Update on The ARK / BWA Yachting Aid

As part of the ARK/ BWA Yachting Aid effort in the Caribbean following hurricanes Irma and Maria, the 63m explorer yacht SURI is en route to St Maarten as Ark #2 in this heartfelt relief project.

During the Monaco Yacht Show Captain Juan Koegelenberg generously agreed to collect aid in Barcelona and stop in St Maarten en route to the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show. Lucille Frye and her BWA St Maarten team gathered lists from the neediest and, with only a few days to prepare, Antonella Della Pietra and her incredible team at BWA Yachting Spain shopped for a mountain of supplies to replace items in the blown out children’s foster homes, care foundations and animal rescue centers.

Essential furniture such as beds, cots, bedding, linens, personal items, school supplies, animal food and so much more was carefully shopped for to help return the lives of many children and their caretakers to their ‘new’ normal. M/Y SURI is bringing as much as possible and it was hard work loading everything in such a short amount of time!   

Rebuilding Items; Beds, Cots, Bedding, School supplies, food… M/Y SuRi bringing as much as possible!

It was hard work to load everything onto M/Y SuRi in such a short amount of time!

BWA Yachting Spain and OneOcean Port Vell working hard!

Lucille Frye (BWA Yachting St Maarten) and Antonella della Pietra (BWA Yachting Spain) and Capt. Juan Koegelenberg (M/Y SuRi)

Team work at its best! 

ARK #1  S/V LORENA

Immediately after Hurricane Irma impacted the Caribbean, Captain Lucille Frye of BWA Yachting St Maarten leapt into action and put the initial driving force behind this relief effort and the group has grown to include Louise Clark, Destiny Gagiano, Noona Ayres, Francesca Fenucci, Antonella Della Pietra and many more colleagues, friends and family. 

The support of the yachting community has been unbelievable and we are incredibly grateful to be part of this industry with so many amazing human beings! BWA Yachting is also an assisting member of the Super Yacht Aid Coalition (SAC) with YachtAid Global (YAG). 

ARK #1 was S/V LORENA, chartered from RM Croisieres, who allowed us to re-purpose the yacht. Douglas Rapier’s Yacht Services Agency in Martinique provided invaluable ground support to set her up. LORENA was captained by Andy Sinkey, resident of Dominica, who immediately volunteered his help after IRMA smashed into St Maarten. Andy left his family in Dominica, safe at the beautiful Bananalama Eco Villa. 

LORENA delivered 4 tons of immediate aid relief that included water, food, gas and diesel, tarps and medical supplies that were handed over to K1 Brittania upon arrival who distributed the goods to the most desperate people and areas on St Maarten. The plan was to rotate the ARK between St Kitts and St Maarten with continued aid. But, shortly after LORENA was unloaded, she was stranded in St Maarten while Dominica was hit by Cat 5 MARIA, leaving the island devastated. With no news from his family and MARIA threatening St Maarten; Andy put his heartache aside and kept LORENA safe, knowing she was his quickest way home. 

As soon as he could, Andy left St Maarten and returned to Dominica with another 4 tons of supplies, the most important of which were urgent medical supplies from the St Maarten Medical Hospital whom were able to donate these items forwards. Andy arrived in Roseau; unloaded and delivered the supplies with the help of the military and was graciously airlifted into his cut off valley by USAID to find everyone safe. 

Video of the Ark S/V Lorena arriving to St. Maarten on 13 September

VIDEO: Click to watch an interview with Andy when he arrived to St. Maarten

In the spirit of ARK #1 - which was to react and raise the funding later - please help us by donating to this incredible relief effort. Just one month after the disaster, the islands are generally now recovering quickly, but many of the smaller businesses and essential services are still suffering because there are not enough resources to address them just yet. While the bigger picture is well taken care of, the targeted aid that the yachting industry can bring is more important than ever. Every single little bit helps and anything left over will go towards ARK #3 

The Ark leaving; the Ark safely anchored in St Maarten; 

ARK #1 being loaded in Martinique

The Ark survived Maria Hurricane;  Kids at the I Can Foundation receiving supplies

OneOcean Port Vell Crew Party

On October 2nd, OneOcean Port Vell in Barcelona and BWA Yachting Spain organized a special crew party in support of the BWA ARK AID fund. It was fantastic to see so many people showing up and supporting the project - thanks to all the yacht crew who attended the party and donated!

How you can help if your yacht is crossing to the Caribbean:

A) SuperYacht Aid Coalition (SAC) Aid Vessel 

The SuperYacht Coalition (SAC) is helping to coordinate more aid to come across the Atlantic with volunteering superyachts returning to the region for the coming winter charter season. 

Any interested yachts can help by sponsoring/ soliciting donations of goods from their crew, family and neighboring vessels and bringing these across to the Caribbean. 

In order to ensure that you take only what is needed, you will receive a vetted list gathered by SAC from charity organizations and we ask that you bring only what is on that list. 

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO BECOME A SAC AID VESSEL

B) ARK AID monetary contributions 

In the spirit of ARK #1 LORENA and ARK #2 SURI – which was react and raise the funding later - please help us by continuing to donate to this incredible relief effort. Every single penny and centime will help us to cover these costs and anything left over will go towards a BWA organized ARK # 3

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE

The ARK/ BWA AID group would like to give a MASSIVE thank you to all the donations given so far! The donations have been truly amazing and have already enabled us to make an immediate difference in a very significant way! THANK YOU!!! 

TOGETHER WE ARE ONE - CARIBBEAN STRONG!

For further information:

For yacht captains and crews

Lucille Frye: l.frye@bwayachting.com; +1 721 5548918

Antonella Della Pietra: a.dellapietra@bwayachting.com; +34 667 440059

For press and media

Francesca Fenucci: f.fenucci@bwayachting.com; +39 333 2878171