Two Italian men completed a 119-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in cars converted into floating vessels, fulfilling a dream their terminally ill father never lived to see realized.
The expedition was reconstructed by BBC News Mundo through interviews with the sailors and their mother. The journey began as a tribute to Giorgio Amoretti, a photojournalist, explorer, and social activist who spent decades planning a transatlantic crossing in a homemade amphibious car to raise visibility for his causes.
Giorgio made his first attempt in 1978, departing from the Canary Islands, but was blocked by authorities. A later trial in the Canal du Midi in France was abandoned for lack of funding.
The plan gained new urgency in November 1998, when Giorgio was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His sons Marco, Mauro, and Fabio took on the project, converting two used cars with metal keels, sails, polyurethane foam, and solar panels to power a satellite phone. Giorgio was unable to sail due to his health and passed his place to a younger man, Marco De Candia, telling him it was time to take on the project as a gift.
Marco Amoretti described the cars as being like characters from a fantasy story, saying the voyage had always been their dream.
The vessels set off on May 4, 1999, from La Palma, Spain. Two other crew members left early because of physical ailments, leaving Marco Amoretti and De Candia to complete the crossing alone, repairing the boats as they went and fishing to survive.
Marco later said that by the second month, the sea no longer felt like an adversary they had to fight. He described entering another dimension and becoming part of a world made of water.
The satellite phone failed mid-voyage, cutting off contact with Italy. It was during this blackout that Giorgio Amoretti died. His mother, Serenella Vianello, chose to withhold the news temporarily to protect Marco’s psychological stability. When communication was restored near the end of the trip, Marco sensed something was wrong before his mother confirmed his father’s death. De Candia wrote in his notebook urging his companion to be strong and not sink into sadness, describing those depths as dark, cold, and silent, and reminding him they were living a dream together.
The two men docked at Tartane, Martinique, on August 31, 1999, to a welcome from family members, journalists, and onlookers. Marco said afterward that after giving up so many things and persevering for so long, the dream had finally come true. De Candia said the journey permanently changed his perception of life and the peace he had found in the ocean.
