Argentinian sails home to reunite with parents

An Argentine man has finished a sailing odyssey from Portugal to Mar del Plata in a quest to be reunited with his parents after flights to Argentina were cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. Juan Manuel Ballestero, who lives in Spain, crossed the Atlantic on a small fibreglass sailboat, setting off from the port of Porto Santo in Portugal on 24 March and finally reaching his hometown of Mar del Plata on Wednesday.

Having made it across the ocean, the 47-year-old adventurer almost lost his life off the coast of Brazil, when he encountered heavy winds and waves that knocked around his sailboat.

Ballestero had been unable to fly home to be with his his parents, Carlos Ballestero, 90, and Nilda Gómez, 82, because Argentina

entered in lockdown mode on 20 March to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Ideally, he had wanted to return in time to celebrate his father's 90th birthday on 15 May.

Even now he's reached his destination, he will still not be able to get close to his parents as the sailor will have to remain in quarantine on his boat for 14 days.