Explosion and fire on board his yacht: French sailor Fabrice Amedeo is able to save himself at the last second in the Route du Rhum transatlantic regatta. His boat sinks, hours later he is rescued from the life raft. “Death didn’t want me today,” he wrote shortly afterwards.
Sailor Fabrice Amedeo narrowly escaped death at sea. At the Route du Rhum transatlantic regatta, the Frenchman was already on his way to the Portuguese port of Cascais after a burst water ballast tank, flooding of his boat, electronic “blackout” on board and smoke development when an explosion shook his Imoca yacht on Monday. A flash of flame and fire on board forced the solo sailor into the life raft. From there he had to watch his yacht “Nexans – Art
“I said to myself: ‘If you want to live, you have a few seconds to find and cut the knife,'” Amedo wrote about the dramatic minutes on the life raft in an article published on yacht.de, among others.
“The Imoca pulls me back towards her. The waves bring me dangerously close to her. I finally find the knife and cut. My life raft drifts downwind towards the boat, which is on fire. It takes 30 minutes to sink . I spoke to the boat and thanked him. We wanted to go around the world together in two years.”
The 44-year-old former journalist was rescued by the freighter “Maersk Brida” after around three hours in heavy seas. Amedeo was more than relieved: “Death didn’t want me today. I’m devastated, but I’m the happiest man because my wife and daughters don’t have to go to bed crying today.”
Four of the 38 Imoca yachts that started in the record field of 138 transatlantic crossers have had to give up the 3,500 nautical mile sailing regatta from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe, including two with broken masts. After almost a week at sea, Boris Herrmann was in 14th place in the Imoca field.
The Hamburg native contests the first solo regatta with his new “Malizia – Seaexplorer”. In the optimization phase of the new building before the start, he made arrival the most important goal. At the head of the Route-du-Rhum fleet, Charles Caudrelier (“Maxi Edmond de Rothschild”) and François Gabart (“SVR-Lazartigue”) wrestle in the “giant duel” on giant trimarans for the “Line Honors” for the first Boat across the finish line in this twelfth edition of the transatlantic classic.
