March or Sooner: Timetable To Refloat Motoryacht That Dorian Left High and Dry
The story of Australians Geoff and Jenny Bradley, owners of a 1989 Chris Craft 82 aground near the Sandy Point settlement of Great Abaco., made the cover of PassageMaker magazine recently. The sturdy aluminum motoryacht was remarkably undamaged after surviving Hurricane Dorian at anchor and being deposited inland. At last report, the Bradleys had a plan to move Anne Marie more than 300 feet back to the water. The plan involved an assembly that would be bolted to the hull and allow the vessel to be pushed or pulled over rollers.

Skip Gundlach, who sails a Morgan 46 named Flying Pig, is active in the Seven Seas Cruising Association and became acquainted with the Bradleys while cruising the Abacos last year. Difference being Gundlach heeded the dire warnings from weather forecasters--including Chris Parker--and fled to Florida before Dorian hit exactly where they predicted it would, at dead center in the Abacos. The Bradley's were among a handful of cruisers who chose to shelter in place. Gundlach has been conveying news from the Bradleys since Dorian left them high and dry. 

This is the text of the most recent email received by Gundlach: 

A quick update, our day will be busy communicating with fabricators. Everything will arrive on the 13th or 19th of March. Four pallets six feet high with equipment. We have long time on boat permit and still time on visa. Will talk with authorities about our situation. We haven't received many visitors. The occasional one pops by. 

We are still living very well off our supplies. We are both now becoming excited about the fabrication starting soon. After the next few days finishing up on phone calls required to complete the ordering and transport puzzle, it's time to start the physical labour.

 Lots to do in the time we are waiting for everything to arrive. It all started with a plan. We have patiently gone about implementing that plan. Let's hope the plan works. 

​Cheers, Geoff.

(Since this article was first published, several Facebook commenters have said they have had more recent conversations with the Bradleys, who told them the fabrications may arrive as early as early February for a much earlier refloatation attempt.)
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In an earlier email to Gundlach, Geoff Bradley said one of the props and its running gear were damaged and that the boat was substantially without electricity because its gensets are water cooled, though her solar panels were supplying enough power for communications. Friends of the Bradleys, who rode out the storm with them, had been evacuated early on by Nassau Helicopters, which took the remarkable aerial photo above.
 
“We have a good team. Jenny and I on site and a couple of engineer mates from Australia designing everything required. The system we have chosen to build is light weight and can be fabricated off site. It will be put together on site easily and only 24 holes drilled through the lower bump rail, Bradley wrote.

Sandy Point is a small settlement in southwest Abaco, many of whose people work on the nearby Walt Disney cruise ship island, which was renamed Castaway Cay.

Hurricane Dorian has been described as the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas; It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country's history. As of December 70 Bahamians were dead and 282 were reported as missing. Damage was estimated at $3.4 billion.