When a shipwreck turns … into a beautiful life experience

In some ways, the story we are telling you about reminded us of one of Paolo Conte’s masterpieces, “Onda su Onda” (in the song, the protagonist finds happiness again thanks to a shipwreck): it is the story of Andrea Barbera, a 38-year-old skipper from Agrigento, who on the night of April 14-15 last year had to abandon his newly purchased catamaran off the coast of Ravenna because it was hit by a sudden and unforeseen gale. But as we shall see, from a negative experience, the shipwreck has turned into a phenomenon of collective solidarity that brings back the values of sailing.

A BOAT-BORN SKIPPER
Let’s proceed in order: “I was born on board,” Andrea tells us, “my father, in 1971, was the first inhabitant of Agrigento to own a sailboat, an 8 1/2-foot Ceccarelli. I took my first steps on Optimists and dinghies, then became of FIV Instructor. I realized that the sea was my path early on, so much so that I dropped out of school in my second year of high school to pursue sailing. I have participated in three Giri d’Italia (the event organized by Cino Ricci) crewing with Matteo Ivaldi and Andrea Mura and in two Giri di Corsica and Sardegna, I have taken part in Roma per Tutti (finishing second), I have done transfers aboard mythical boats such as Steinlager 2 and Il Moro di Venezia II. In the Mediterranean, I sailed everywhere. My first Atlantic experience, in 2006, was the crossing to the Caribbean aboard, as co-skipper of Adriatica, Patrizio Roversi and Syusy Blady’s boat (also participating in the on-board reality show, Adriatica – La Rotta Rossa). My job is to be a skipper, make transfers, I am a sailing instructor currently for the Italian Naval League, and in the future I have several solo sailing projects. These include the record on uninhabitable cat in the Atlantic, following in the footsteps of Matteo Miceli and other Italian navigators.

“I’M GOING INTO BUSINESS FOR MYSELF.”
“I was commander of boats such as Swan 75 and Grand Soleil 56 in the French Riviera,” the Sicilian continues,“before I decided to strike out on my own and open my own charter and sailing school company ( Ariadimare). I first purchased a steel 12-meter by Alfeo Scattolin (legendary designer from Padua), but it was slow and heavy, then when I saw that the fast Formula 40 Shaka, Enrico Contreas’ cat on which, in the 1980s, Cino Ricci had also sailed, was for sale in Veneto, I couldn’t resist. That boat, lying disassembled in a shed in Caorle (Venice) was to be mine. I drained my savings (22 thousand euros was the price of the boat, plus shipping materials from Sicily: I must have spent 30 thousand euros) and bought it. I went up, brought the boat to a shed at the Crosera shipyard in Portegrandi, and started assembling it. In two weeks I was ready to go into the water.”

THE GALE TOOK US BY SURPRISE
We set off immediately: “Along with me for the transfer (my fourth transfer from Veneto to Sicily) were two friends Andrea Vanadia and Fabio Farruggia, novice sailors. We set sail from Portegrandi on April 14, heading for Ancona, our first stop. Everything seemed to be going as well as it could, with the heavily sailed boat, equipped with a 17-meter mast, sailing at an average of 12 knots without any problems. Around midnight, when we were three miles off Punta Maestra, at the mouth of the Po, the sirocco with which we had started suddenly dropped, the sky cleared, and before long we were hit by a gale with mistral gusts up to 45 knots and a threatening short wave. We immediately took down the sails, but the Formula 40, born for flat-water sailing and nearly 8 meters wide (we tell you the story of this boat at the bottom of the article) was tossed around by the wave. What’s more, the wing mast was still making sail, and with drifts down and no sails we were sailing at 5 knots. Initially, we opted to wait for the worst to pass in the berths (Shaka has two aft berths in the hulls and an enlarged calavel in the bow that can be used as a berth).”

“GOODBYE, SHAKA”
But all is not well: “This storm, we later got confirmation from the Port Authority as well, was an unforeseen and local phenomenon. Within an hour we found ourselves 3 to 22 miles from the coast: motoring to the coast was out of the question, the power of the outboard (10 horsepower) would never be enough to push us against the fury of the wind. While we were locked in the bunk we heard a bang. I went out on deck and immediately realized that the diamond of the bow transom had gone, with the eyebolt attached to it. The transom flexed upward under the forestay load. The situation was worrisome, first I plugged the hole in the bow with plastic bags and dacron, but the mast could have fallen any minute. So I decided, considering also the presence of two novice sailors on board, whose safety was my first concern, to launch Mayday with the VHF. Unfortunately, the radio, with a welded antenna, was not working properly, and fortunately a fishing boat, the “Giuliana,” radioed in with the Harbor Master’s Office, which with all the difficulties involved (it could not detect us with radar, as the cat has low hulls: I managed to spot them on the horizon and then used the signal fires) arrived with a patrol boat in the early morning hours. Having launched the Mayday, there were no plans to tow the boat to port. Reluctantly, I left the boat last, cold, after taking my papers, cell phone, and handheld gps, and boarded the patrol boat“.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO – THE WAIT FOR RESCUE ABOARD SHAKA

I WILL COME BACK TO GET YOU
“I left the masthead light on because I was intent on retrieving the boat as soon as possible. Early in the morning, from Marina di Ravenna, aboard a rented 9-meter dinghy, we set out in search of Shaka, based on the last recorded ship point. When we arrived at the site, the weather conditions were identical to those at night, with winds over 30 knots and a very high wave, and no trace of the catamaran. We passed a fishing boat that told us it had spotted the drifting boat on radar, got the new position dictated by radio, reached it, and found no trace of my Shaka there either. As we returned to shore (5 1/2 hours, to cover the 30 miles against the mistral that separated us from Marina di Ravenna) I remember being assailed by despondency.”

