…. Life continues. Enjoy your videos and you inspire me! I too am in the film industry and I am behind you!

Alan, I'm so glad to see you in better spirits in this video. Time heals all wounds, and with time you'll again realize, you did everything you could have done. I look forward to seeing what is instore of the Hillbilly and all the adventures ahead. Best wishes!

I have followed your channel for some time Alan, it is not just about the boat. What makes your channel so good is the humanity and spirit shown throughout. We enjoy your fun and we feel your pain. I look forward to seeing you overcome this challenge. 🤗

God bless you I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and love everyone of them. I really don’t have anything catchy to say I just want to say I love you buddy and it’s all gonna be OK in the long run.

Alan, I have shed tears more than I'd like to admit while watching your channel. All happy tears until this recent incident. I'm glad to see that you are in a better place mentally. I can only imagine how you must have felt. Just know that you have brought joy to so many peoples lives by simply sharing your experiences. Thats not a small thing. You have inspired me to dream bigger. Hang in there good brother, we are all rooting and praying for you!

Thanks for the update Alan! You’re doing great!

Thanks for continuing to share with us Capt Alan! Appreciate everything you have done for the community:)

Wow, very informative update! Thanks for the video.

Thank you Alan for the update. I am really hoping that the Hillbilly can be fixed and you can be sailing again.

Good luck Alan, I wish you the best. I spent 1990-95 sailing my 47' from BVI to Trinidad and back a few times, it is a great place to be and I'm happy to say I leave in a week for a bare boat charter in BVI. I'm really looking forward to it. By the way my first charter there was in 1985 for my honeymoon. 90-95 was with my wife and 2 very young children. Next week is with my 2 children, their spouses and 5 grandchildren. Sort of a reunion and showing their spouses and children what it was like to live on a sail boat. There is nothing I would trade for those memories.

Looking forward to following your adventures as you bring The Hillbilly back to life! Thank you for sharing each and every part of this experience.

Great positive report, I think she will be repairable and it will be exciting doing her up again. Keep us posted and fingers crossed.

Hello Alan, thank you for giving an update. I am so sorry about what happened to The Hillbilly. I am so glad to see your spirits are better. As a boat owner, seeing your video about the grounding was heartbreaking. Your videos have touched and inspired so many people. Keep doing what you're doing, and know that we are all pulling for you and hoping to see you back out there.

You will back on the boat and all the better......Looking forward to your great life on video for all to see.....Fair winds from Texas.

Great update, looking forward to more good news. Good to see the Wandering Hillbilly patched up and on the road to recovery.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this update and I am so relieved to see you in a better space and even optimistic! Praying for good results from the surveys, I know regardless great things are in your future and you’ve got a lot of people that will be there right with you!

Thank you for the update, Alan. It is great that your spirit remains unbroken. You are providing valuable information to many. Best regards.

Because of you, I will be bringing friends and family to BVI for a week or more to give MarineMax a try. Sorry for the pain in your journey. BUT you have inspired us!

I can’t believe you invoked 1972 Chuck Berry, then launched into a discussion about balls in the BVI. That was excellent, and your mood has obviously improved. Great to see you quickly transition from victim mode to back to captain mode. I have a question: does a salvaged boat carry that designation for the life of the boat, like an automobile does at home in the States? Best of luck moving forward and thanks for the humorous update. You delivered the story like a true raconteur.

Great to watch this vlog mate and to see that you’re in recovery mode. Hopefully the surveyors will give the go-ahead for the repairs and you’ll be back on the water soon - what a bugger about “Your Ding-a-Ling”. Thinking of you mate, cheers Swanny PS I like the “little 54” in the background!!!

Sorry to see the issues you've had, wishing you and your family all the best. Hope you get the Hillbilly back asap! 🙂

You’ve got this Alan! Can’t wait to see you crush the 2.0 of your journey!

So sorry for your troubles. We’ve enjoyed your videos since the beginning. As boat owners we empathize with how painful this has been. Such a beautiful boat. We’re heading for our 2nd charter this spring and thanks for the tips! We’ve been concerned about mooring since this happened to WH. Wishing you all the best.

