Hard to believe but this boat just won’t give up.
In our last update we reported to you that a fishing boat had sighted the Eco40 floating belly up many miles off the coast of Brazil. A fisherman on that vessel recognised it, took a photo and uploaded it onto Twitter. With social media instantly sending blurbs to like-minded people around the world, it’s no wonder that this is how the professors in Rome found out the Eco40 was back. Yet without a tracking signal, the boat floated out of sight and that was that…but no. It appears that the Eco40 had other plans.
On May 2nd, the boat’s tracking signal started pinging again like a ghost from the past. The professors quickly packed their bags and headed for Brazil – again. With the tracker steadily pinging every four hours, the team set out on May 13th from the port of Natal on board the vessel Transmar. After less than 48 hours, the Transmar reached the Eco40 floating roughly 300 miles off the coast, somewhat north of the Fernado de Noronha Island:
Eco40’s point of recovery
This time around, on May 15th, the Eco40 was immediately found, with the tracker beating out its satellite position regularly. As written in the previous update, the last tracker signal sent out by the Eco40 was on March 31. Back then, the recovery team was within 60 hours of its location and the search area was just too large and they returned to Rome. This time around it was “veni, vidi, vici”…or…a piece of cake.
After checking out the underwater situation of the Eco40, the team decided to cut the rigging because the mast was broken. Before turning the boat over, a 500 kilo lift bag was placed on the boat’s roof to stabilize it.
Watch the short video of the recovery here
After the boat was in an upright position, the water was pumped out, after which a 50 hour, 380 mile tow to the mainland could begin.
The Eco40 is now in a dock container, waiting to be shipped back to the port of Suape and will leave for Livorno, Italy on May 28. Sometime around mid-June, it will arrive at Riva Trajan, the port near Rome where the whole adventure began.
What does Matteo say about all this? Clearly moved, he says ” By the looks of it, it will be quite difficult to find the energy needed to bring the boat back to its former condition. The vessel was completely destroyed and the mast broken in three parts.”
The missing SD card – can data still be accessed?
The recovered antenna
The recovered receiver
Matteo is still open for new sailing adventures and says “For sure, without a doubt” would set sail again around the world for the sake of our world’s environment.
Stay tuned…and good winds to you all.