Sunk after a fire, the end of the "Phocéa", a sailboat with an incredible fate
The flaming Phocea sank on February 18, 2021 in the Langkawi marina in Malaysia.
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4 min
It is the sad end of an extraordinary saga for the Phocéa, a boat that has belonged to several celebrities.
After catching fire, the racing sailboat turned yacht sank off the coast of Malaysia on Friday February 19.
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The
Phocéa
, a 75-meter yacht, famous for having been the property of several great fortunes including French businessman Bernard Tapie, caught fire last Thursday, February 18, off the coast of Malaysia.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian country confirmed that the boat sank the next day, Friday morning, near one of the country's tourist islands.
According to the coast guard, the fire was brought under control, which did not prevent the four masts from sinking to the bottom of the water.
An investigation is currently underway to find out the causes of the fire, which did not claim any victims.
The 7 members of the crew were rescued.
"
I complained so much it's sad,
" Bernard Tapie told AFP this Sunday, after learning of the end of the ship.
Missed glory
This drama marks the end of a saga around a sailboat which made sea lovers dream, but whose eventful history ends in tragic circumstances.
The navigator Alain Colas had entrusted the naval architect Michel Bigouin, designer of several of Eric Tabarly's Pen Duicks, with the task of creating this monster in Toulon for the English Transat in 1976. A race which he finished behind Tabarly after a damage .
Christened
Club Méditerranée
, the ultra-modern sailboat would have no other opportunity to experience glory in racing and found itself moored in Tahiti after Alain Colas disappeared at sea aboard the Manureva in 1978.
"
I discovered it in Polynesia in 1982, rusted all over, it was used as a mooring pontoon
," says Bernard Tapie.
The latter, "
fallen madly in love with this ship
", bought it from the widow of Alain Colas and renamed
Phocéa
.
From transatlantic racing boat to jet-set yacht
"
The desire crazy
" of the businessman?
"
To make it an extremely efficient and extremely comfortable boat
" and "to
beat the record
" for the crossing of the Atlantic from West to East dating from 1905. The ship was renovated and modernized by the same Michel Bigouin, its masts raised, its increased airfoil.
In July 1988, Bernard Tapie and his crew left New York and suffered "
a very strong storm: the ship went to bed twice and passed two icebergs
".
But eight days later, he reached the French coast.
The record is shattered by four days.
Bernard Tapie's financial and legal troubles lead to the purchase of the ship for more than 7 million euros in 1997 by the Lebanese businesswoman Mouna Ayoub.
The billionaire turns her into a luxury yacht to host the global jet set.
She reduced the height of the masts, increased the living space, and sold it in 2010. A few years later, an auction of more than 1,000 objects from the
Phocéa brought
her in 414,000 euros.
From Xavier Niel to the Phuket shipyard
For its fourth life, it is a tandem involving billionaire Xavier Niel and brothers Steve and Jean-Émile Rosenblum, founders of the Pixmania site, which buys the
Phocéa
and records it in Malta with the aim of renting it to the rich. boaters, according to
Mediapart
.
They entrust the management to Pascal Saken, who presents himself as an “
international businessman and investor of Vanuatu
” and honorary consul of this Pacific archipelago.
Papua New Guinea police will suspect him of arms and drug trafficking, local press reports.
Damaged in a storm in 2013, the
Phocéa
was transported to a shipyard in Phuket, Thailand, owned by Pascal Saken.
The latter does not hesitate to claim to be the owner of the boat which he renamed
Enigma
.
The
Enigma had been
sailing from Malaysia where she caught fire and sank.
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