Here’s why Gaetano Mura’s ocean adventure is over

No dice for Gaetano Mura. His nonstop solo circumnavigation of the world on a Class 40 came to an unfortunate halt in Fremantle, Western Australiae, where the boat landed on the last day of the year, hurt by some serious breakdowns. After the failure (far more dangerous, with the capsizing off Brazil) of Matteo Miceli two years ago, the Sardinian also had to throw in the towel. The record to beat remains that of the recently deceased Chinese skipper Guo Chuan, who had set out from Qingdao in 2013 and took 137 days to round the world.

BAD OFNI
In Fremantle, examination of the situation made it clear that Italy needs a stay of more than a few hours at the site. It is not only a matter of restoring the satellite navigation system, but also, and more importantly, of working on structural parts to repair the damage caused by the rudders colliding with an unidentified floating object, which occurred on the night of Dec. 9, having just passed the Cape of Good Hope, which after an initial repair at sea had recurred. In fact, following a careful shipbuilding survey the failures found turned out to be far more serious than initial estimates, requiring the boat to be hauled away and put into the yard. In particular, delamination of the hull was determined as a result of the impact suffered.

SAFETY FIRST
In addition, a complete overhaul of the autopilot and the desalinator, i.e., the device that ensures fresh water production, is needed to avoid overloading the boat with drinking water supplies that would be an excessive burden in themselves. Without the proper functioning of these two systems, it is unthinkable to engage in solo sailing. 1Off, Gaetano’s Team, does not want to expose the ocean racer to the risk of taking to the sea with a boat that is not perfectly in order.

Italy in fact is expected to descend along the Indian Ocean to over 48° south latitude to pass south of New Zealand, and continue into the Pacific by descending to over 55° south latitude to pass Cape Horn, and then complete the journey by ascending along the Atlantic. Staying in the pipeline in Perth and the headwind/unfavorable path necessary to bring Italy back on course would cause the final stretch in the Atlantic to slip at a time of severe instability and the first tropical cyclones. Hence the painful but unanimous decision to stop Italy’s run here, and resume the project in the future under more favorable conditions.

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Loro Piana Giraglia, Ker 40 Vito 2 on its way to overall victory

YOU COULD ALSO BREAK A NEW RECORD
This is in spite of the fact that, in a January 2, 2017 communication, the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), the body responsible for approving sailing speed records, gave a green light to the possibility of continuing to race around the world, in the assisted and stopover configuration. This type of record, however, implies that the stopwatch is not stopped during the technical stopover. The overall travel time would have been penalized not only with the duration of the stopover itself, but also for the time it takes to approach the stopover and subsequently to resume the original route. At this point, to attempt to shorten dwell times would be to jeopardize the safety of boat and navigator. 1Off, by mutual agreement with Gaetano, then had to make the difficult and painful decision to give up on completing the undertaking.

While 1Off is already arranging for the skipper’s repatriation to Italy, a small group of technicians is leaving from Cagliari who, together with the experts who are supporting 1Off in Perth, will prepare Italy for return aboard a cargo ship.