Hopes of finding Álexandro and Emilio López, ages 60 and 42, alive are growing thin. The two skippers were caught in a strong mistral gale in the Gulf of Lion on May 1 while aboard Sirius, one of the most famous vintage boats, starring in the most important international vintage regatta circuits. The two were sailing to Palma de Mallorca after ditching their moorings in Cannes; nothing has been heard of them since that day. To date, no trace can be found of either the boat or a possible life raft. Apparently, there was no Epirb on Sirius.
A NEW “PARSIFAL”?
Unfortunately, the affair has some similarities with that of the Parsifal, the worst tragedy in Italian sailing(here we tell you about the sinking of the 16-meter cutter 20 years ago, with 9 people on board: only three were saved), also because we are in the same stretch of sea. The search for the boat and the two sailors, in any case, continues unabated.
A THOROUGHBRED BOAT
Sirius, a Marconi sloop in mahogany planking on oak framework, is the 19th of 20 boats built under the dictates of a tender, formulated in 1936, to build a new official boat for the New York Yacht Club. The Sparkman & Stephens firm won the contract, resulting in the NY 32 class. The number indicated the length to waterline expressed in feet (9.75 meters, by 3.21 wide). In 2004 it was purchased by Italian Fabio Mangione, also the owner of the 1964 Al Na’Ir III, who subjected it to a restoration carried out at both the Cantiere Navale dell’Adriatico in Rimini and the Argentario Shipyard in Porto Santo Stefano. In 2006 she placed third in class at Le Vele d’Epoca in Imperia, and last year, under the auspices of owner Paolo Zannoni, she won silver in the Vintage category at the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge.
