An Atalaya for Gerry Roufs

"An Atalaya for Gerry Roufs," by Michèle Cartier, the companion of the sailor who disappeared at sea in 1997, recounts the key moments of the long and arduous search for Gerry's body following his tragic and widely known shipwreck during the solo round-the-world sailing race, the Vendée Globe Challenge. In her relentless quest, which lasted more than two years, Michèle Cartier was forced to overcome a considerable number of obstacles and prejudices. She retraces the journey by traveling all the way to the remote southern reaches of Chile, into the harsh lands evoked by Chilean writers Luis Sepúlveda and Francisco Coloane. Only a few fragments of the yacht's wreckage would ever be found, scattered among the Atalaya Islands located south of Chile, without the mystery surrounding his disappearance being fully resolved at that time.