Fabrice Amedeo recounts his incredible shipwreck “in the middle of the flames”

Fabrice Amedeo is the incredible survivor of the day on the Route du Rhum. Victim of a shipwreck on Monday afternoon, while he was heading for Cascais (Portugal) on his Imoca, the 44-year-old skipper was rescued by a cargo ship, after having had to abandon his boat. Now out of danger, in this cargo ship which will drop him off this Tuesday morning in the Azores, he gave a poignant testimony to West France.

“I realized on Sunday morning that my ballast had exploded on a wave and that I had several hundred liters of water in the boat,” he says. I pulled over to be safe and started dumping everything. At this point the batteries affected by the water failed and I had a complete blackout on board. I had no more electricity: no more autopilot, no more computer, no more electronics. I decided, in consultation with my team, to proceed cautiously towards Cascais. »

“I can’t even open my eyes”

Sunday afternoon, Fabrice Amedeo notes “a big smoke on board the boat”. After a fire extinguisher, he puts on his survival suit and alerts the race direction, so that a competitor in Imoca can divert to assist him if necessary. As the smoke finally stopped, the skipper resumed his journey to Cascais. A new smoke appears Monday midday on board, and this one is followed by an explosion.

I hit the fire extinguisher but nothing happens. The smoke is not white like the day before but yellow. The cockpit warps and yellows. Seawater spray is like the sound of water hitting a saucepan. I understand that I will have to evacuate. By the time I hang up with my team, I’m at the back of the boat ready to trigger my survival. A torrent of flames comes out of the cabin. I am in the middle of the flames. I can’t even open my eyes. I manage to push the life raft into the water and jump. Normally the end that holds the survival to the boat is supposed to let go. He doesn’t let go. »

“Amazingly serene” on his raft

The key moment for Fabrice Amedeo is there: he must get on his life raft as soon as possible. “I say to myself: ‘if you want to live, you have a few seconds to find the knife and cut this piece. I finally find it and I cut. My raft is drifting downwind of the Imoca, which is on fire. It will take 30 minutes to sink. I spoke to him and thanked him. We were to go around the world together in two years…”

The skipper’s rescue is still far from being effective, especially since his satellite phone no longer works due to the water received. “I say to myself: ‘nobody knows that the boat has sunk and that you are in your raft, if you cut the beacon of your Imoca that you were able to take and you trigger that of the raft, they will have the info.’ That’s what I do. He will spend almost four hours in that raft on Monday afternoon, making a Mayday call every 30 minutes and being “surprisingly calm”.

“Death did not want me”

This does not last, since he does not see how he is going to board “such a mastodon”, namely a freighter located 6 miles from him. “I am in constant contact with the captain who cannot see me: the sea is rough, he has the sun in his eyes and I am a tiny orange dot, says Fabrice Amedeo. I hit two distress rockets, he tries a first approach which fails. It’s very impressive to be in my inflatable raft a few meters from this steel giant. As he passed, the sea broke, the raft filled with plenty of water. The skipper ended up grabbing hold of a rope thrown by the crew of the freighter.

“It’s all down to the wire. There is the thickness of the line between success and failure, survival and drama. My Imoca Nexans-Art et Fenêtres sank in flames before my eyes and all my dreams were swallowed up with it. It was once on board the freighter that the fear and the adrenaline came. My legs were shaking. It’s crazy this animal capacity that Man has to manage a survival situation. And then it falls. Death didn’t want me today, or rather life didn’t want me to leave it. I am devastated but the happiest of men because tonight my wife and daughters are not going to bed crying. ” Welcomed as a hero by the twenty crew members of the freighter, he does not imagine himself changing his life: “This adventure in no way alters my passion for my job and for the ocean, I will bounce back”.


source site