Five Years On, And It's All Downhill Now for Anna Marie (Videos)
Hurricane Dorian Marooned Australian Couple on Abaco
“We're living in paradise in a four-bedroom apartment with no neighbors. I've got a funny feeling there's some people who’d pay a lot of money for that.”—Geoff Bradley
Hurricane Dorian swept over Abaco on September 1, 2019, breaking Anna Marie’s anchor rode and carrying away the 89-foot motoryacht on its 20-foot surge. By September 3 the sea had receded, having deposited the barely damaged vessel onto a remote, hardscrabble shore, 300 feet from the water.
Australian owners Geoff Bradley and Jenny Kelly (a descendant of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly) took stock, and within six months they had begun executing a plan to relaunch Anna Marie all by themselves and without heavy equipment.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of Dorian. The couple has moved their 80-ton vessel approximately 245 feet. Waters of the Bight of Abaco now lap against the boat’s stern sections. Consider this statistic: From when the work actually began, Bradley and Kelly have succeeded in moving the boat an average 4 1/2 feet a month over 54 months.
The process has evolved over time, but pulling Anna Marie backwards over sand and rock has always involved a trusty industrial winch with a combination of wheeled assemblies, line, pulleys and anchors. Substitute a couple dozen men for the winch, and we’re looking at a system that could have been devised by Greeks to haul and launch ships in the time of Archimedes.
Bradley, who worked as a builder back home, may be 64 years old, but he is as lean and lanky as a Confederate soldier. Each pull is preceded by heavy labor—digging, drilling, jacking, shimming, rock-piling, positioning lumber, setting anchors. Progress is measured a foot or two at a time, when they’re lucky. Then the cycle starts all over again. Bradley doesn’t say it, but the work is industrial in nature and therefore dangerous.
Kelly, a retired administrator, is in charge of logistics and communications and a whole lot of other stuff that comprise daily life in an isolated locale.
Isolated, yes, but their Abaco hideaway is also a place for swimming and spearfishing, of emerald water and green-flash sunsets. “Some of our friends say, Oh, I don't know how you do it,” Bradley said. “They just don't realize that we're living in paradise in a four-bedroom apartment with no neighbors. I've got a funny feeling there's some people who’d pay a lot of money for that.”
Videos
At this point, let’s have a look at a couple of videos showing how “skates” under the keel are now being used as Anna Marie’s primary wheels, as opposed to outboard truck-wheeled dollies and cut sections of utility poles (which have been used previously or in tandem today). The first one shows a successful run for a gain of about two feet; the second, a typical “blooper,” as they call it.
And here’s a video from showing progress using truck wheels three years ago.
The biggest milestone was finally getting out of what Bradley calls “the mudhole,” getting over “the hump.” For someone walking the shore, the features would barely be worth noting because they are defined not by feet, but inches. Think of it as dip along a beach that pools with water after a heavy rain or a super-high tide; that’s what it is.
A seven-inch rise over 70 feet doesn’t sound all that daunting until you are trying to pull an 80,000-pound object over it. Only recently has enough of Anna Marie’s keel transited this mini-ridge that she is actually going downhill. With gravity on their side Bradley and Kelly are feeling optimistic.
Fourty feet out from the swim deck are depths of five feet, where Anna Marie could float free, Bradley said. Pretty soon, the stern will be in deep enough water that when tides are particularly high, waves from any westerly winds will begin bumping the stern up, inviting winch pulls.
“You engage the system and let it bounce-bounce you into the water,” he said. “We’re seeing if we can find 10 blue drums in town—55-gallon drums. We worked out we can strap 10 of those under the swim deck, so they take one ton per drum when they’re fully submerged, so that’ll be another 10 tons off the back of the boat.”
Having benefitted from hindsight, the couple refuses to jinx himself with notions like “afloat by Christmas,” for example. “We wouldn't have a clue. You know, it could be a month, it could be six months,” Bradley said. After our conversation, the two of them went back to preparing for another winch pull the next morning. They promised to send a video.
Their message the next day: “Sadly no video. Moved two inches, and two of the anchor points gave way. We will redesign the anchor-points layout, taking the anchors further out and try again.”
Another day in paradise.
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They need to rename her Tenacious.
I think secretly they're enjoying this escapade a little bit.