They say that legends never die. Nevertheless, it is necessary to revive them from time to time. Alain Colas, the sailor, became a legend 43 years ago, when he left the docks of the corsair city aboard his trimaran Manureva, which he had bought a decade earlier from another maritime legend, Eric Tabarly.
On November 5, 1978, the sailor left Saint-Malo. We will not see him again. Find out more about the life and career of the navigator Alain Colas.
Wanted in the sea around the Azores
Disappeared at sea in mid-November of the same year, the skipper was sought by the French army until December, leaving room for rumors and information as unverifiable as unfounded, from the voluntary suicide of the navigator to his voluntary disappearance to settle on a deserted island.
Alain Colas was declared dead on November 16, 1978, after he transmitted his last radio message " I am in the eye of the storm, there is no more sky, everything is amalgam, there are only mountains of water around me ". Rumor has it that two radio amateurs would have picked up a distress call from the famous adventurer. Nothing, today still, comes to deny nor affirm this message.
Alain Colas was 35 years old and was married to Téura Krauze, with whom he had three children: Vaimiti, Torea and Tereva.
Accidentally marine
Alain Colas was a man of many challenges. He became a sailor accidentally and late in life, and revolutionized ocean racing. He was a journalist, lecturer, film director and writer. A visionary communicator, he was the first to harness the power of the media to develop what has become modern sponsorship.
Renamed Manureva, " The bird of the journey "He transformed Pen Duick IV to make her fit for the southern seas. It was on September 8, 1973 that he left the Vauban basin in Saint-Malo to return, 169 days later, on February 3, 1974, after having achieved his feat. He passed the mythical Cape Horn, sailed 30,000 miles and returned to port, bringing back to Commandant Gauthier the map that the latter had carefully entrusted to him, specifying " Alain Colas ! This map was used for 22 passages of Cape Horn, all returned safely, I entrust it to you with a request to bring it back to me! ".
Man of memory
Each and every one of us on our boats, just like the competitors in the next Vendée Globe, owe part of our freedom on the water to heroes like Alain. Today, Alain Colas exists in the squares, streets and schools of our towns and villages.
Legends can also be sung.
In 1979, Serge Gainsbourg wrote the lyrics of one of Alain Chamfort's hits, the eponymous song Manureva
