The mythical Helisara VI, a 23-meter sailboat that belonged to the Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, has been destroyed in front of the Molí de Sal restaurant, in Formentera, after the last storm that has hit the Pitiusas. The boat ran aground on August 14, 2024, during a DANA that affected the Natural Park of ses Salines, and since then remains abandoned on the coast.
According to Gent per Formentera (GxF), the government of Sa Unió “has done nothing” during these fifteen months to remove the boat, which has already become a jumble of debris scattered along the coast. “Every day more stranded boats arrive and the Govern continues without acting,” said the party in a publication in its social networks, along with a video showing how the storm this Thursday has impacted the boat.
The Consell assumed the withdrawal
In April of this year, the Consell de Formentera recognized its competence to remove the Helisara VI and the boat Scipio 1924, also stranded since the same storm. Both were declared
In July, the Consell de Formentera removed the sailboat Scipio 1924, one of the two vessels that remained stranded since the DANA of August 2024. At that time, the island’s councilor for the Environment and first vice president Verónica Castelló explained that the work to remove the second ship, the Helisara VI, would be more complex due to its location in the area of ses Illetes and the lack of technical means that would allow a safe and environmentally safe removal.
The island institution indicated that this circumstance caused an unavoidable delay until an adequate technical solution was found.
A sailboat with a Nazi past
The Helisara VI was designed by German Frers and built by the Royal Huisman shipyard in the Netherlands. For years it belonged to Herbert von Karajan, conductor and member of the Nazi Party, who christened his six boats with the same name, formed by the initials of his wife Eliette and his twin daughters Isabel and Arabel.
The sailboat participated in international regattas and won the first world championship in the Maxi category in 1981, before ending up stranded and looted in Formentera, where even tourists have been photographed next to its remains.
“Environmental damage”
Gent per Formentera warns of “serious environmental damage” to the coastline, marine fauna and the ecosystem. “It was an avoidable situation,” they pointed out in their communiqué.
The storm has scattered the metal and wood remains of the hull along the coast of the Natural Park, affecting an area of high ecological value within the protected area of ses Illetes.
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