THE EPIC OF RECOVERY
Upon arriving in Ravenna, the three decide to return to Agrigento to arrange recovery with clearer heads. They first passed through Bologna, where they slept at a friend’s, and finally, at a sporting goods store, changed and bought new clothes. “I left my oilskin and boots in the store’s dressing room,” Andrea says, “I had to break with the past. I thought I had just lost all my savings and especially the means by which I was supposed to earn my bread.”. In Agrigento, the three friends set up a “technical table”: downloading all the weather charts, cross-referencing them with those of the currents they determine that the catamaran should be about 35 miles off the Italian coast, closer to Croatia. Through some contacts, they manage to get a small Chessna to take off from a Ravenna flight base for an aerial reconnaissance (the pilot goes in search of the boat for free, moved by a spirit of solidarity), but there is sirocco, so the aircraft is forced to stay low so as not to climb above the clouds so the search takes place in reduced visibility and does not bear the desired fruit. “We were not given up: through the Marine Traffic website we contacted all the vessels that were in the area, Andrea Vanadia has his brother-in-law who works on fishing boats, and through him we also alerted all the fishing boats. After 5 days, if I remember correctly it was April 20, the Port Authority of Chioggia called me and told me that the fishing boat “The Lion and The Fox” had found the boat (only 3 miles from the point we estimated) and towed it to Porto Pila. I felt freed from a great weight, I was not in the skin.”

A VERY LONG HAPPY ENDING
“In the morning I was on the flight to Venice. We were picked up at the airport by the son of the owner of the Crosera shipyard (the one in which I had mounted the catamaran), who was passionate about our story, partly because his father was among the builders of the fishing boat that had found the boat and knew its owner (coincidences of the sea!), and accompanied us to Port Pila. The boat was in disastrous condition, had dismasted mainsail underwater ripped open, boom broken (during the towing of the vessel, the submerged appendages had touched the bottom and were further damaged). This is where the long “happy ending” begins: first of all, Gianfranco and Lorenzo, the skippers of the fishing boat that recovered Shaka, did not want a euro (according to the Navigation Code, whoever recovers an abandoned boat at sea can ask the owner for up to 30 percent of its value, so in this case at least 7,000 euros, ed.), in fact, they even offered me beers over the two weeks that we stayed in Port Pila to repair the boat and resume sailing.”

THE POWER OF SOLIDARITY
“Not to mention the solidarity and help I received from the inhabitants of Porto Pila, 300 fishing families in the nowhere of the Po Valley, at the mouth of the Po River. Here I was welcomed like a son: while we were repairing the boat, there were those who brought us a bottle of wine, the priest even gave us a bicycle so that we could move around more easily, we were guests at the game and fish barbecues that were punctually organized in the village. I even spent the last four days at the Zago family’s “Il Rifugio di Punta della Maestra” Bed & Breakfast, which hosted me for free and fed me (I had no money left and the last thing I could afford was a B&B stay).

I used the last of the funds to arrange transportation of the boat from Port Pila to Agrigento (by means of a fruit truck, unloaded, returning from its trip to northern Italy): in Agrigento I was able to put the boat back in the water thanks to the help of many friends who supported me financially and morally, so I was able to resume my charter business. In repayment, I think I’ll have to take them all on a boat!”

ANDREA IS AWARDED
But that’s not all, Andrea is also awarded: “In July 2016, thanks to my adventure, I receive the prestigious Sea Trophy Award from the Superintendence of the Sea alongside such greats as Alberto Angela, Donatella Bianchi and Luca Zingaretti.” This is the beautiful story of Andrew, the sailor who experienced on himself the value of solidarity between men and sailors.

FORMULA 40, JOURNEY INTO FORGOTTEN SAILING
Shaka (13 m long, 8 m wide, disl. 2,500 kg) is a sports cat designed in the 1980s by Enrico Contreas: it participated in the Formula 40 circuit under the name BabyCresci (on which Cino Ricci also sailed) until the early 1990s. This circuit, which in some ways is the forerunner of the ones we are used to following today (GC32, M32, AC45, Extreme 40…) from a show point of view, actually worked in a completely different way: it was governed by a very simple box rule, which stipulated a maximum length (12.18 m), a minimum weight (1,800 kg) and a sail area of 180 sq. m. spi included (the mainsail was very large, the jib 8 sq. m., the minimum stipulated by the box rule). In addition, the races were timed, not on traditional courses: one event consisted of a long race of six hours and three short races of two hours each, and the buoys were placed as close to shore as possible to allow the public to follow the races (in this, the Formula 40s served as the inspiration for the new America’s Cup and the aforementioned circuits). The circuit, which launched sailors of the caliber of Jean Le Cam and Philippe Poupon, lost visibility because of the large performance gaps between the boats: the “softness” of the box rule had meant that trimarans could even be made, such as Biscuits Cantreau (designed by VPLP, helmed by Le Cam), which was in fact unbeatable by the rest of the fleet.

Eugene Ruocco