Dr. Miceli & mr. Hyde: does the ocean go to your head?
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Does too much solo sailing go to your head? It would seem so, judging by Matteo Miceli’s “shaved/unshaved” selfie. The Roman navigator, who left last October for around the world nonstop and in self-sufficiency in energy and food with his self-built Class 40 (departing from Riva di Traiano, crossing the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, then south to Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leewin, and Cape Horn, then returning to the Mediterranean for a total of 27,000 miles), after rounding Cape Horn (sixth Italian navigator to do so solo) also passed the Falklands/Malvinas and is about to sail up the coasts of first Argentina and then Brazil, to cross the Equator for the second time and return to the Northern Hemisphere.
A NAVIGATION THAT IS ANYTHING BUT SMOOTH
Navigation proceeds amid many difficulties. Lets Matteo know, “It’s still a long way off. And then the trouble on board never ends. Yesterday was a very tiring day. At 10 UTC the pilot stopped working. There were 30 knots and without rudder bars, it was not super easy to stop at the cape. It was hours and hours of work without me being able to find the solution. Eventually, by changing the hydraulic piston motor and initializing the pilot again, everything started again. It was not easy. I completely smeared myself with oil trying to purge. As always I have to say thank you to the ground team and this time in particular to Valerio Brinati. Sometimes it almost seems like an angel assisting me and giving me solutions. However, it took nine hours to put everything back together and start again.”
IN APRIL I WANT TO DO ROMA FOR TWO … ACTUALLY, FOR THREE
“I should arrive in early April, in the first days of the month, in time to do Rome by 2,” Miceli says. “I know it sounds crazy after a five-month world tour, but I absolutely have to make it with Paolo De Girolamo.. It is a promise and I intend to keep it. And then by now I have other metrics to measure time. What do you want three more days at sea? I won’t even notice.” Someone points out to him that with this look he might scare De Girolamo: “However, he will be able to choose whether to look at me from the right, the civilized side, or from the left, the wild side. For him it will be like doing a Rome for 3, with two different companions.”
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