These shocking photos are testament to one of the saddest seafaring incidents in recent years. A retired couple, Christoph and Agnieszka Zadarnowski, set out on a a yacht from Bermuda to the Azores. The ship was sailing its last miles of transatlantic passage to lay down its sails in a port a few hundred meters away when subsequent events led to the destruction of their yacht.
A couple from Poland who have lived in the US for 27 years. In 2008, the couple left their California home to take a sea voyage to the Panama Canal and the Caribbean.
They arrived in the Portuguese port town of Horta, in the Azores, where the travelers were engulfed in violent gusts of a cold front. The gusts reached 47 knots, punching through anchorages, raising waves and cold sea spray, hitting the main harbor wall to leeward.
A sailing yacht Sulima 37, apparently, was torn off the sail, which wrapped the propeller, after which the engine stopped.
What happened next, how did she end up on the breakwater — powerlessly watched dozens of sailors in the port.
The captain and two crew of the schooner Aschanti 114 were the first to arrive on the scene. on VHF (Ultra Short Wave) radio probably saved the couple. A couple of travelers found it necessary to jump into the water to avoid the trap of the collapsing ship.
Three members of the Aschanti crew risked their lives to save the couple. They managed to help tow the yacht with a messenger ship, despite the waves that threatened to sink it. A port tug also joined the operation, the crew of which also took a significant risk.
Affected yacht significantly damaged. The photo shows the damaged rudder, keel, a crack in the bow, middle part of the vessel and at the stern from hitting the concrete blocks of the breakwater. Cale Abner also said that inside the yacht, the accident led to the complete destruction of all interior elements.
