Torrevieja Ship Lost at Sea in Typhoon

The sailboat Pros, which has been on an epic voyage for some years after departing Torrevieja in 2019, has been lost at sea in a typhoon, although all crew are safe.

The ship, sailing under the direction of Captain José Solá, based at the Real Club Náutico Torrevieja, began the great project of the of Amigos de los Grandes Navegantes y Exploradores Españoles (AGNYEE) within the acts to commemorate the V Centenary. With a crew of seven people (five men and two women), the 21-metre-long sailboat set sail from the Real Club Náutico Torrevieja and headed for the port of Seville, in August 2019, to begin the journey that Magellan and El Cano did 500 years ago over the next three years.

The ship set sail in August 2019 from Seville and was scheduled to complete the voyage in three years. She had a hundred trained volunteers who would take over at various times along the route. However, luck has not accompanied this project.

The pandemic crossed its route, forcing the ship to remain anchored for months in the Peruvian port of Callao. And now the encounter with the typhoon ‘Mawar’ has been the final bad spell.

The sailboat has been missing since early Thursday morning, when super typhoon ‘Mawar’ reached the island of Guam, in the Pacific Ocean. Given the weather forecasts, Captain Sola decided to remain on the island of Guam. Thanks to this decision, he has managed to save the crew, but the shipwreck could not be avoided.

On the hurricane danger scale, the ‘Mawar’ is at level 4, when the maximum is 5. Its passage through the island of Guam has caused enormous damage and devastated inland areas, although there have been no casualties. The same has not happened with the ‘Pros’ who have been the victim of the ‘Mawar’ typhoon, a meteorological phenomenon that according to the North American meteorological services has risen to the category of super typhoon.

The ship received a typhoon warning on Monday the 22nd, when she was anchored in the port of Apra, in Guam, where she had arrived on May 16 from the Solomon Islands.

Given the weather warnings, the captain spoke with the port authorities to anchor the ship with special security measures and take refuge in a residence on the island to wait for the ‘ Mawar’ to move away and they could continue circumnavigating the globe. During Wednesday, the fury of the super typhoon reached the port. The port agents were able to photograph the Pros when she was next to one of the pillars of the docks.

At dawn on Thursday, the captain and the sailors approached the port and found that the sailboat had disappeared. The port authorities and the United States Coast Guard told him that no trace of the ship had been detected. “The sailboat has not been found and we fear the worst,” said the spokesperson for the association.

After several attempts and contacts on Sunday with Pepe Sola, he recounted that “the situation here is chaotic. The US Coast Guard continues to search for the ship, so far without success. We are fine. At the moment we are still here, trying to locate the ship. The airports are closed until June 6”, he added.

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