
The first nightmare for John and Kathy Struchen, owners of Lanier Sailing Academy in Pensacola, Fla., was the fear of what could happen — tar balls washing up on shore, black sludge invading bay inlets — after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded exactly a year ago off the coast of Louisiana.

The hole in the bottom of the ocean that's been spewing oil into the Gulf for two months has sent the lives of John Struchen and his wife, Kathy, into a tailspin.