So the Maxi trimaran Ad Maiora disappeared into thin air.

“Ad Maiora has disappeared into thin air, ” thus began Bruno Cardile, owner of the Orma 60 Ad Maiora, the trimaran with which he was doing the Middle Sea Race, ” After being forced to leave her(CLICK HERE) ghen I looked at the tracker and saw the boat moving faster and faster. Good – I thought to myself – because if it moves it means the tree is still up. The route, however, began to make me suspicious because it was too linear. Then at some point, after sending three alarms, the Yellow Brick stopped transmitting. My guess is that someone got on board.”

In the video below, radio communications between the Ad Maiora crew and the captain’s office:

The Ad Maiora trimaran disappeared: here’s what happened

Ad Maiora, Bruno Cardile’s trimaran, had experienced a serious failure of the port hull a few days ago west of Lampedusa during the Middle Sea Race and the crew had launched the may day for support. Once on the scene, as seen in the video below, the Coast Guard disembarked the entire crew, leaving the boat adrift. Commander Cardile, before leaving Ad Maiora, contacted via satellite the race committee from whom he received reassurances about the committee’s recovery.

“We had to leave Ad Maiora,” Bruno explained to us over the phone.because due to the formed sea one hull almost split open and remained together only thanks to a carbon sheet laminated on the deck of the left hull. With the tracker, however, I was quite comfortable because I would know where he was minute by minute. My big fear was that the mast would fall down, but as long as the boat is moving at 7 knots it means that everything is still, so to speak, in order. My concern arose when I noticed that the course was linear, even too much so. A drifting boat does not go so straight. The counter proof was when the red button of the Yellow Brick – Satellite transmission system for tracking during races n.d.r.. – was pressed several times, perhaps thinking that this would deactivate the transmitter. Too bad that’s the alarm button. After a few minutes, the transmission stopped while the boat was traveling around 8 knots. This means that someone probably tried to disable it and when they saw that they couldn’t, they threw it overboard or hid it below deck. As of now, the Yellow Brick still has 57% battery life, so it is also impossible for it to have been drained. I don’t know what other explanation to give myself.”

Ad Maiora’s estimated course indicates that its position at 11 a.m. Oct. 26, was 5 miles north of Gozo, Malta. To anyone sailing in the area, we issue an appeal to keep an eye out and report if you should see anything at speciali@panamaeditore.it

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