The Bradleys Keep Grinding Away, Just 60 Feet More

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ALMOST THERE. This drone shot for a YouTube video was taken a year ago, as Anna Marie is slowly dragged over an area that sometimes floods. Not enough to refloat her, just enough to stop work.

Earlier stories about the plight of the Anna Marie, left hard aground by Hurricane Dorian in August 2019, can be read by anyone regardless of subcription status by visiting the Loose Cannon website.

Concepts of “hill” and “hole” are more finely tuned when you are trying to drag a 44-ton motoryacht over terrain without benefit of heavy equipment. Since last we visited Geoff and Jenny Bradley 10 weeks ago, they have moved Anna Marie just 15 feet closer to the bay—an average of a foot and a half a week.

And Geoff Bradley says they are fine with that. “We’re out of the bog hole. We still have a little bit of rise to get over, which means out of the 15 feet we’ve moved, we’ve probably come up about a foot and a half,” he said.

The “bog hole” is a low lying area that tended to flood at high tide, particularly during spring tides, which are happening now. The Bradleys’ formula for re-launching their 89-foot Adventurer¹ motoryacht is to attach four sets of truck wheels to the hull. By getting the rear wheels past the bog, the Bradleys are now able to keep working even when the area floods.