Ambrogio Beccaria knew something was wrong the moment his IMOCA lost pace. A fishing trap had tangled into the keel of Allagrande Mapei, the weight and drag pulling him back through the freezing waters north of Ireland. Most skippers would radio for help or motor to the nearest port. Beccaria grabbed a wetsuit and went overboard instead, a choice that produced some of the most raw and extraordinary footage to emerge from this year’s Vendée Arctique.
The Italian stripped into his diving gear, pulled on fins and a mask, then lashed himself to the cockpit rail. His boat hove to for maximum stability, he took long, measured breaths on deck. The video captures the moment he simply rolls into the black water. Beneath the hull, a net and buoy were wound tight around the keel, anchored at the seabed with tension so fierce that one dive wouldn’t be enough. He surfaced gasping, reset, went back down. Again. And again.
“It was a real adventure,” Beccaria said once he’d hauled himself back aboard, still dripping. “To free the keel, I had to dive at least five times. There was a line attached to a buoy but it was anchored at the bottom, and the tension was enormous. It took several attempts before I could remove it completely. The water—I thought it would be colder, but it wasn’t easy anyway, especially because the current was pushing the boat around.”
The last dive worked. He came up screaming, the net finally loose, the buoy released. He stood in the cockpit letting adrenaline pour out of him as cameras kept rolling.
By Wednesday morning New Zealand time, Beccaria sat fifth overall, 150 nautical miles behind race leader Sam Goodchild. He was closing on fourth-placed Francesca Clapcich of 11th Hour Racing, less than 25 miles separating them. In a race where every centimetre counts, he had just bought back his chance through pure grit and a willingness to risk himself in polar waters. Beccaria has endured far worse than a fishing trap since the start. “From the beginning,” he reflected, “so many things have already happened to me.”
