Cross the Atlantic aboard two floating cars, A passat from 87 and a Taunus from 81: it is a company that seems to have come out of a surreal novel but, in 1999, The Brothers Amoretti and his friend Marcolino De Candia They transformed the dream of a sick father actually. It was a journey of 119 days In the middle of the ocean, between waves, hurricanes and silences, which ended with a triumphant landing in Martinica. Yet this extraordinary adventure has almost disappeared from the collective memory.
A dream called “car”
Everything is born with Giorgio Amorettiphotojournalist and free spirit who already in 1978 had tried to cross the ocean with a Volkswagen Beetle filled with polystyrenebut the authorities stopped him. Twenty years later, when a tumor is diagnosed, the children Marco, Mauro and Fabio they decide to realize his dream. With the friend Marcolino de Candiaprepare two special cars: one Volkswagen Passat of 87 and one Ford Taunus of 81filled with expanded polyurethane and modified with improvised sails, solar panels and rescue rafts.
The May 4, 1999at dawn, the four adventurers leave the palm tree in the Canaries. To escape the Civil Guard, they choose silence: a few strokes of outboard engine, then away, alone Wind and currents to guide them. The idea of using a Ascense parachute As a driving sail he proved impracticable, so Marcolino was mounting some luck sails recovered in Liguria. After ten days almost motionless due to the currents, morality collapses: the May 14thFabio and Mauro abandon the company, rescued by a helicopter. They remain alone Marco (23 years) e Marcolino (21), ready to challenge the ocean with the strength of youth and the unconsciousness of the visionaries.
The crazy adventure between meetings and survival
For the two left, the sea becomes a world apart. Marco writes on the diary, Marcolino medita. Far from everything, they feel they are free from a society that does not represent them. But the crossing is not idyllic: cars they embark waterthe satellite phone turns off, and the Atlantic storms threaten their route every day. In the meantime, on the ground, the Amoretti family faces the pain: the May 28 Giorgio dies. The news is not immediately communicated to the boys for fear that they destabilize them.
Despite the difficulties, the “car” prove surprisingly solid. Even thehurricane emily I save them. Al 108th day of the seathe two meet the chevron Atlantic oil tanker: The commander, hit by their enterprise, throws food and water into the sea that Marco recovers to swim. It is the signal that the land is near.
The August 31, 1999After 119 days of oceanMarco and Marcolino land in Port Tartanein Martinica. Incredit and family family members await them. On that occasion, his mother Serenella finally decides to reveal the death of the father to Marco. The welcome is triumphant, but the glory does not last long: their business, without sponsor and too much out of the patterns, is soon forgotten by the media.
That of the Amoretti brothers was not a race or a record: it was an act of love and freedoma gift to a visionary father. Showed that even a crazy idea like that of cross the Atlantic with two cars, It could become reality.
