Yacht’s third trip delivers tons of donations after Hurricane Dorian

Sep 10, 2019 by Dorie Cox

Story and photos by Dorie Cox; Offload photos from M/Y Axis

Update Sept. 10

Capt. Les Annan and the yacht’s crew are preparing M/Y Axis to head back to the northern Bahamas for the third time since Hurricane Dorian caused major damage and fatalities on Abaco and Grand Bahama.

With several last-minute changes to plans on Tuesday morning, Capt. Annan could not talk long, but said crews are loading more supplies at Rybovich in West Palm Beach.

A refrigerated shipping container to be used as a morgue was delivered to the dock on Monday, but could not be loaded onto the support yacht, Annan said. Instead the yacht will transport several Tesla PowerWalls to provide electrical power for a hospital.

M/Y Axis is still loading in the haul-out pit, said Savannah Bennett, communications director at Rybovich. She said everyone is happy to be able to help the relief effort.

“We’re so proud of the superyachts, the marina, and the people responding to this,” she said. “I love to see people’s hearts.”

Original post on Sept. 7

Fifty-nine tons. That’s a lot of generators, chainsaws, construction materials, tools, medical supplies and food that have just been delivered for the people of the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands less than a week ago.

The donations, organized in part by National Marine Suppliers, Bradford Marine, and Rotary District 6990, were loaded onto M/Y Axis on Friday night at Dania Cut Super Yacht Repair in Dania Beach, Florida. And by early afternoon Saturday, four shipping containers and many pallets were offloaded in the Bahamas by the Rotary, according to Capt. Les Anan of Axis.

As soon as the 185 mph winds of the Category 5 storm began a path of death and destruction, Capt. Anan figured the 182-foot Damen support yacht would make a relief trip. The plan came together when marine businesses, shipyards, marinas, yacht captains and crew, yacht owners and longtime visitors to the islands began to collect money and supplies to donate to people in need on Abaco and Grand Bahamas.

The trip from Dania Beach to Freeport, Bahamas, this morning was very smooth, Capt. Anan said. Although he has not disembarked the boat, he said the dock was intact and the local Rotary Club was ready to offload the donations.

“We offloaded in two hours. It only took that long because I had to turn the boat around to reach the containers on the other side,” he said. “They are taking them [containers] to the warehouse and we’re bringing them back empty.”

The yacht also brought gas, water and diesel fuel to offload Saturday afternoon. M/Y Axis can make 10,000 gallons of water a day.

On Sunday, the yacht will return to Florida, where the crew will reload and make the trip again.

Dorie Cox is editor of The Triton. Comment below.