Alan, very moving episode. Thank you for sharing that last comment. Such an important message. When are you at MIBS again? Ally will be there tomorrow and we'll be there Saturday. Hope to connect soon.

YES!!!!!! So happy you are back. Whatever happens with the insurance, thank you for the channel and your spirit. Kinda bummed at the dingaling however looking forward to watching the comeback.

Alan, thanks for sharing your experience... Your video inspires us to keep on, keeping on. I have not made a file for mooring issues, now I will. Your lesson is a lesson for all of us. Be safe and good luck. I hope to see you on the water some day!

Good to see you back! Great post and amazing note from that experienced mariner. Shared your channel to a few new followers. Everyone loves the content. See you in the BVI’s sometime soon.

From one boater to another , It hurts our hearts to see what happened . Thank you for the information re Salvage insurance !! Gotta check ours out now ! Praying for quick and easy resolution for you .

So happy to see you in better spirits! I know the journey ahead is going to be tough, but I know you can and will do it and we will be right there with you! Chin up Captain! Jay

It was so great to meet you at the Hull Shield booth this past week. Keep the faith brother! It will work out. Dwight

Alan, thank you for the update. I really am looking forward to this adventure with you getting back on the water soon. All the best, You're unmet friends in Nashville.😊

Great video Alan, glad to see you are "keeping the faith".... I look forward to following the progress!!

Awesome, love watching your adventures and know that no Challenge doesn't come unless you are ready for it. Yes better it will be and so are you for the experience, your sharing will make many others better as well. Thank you for your service Alan, that is one of things that makes life worth living! Rock on Brother.

Glad to hear you are doing better and more positive about the future.

Thanks for the update! Hope you get back out there!

Thanks Alan. Appreciate your candor. 34, just returned from a charter with my wife in the BVI. We watched several of your videos while developing our itinerary and we were sorry to see your video about the grounding. Keep pushing and we’ll keep watching ☺ My two cents... given the sheer number of charter boats, the mooring ball situation in the BVI is not particularly well managed and one has to be careful. We had no issues but one can easily see how problems might arise. Every night you see people speeding through mooring fields looking to tie up before dark probably nicking and compromising balls with the prop in the process. As a Captain, unless you have reserved a mooring you can never really be sure if you will get a mooring on arrival at your destination. If not, you either have to move to another spot (hope you have enough daylight since charter boats aren't supposed to operate at night) or anchor in a place with maybe 20-30 other boats close by super yachts often among them. Not an ideal situation by any stretch. Your point about diving the balls is also spot on. While this is often suggested, some of the moorings are secured 40ft down so the idea of diving to check one is just silly. Personally, I think each ball should be secured with 10 feet of rope at the top and the rest of the rode to the bottom be chain. The rope saves a boats propeller should contact occur and the chain is unlikely to fail under stress. Captains could then just snorkel the rope for prop nicks or other damage and then feel relatively confident of good holding. As for testing the ball, 1500 RPMs mimics a 30-40knot wind so that’s the max that is needed. Anymore and it's as you say, your just pulling the ball out of the seafloor. In a perfect world the Park Service should have reservable well maintained overnight moorings but until then BoatyBall is the best option. Fair Winds & Cheers from Canada

Its good to see you in a better mood and with an optimistic outlook again!

So good to hear - and glad your good cheer and upbeat attitude are back! Fair winds and following seas, sir! Go Rangers!

Nice. Proud of you, Alan. You are also continuing to teach people like me a lot of good lessons.

I always always always always dive on the mooring balls and anchor . I even have a mini subcam controlled remotely.

I pray that you can get your boat fixed and get back on the water. Always look forward to your videos.

Me and my wife have retirement plans in four years. I been considering a flybridge cruiser. I AM NOT an experienced boater. But the thought of doing something like this seemed extremely attractive. Thanks for sharing your journey so all of us out there can learn from you and realize maybe this isn't for me. Not sure I'm mentally built for the challenges you faced. Especially during retirement. Maybe I will just charter.

Don't give up! You inspire us! Stay the course!

Thanks for the update. There is a lot of good information you gave for a guy like me that has no clue about mouring balls and boat travel. Your rock.

Hang in there, my man. Good times ahead!