The Marinetek breakwater pontoon in the Azores has taken some beatings from storms, but is still protecting the marina as designed.
Our friend Sam Forsbom of DB Marina in Finland was sailing the Atlantic and visited Praia da Vitoria in the Azores in December 2022. Sam sent us photos of a breakwater pontoon that Marinetek built and installed to protect the inner marina in 1995 – only a year after the company was founded. Praia da Vitoria was the fifth project for the young company. For this breakwater pontoon, three 16 meter long breakwater units were produced in Finland and transported to the Azores for installation.
The breakwater has survived severe weather conditions, including an extratropical storm Tanya with wind speeds of 47 m/s (91 knots/105 mph) already in the fall of the year the breakwater pontoons were installed. Decades and several other storms later, the breakwater is still in good condition and working as originally designed to shelter the marina. This is an excellent reference of Marinetek’s engineering and quality with an exceptionally long life span.
