A reminder of the facts
Visit Class40 Acrobatica skippered by Alberto Riva, with Jean Marre and Tomaso Stella on board, triggered her Sarsat distress beacon on July 9, 2024, when she was around 300 nautical miles north of the island of Flores in the Azores archipelago. The Class 40 collided with a tanker, dismasted and suffered several leaks. Weather conditions were difficult, with heavy seas and sustained winds. The crew, quite rightly, no longer feeling safe aboard the damaged yacht, evacuated the Class 40, which was left adrift. Given the damage inflicted in the collision, it was unlikely that the boat would not sink quickly.
A Class 40 that won't sink
But four months later, the wreck of the yacht was photographed by a Dutch cargo ship, the "Ijzerborg", 350 miles east of the Azores. The Class 40 was in a sorry state, having lost its mast and bow, but still floating more or less on its own. The freighter reports the position of the wreck to the relevant authorities. Not being equipped to salvage or tow this navigational hazard, the freighter's crew continued on their way.
An end of course on a Moroccan beach
The wreck continued its journey on its own, pushed by winds and currents, before running aground on a Moroccan beach, as skipper Alberto Riva explains:
"Since the incident on July 9, 2024 during Québec-Saint Malo, Acrobatica has covered over 1300 miles, pushed by wind and currents, touching land on the Moroccan coast near El Ouatia beach, level with the Canaries.
After all this time, it's like finding a part of me. Seeing her there, tied to the rocks to prevent her going out to sea again with the next tide, was a blow to the heart. As soon as we heard about it, we and the whole Acrobatics team set to work to better manage what was left of the hull."
Many other similar cases
During the Transat Jaques Vabre in 2005, the ORMA Fila trimaran skippered by Giovani Soldini capsized off the coast of Sierra Leone. The crew was rescued by helicopter, while the boat continued its transatlantic journey upside down, eventually running aground in French Guiana two years later.
In November 2006, during the Velux 5 Oceans Race, Alex Thomson was forced to abandon his IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss some 1,000 nautical miles south of the Cape of Good Hope. Nine years later, in February 2016, the wreck was discovered on a remote beach in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, in Chilean Patagonia, by explorer Cristian Donoso . The sailboat had drifted over 10,000 nautical miles, crossing the Indian and Pacific oceans.
In 2010, Lalou Roucayrol capsized during the return trip from the Route du Rhum on his multi 50. Nearly 2,000 miles from the Azores, the crew was picked up by a cargo ship. Two years later, a float was found on a beach in the United States, while the hull was photographed floating upside down five years after the capsize, north-east of Madeira.
In 2016, during the English Transat, the IMOCA Finnair was abandoned by skipper Richard Tolkien, who was rescued by a cargo ship around 800 nautical miles west of Horta. The sailor's technical team then proceeded to scuttle the yacht. However, the hull did not sink and remained partially submerged. After drifting for some eighteen months, the wreck finally came to rest on the island of Vieques, off the coast of Puerto Rico.
During the 2017 Transat Jacques Vabre, Eric Defert and Christopher Pratt capsized aboard the multi 50 off Portugal. Two years later, the wreck will end its journey on a beach in the Bahamas.
