Sailor of the Year: most voted “your pick” sinks in Atlantic

It all started about 1,000 miles east of the French Antilles on the night of Feb. 3: “Tarabaralla’s forestay broke this night and unfortunately went to twist on the rigging and spreader! Therefore, it is currently not possible to open the other sails; Tarabaralla proceeds only with the windward rudder“. Writing is Salvatore Mantaci, the Sicilian engaged in the solo Atlantic crossing (destination Martinique) on a 1978 CBS Serenity. The candidate for the 2016 Sailor of the Year most voted for among the “chosen by you”.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE SAILOR OF THE YEAR: YOU STILL HAVE 5 DAYS LEFT

A DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS
Unfortunately, Salvatore finds himself at the mercy of the current; his engine is broken down as a result of passing over some fishing nets a few weeks earlier. “The forestay, breaking and twisting, has also caught in the twisting the forestay and mainsail halyards and is putting pressure on the mistletoe, which is already showing signs of it. It is impossible to be able to unravel this entanglement. The situation is critical. The sea is very rough (which is why going down in the water at the moment is impractical) and the backstay is loose and I can’t fix it more“, Mantaci wrote on Feb. 5.

And again,“Given the critical nature of the situation, I thought it was appropriate to call for rescue. The General Command of the Coast Guard in Rome now has the situation in hand and has alerted all boats and ships within 200 miles of Tarabaralla for rescue.”

RESCUED FROM A SCHOOL SHIP
It will take a Dutch school ship, the Oosterschelde, which was 200 miles from Tarabaralla, to rescue Salvatore: it will find him aboard the dismasted boat. Unfortunately, sea conditions did not allow rescuers any attempt to recover the boat.

Salvatore had to make the ultimate gesture of opening the sea intakes and watching Tarabaralla sink into the Atlantic. His last post was on February 6. Salvatore is currently on his way to Martinique aboard the training ship: he will land on February 14 in Fort-de-France. To follow his story: http://oceanotarabaralla.blogspot.it/

THE STORY OF SAVIOR
Salvatore Mantaci, class of 1970, born in Palermo. He holds a degree in Mathematics and has lived in Milan since 1997. Happily married with a son who follows him in his passion for sailing. To date, he has worked in the world of ICT and TLC, where his expertise and experience in contact center technologies, omnichannel issues, and customer experience is widely recognized.

In September 2008 he bought Tarabaralla (a 34-foot CBS Serenity ’78), and from then on he spent his every free moment, every weekend, every summer vacation on a boat. In 2010 he published a book of short stories, dedicated to his son, entitled The Fisherman and His Cat. in 2015 he resigned from the company where he worked and set sail from Genoa for the solo Atlantic crossing (and return) in August 2015, after a long and demanding period of repairs and optimizations that he personally carried out to make his sailboat fit for what lay ahead.