Crew with a Cause: S/Y Aquarius Aims to Raise $10,000 for Hurricane Dorian Relief

While it was nearly impossible to go a day without hearing about the damage that Hurricane Dorian inflicted on The Bahamas in September, nowadays, the headlines are a little less urgent.

The devastating hurricane left its mark in Elbow Cay on September 1 with 185 mph winds over several days. In an effort to do their part, all 10 crewmembers aboard S/Y Aquarius decided to launch their “Row Across the Atlantic” quest. In mid-November, they started raising awareness about the $10K fundraiser, which officially started on December 5 when rowing began — but you can still donate to the fundraiser until January 1.

Since they’re better sailors then they are rowers, Chief Stewardess Caitlin Wilson of Aquarius says they will use their Concept2 Rowing machine on the deck to row 1,000 kilometers while the boat travels from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, in about 10 days.

“Deciding to raise money to help those in The Bahamas recover from Hurricane Dorian was also an easy decision as we are weeks away from heading back down that direction and we have all seen first-hand other Caribbean communities that have been affected by natural disasters and it’s overwhelmingly sad,” says Wilson. She considers it a win-win to both do their part as crew and to help those communities.

“Although he won’t want to take credit for it, our Capt. James Turner came to me with the idea,” she says. “We started with his concept and then myself and the rest of crew got together to figure out the intricacies.” Involved in the athletic effort are Capt. James Turner, Chief Stewardess Caitlin Wilson, First Officer Graham Capell, Chief Engineer Charlie Mott, Bosun Dan Buckmaster, Chef Pippa Crowley, Second Engineer Ben Hodgson, Deckhand Aaron Hodskinson, and Delivery Crewmembers Ben Tcharny and Will Davison.

To help them reach their goal, they encourage you to donate per kilometer rowed, or to give a one-time donation, as anything helps. From there, they will send the funds to the American Red Cross. www.anython.com/7ywuuj