Stranded superyacht towed safely around Cap Ferrat and into dry dock
Pari the 39.8m Maltaese registered Alucraft motor yacht has been freed from the rocks on which she was aground having dragged ashore in the early hours of Saturday 30th May.
Commander Michael Healy formally the owner of Rivera Charts in Antibes and now a yacht reporter with Riviera Reporter tells me “She has been towed to the graving-dock in Villefranche entering there late on Saturday last. Her sunken stern would not clear the sill of this ancient dock, so old it is listed as a classified monument, so the main dock pumps had to be harnessed so as to empty the water faster than it was coming in through the leaking bottom of the dock. The stern parachutes, in place to keep her afloat had had to be removed to enable her enter the narrow dock entrance, and she was listing 8° to starboard. This meant workers had to lift her starboard side to get the stabiliser to clear the narrow dock sill. She remained afloat with pumps running until Monday when the dock gate was fitted and the ship was successfully docked down.”
The Commander describes the removal of the yacht from what he calls the Mirabella-Five rocks, a remarkable salvage operation, and adds that the weather has remained favourable throughout the period since her stranding. He remembers Midsummer which was successfully restored after dragging ashore in Villefranche Bay 10 years ago but says it remains to be seen whether this yacht is worth rebuilding. He believes she will be patched and towed to the IMS yard in St Mandrier, who lengthened her several years ago.
