Route du Rhum, Beccaria: the video of his fall and the 580 miles to the Azores
“Bogi” Beccaria is standing in the cockpit of his IMOCA, leaning against a winch, when a sudden movement of the boat throws him forwards, then sends him crashing backwards against the grinder pedestal. Allagrande Mapei’s onboard camera captures the few seconds that bring his Route du Rhum to an end, just as he is making a strong comeback in pursuit of IMOCA leader Corentin Horeau. After losing more than 300 nautical miles in a calm, the Milanese skipper had fought his way back into contention for second place. Following that fall on the evening of Thursday 5 November, the objective becomes reaching the nearest port: 580 nautical miles to Horta in the Azores, with back and chest pain, difficulty breathing and fears of broken ribs.
Allagrande Mapei was emerging from a low-pressure system after several hours sailing in heavy seas and winds of up to 35 knots. It is 22:00 UTC when the wave catches Beccaria off guard. Accepting that his race is over takes several more hours. “My mind couldn’t immediately take that step and say: right, the race is over. I told myself: I’ll bear away a little, slow down and perhaps think about it again in 24 hours, to see if the pain eases. But after six or seven hours I realised I couldn’t turn a winch handle, even in flat calm conditions. I still had three or four days of sailing in strong winds ahead of me: carrying on would have been utterly dangerous and pointless. I could no longer aim for the podium and, above all, simply getting to the finish wasn’t what interested me. We weren’t there just to finish a race.”
Ashore, the overriding concern is his condition and the distance still separating him from the Azores. The team mobilises to reach the Portuguese islands, organise his arrival and take charge of the boat. This practical and logistical effort builds on all the work already done: even a solo race is a collective undertaking, from preparing the IMOCA to managing an emergency that changes every plan. Yet nobody can take Ambrogio’s place for the manoeuvres needed to reach Horta.
“From that moment, another race began. I still had to reach a port, because I was alone on a boat that is still a crazy boat. I had 580 miles ahead of me to reach the Azores, a little over two days at sea, and with that pain I couldn’t manage any manoeuvre on my own. I managed to put a reef in: it was an endless task! Fortunately, from there I could follow a course without too many manoeuvres and make it all the way to Horta.”
On Sunday 8 November, the team is ready to assist him and handle the docking manoeuvres that “Bogi” would be unable to carry out alone. Taken to hospital by ambulance, he undergoes X-rays, which fortunately rule out fractures. The diagnosis is severe bruising to the muscles around his rib cage, explaining the pain and breathing difficulties that have accompanied more than two days at sea.
His retirement brings to an end a performance in which Beccaria has shown that he can challenge for the podium. While among the leaders, he had chosen to gybe north to cover Sam Goodchild on Macif and look for a way through a front. As it weakened, some of the front-runners were left without wind, while Horeau, who had stayed further south on MACSF, managed to get through. Once clear of the calm, the Milanese sailor had recovered to rejoin the battle for the podium, also fixing a fault in a water-ballast system that had caused the onboard electronics to black out.
“We had a perfect machine, one of the fastest boats in the fleet, as the first two days of racing showed. That was a small victory for the team,” Beccaria says. There is still satisfaction in the team’s work, along with an awareness of the physical demands of these boats, even downwind: “On these boats, sailing downwind is almost more intense than sailing upwind, because you’re doing 30 knots all the time and life on board is very tiring.”
During the passage to the Azores, Beccaria watched a YouTube documentary about Florence Artaud, winner of the Route du Rhum in 1990: “It took her four attempts to win it. That means I still have time!”
Giuliano Luzzatto