Legato Skipper Reported to Have Died in Mexico

We’ve not be able to confirm it, but Cornelia Gould of the Valiant 42 A Capella has passed along a report that Jim Forquer, owner and skipper of the Newport Beach-based Catana 52 catamaran Legato, died last night as the result of an onshore accident. The unconfirmed report is that the 57-year-old Forquer had been visiting the motoryacht Besame, which had been berthed at the Pemex fuel dock. Then, while either walking or biking back to Legato at B Dock, he either tripped or hit a wall. His body wasn’t found until this morning.

We’re stunned by the news, as we’d become good friends with Forquer during last December’s Banderas Bay Blast. He’d raced his cat in that event, and promised to come up to La Paz for the revived Sea of Cortez Sailing Week. Forquer was a bright guy who had worked in tech all over the world. While Jim knew how to have fun and enjoyed a good laugh, we pegged him as the ultra responsible type. He kept his boat in immaculate condition.

Forquer told us that he was going to do this fall’s ARC with Christie Walton’s soon-to-be-completed Catana 52. Walton lost her husband, Wal-Mart heir John Walton, two years ago in a homebuilt airplane accident in Jackson, Wyoming.

If anyone has firsthand information, please pass it along to Andy.