A 75-year-old French adventurer has died attempting solo row across the Atlantic ocean

By George Engels, CNN

Jean-Jacques Savin, a 75-year-old French adventurer, has died while attempting to row across the Atlantic single-handedly, according to a statement from his support team for the endeavor.

“It is with great sadness that we have just learned of the death of our friend Jean-Jacques,” his support team said in a post on Facebook. “The body of Jean-Jacques was found lifeless inside the cabin of his canoe l’Audacieux (The Audacious).”

Savin had set off from southwest Portugal on January 1 and was headed toward Ponta Delgada in the Azores islands before losing contact with this team early on January 21.

He activated two distress beacons on Thursday night into Friday to indicate he was experiencing a situation of great difficulty, his team said.

Portugal’s maritime authority spotted Savin’s boat floating overturned near the Azores on Friday. A diver was able to descend under the waterline to look inside the boat’s small cabin and discovered Savin’s body inside.

“Unfortunately, this time the ocean was stronger than our friend, who loved sailing and the sea so much,” Savin’s support team said.

No further information will be released because the team does not want to give details of Savin’s death and extended their condolences to his daughter and partner.

Savin was no stranger to bold adventures. He had already crossed the Atlantic in a giant orange barrel on a 2,930-mile journey, coming ashore in May 2019 on the tiny Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius after more than four months at sea.

He previously worked as a military paratrooper and a private pilot, and climbed Mont Blanc in 2015, according to his project’s website.

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CNN’s Rob Picheta and Alaa Elassar contributed to this report.