43m superyacht used to deliver emergency supplies to California wildfire victims

Howard Leight, co-owner of Malibu Oaks Winery, and friend Bill Kerbox have been using 43-metre (150-foot) Sun Star-built superyacht Leight Star to deliver aid to those affected by the devastating wildfires in California.

The American yacht owner put out a message on social media (using the #malibuhope hashtag) to amass volunteers to help with delivering crucial relief to the blaze-stricken region.

“We have acquired the use of the 150-foot yacht Leight Star and Marina Del Ray to deliver essential food, water and basic supplies to Paradise Cove Tuesday morning. We need donations of these items and a delivery truck and staging area,” the message read.

A number of volunteers assembled and joined in the effort, helping load up Leight Star with 3,000 bottles of water, 100 gallons of fuel, food, pet food and beer.

The mission was initially hampered by a police response on the beach, who would not allow those on board to disembark – according to the LA Times, the deputy sheriff said, “if we’re not letting people in by land, we’re not letting them in by sea.”

Fortunately, local surfers and paddle boarders were available to help transfer the supplies onto land from the yacht.

View a Twitter thread about the whole journey.

Leight Star was built in 1984 and has accommodation for up to 10 guests and seven crew members. She was designed by Brooks Dees, with interior stylings from Doug Sharp and naval architecture by Joel Welter.

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