In fall 2017, Capt. Erik Long was hired to sail the 63-foot Oyster Enzo from Rhode Island to its winter waters off St. Lucia on the heels of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the worst storms the Caribbean had seen in over 30 years.
As he packed the provisions, he said to the owner: “How about we load up the boat with a whole bunch of hurricane relief supplies?”
The owner immediately offered to match Long’s fundraising 3-to-1. After a few weeks, Long was left with 14 days to allocate $80,000 of relief supplies on board . He and his crew bought thousands of water filters and Home Depot buckets. When onlookers got curious watching the team relay truckload after truckload through a Rhode Island marina, Long told them: “We’re
