The lesson of Translated 9. The important thing is not to win or to participate. It is to arrive

Today at dawn in Cowes, in the temple of sailing, Translated 9’s round-the-world crewed stage race came to an end: the Italian Swan 65 successfully completed the Ocean Globe Race 2023.

Translated 9 never gave up

Winning the first two stages, ending up in the “meat grinder” after the Malingri case, dominating the next two until hull damage (bloody helm skeg!) and finding the strength to restart twice, the crew led by owner Marco Trombetti gave us an important lesson: it doesn’t matter to win, it doesn’t matter to participate.

It matters to arrive, to reach the goal. A story of passion, determination, resilience. It is no coincidence that Trombetti is among the top-rated candidates for the Sailor of the Year, in the Owner category(you can vote for your favorite sailors here, until May 20!).

It should be remembered that the Ocean Globe Race is itself a great adventure: a round-the-world sailing trip with limited use of technology and a crew composed mostly of amateurs aboard “vintage” boats. The competition was organized by Don McIntyre(we told you his story here) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Whitbread Round the World Race.

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The Epic of the Italian Swan 65

Starting off without the favor of the odds, Translated 9 was able to win the first two legs of the regatta in the main category (IRC) and also winning the second one in real time, and led the crossing in first position in the other two legs before being stopped due to hull damage, costing her exclusion from the IRC ranking by regulation.

However, the ingenuity and resilience of the crew allowed Translated 9 to return to the water to complete the race. Starting again from Punta del Este for the final leg among the last positions, Translated 9 in three weeks was able to get back in front of everyone. The repair, however, did not hold up until Cowes, forcing the crew to stop near Madeira for further work. Having secured the boat, the crew set off again last week to finish the race.

From a sports point of view, it should be mentioned that Translated 9’s is a unique achievement for Italy, which had never won a leg of the round-the-world crewed sailing trip.

Translated 9 and that pit stop at the end of the world

Repairing the broken hull after successfully passing Cape Horn, while Translated 9 led the race five days ahead of the rest of the fleet, was an adventure within an adventure. Forced to dock in the Falklands/Malvinas to repair the hull, the crew led by co-skippers Marco Trombetti and Simon Curwen had to put their problem-solving skills to good use to get the boat back in the water.

Thanks in part to the skills and positive attitude of the locals who supported it, the crew was able to use a cargo ship’s crane by convincing it to approach the island; found repair materials in Chile that were missing on the island; and brought them to the Falklands/Malvinas by flying around Argentina in a small plane in whose cabin they installed an extra tank connected with those in the wings, thus circumventing the ban on flying over Argentina to reach the Falklands/Malvinas due to tensions between the states. In this way, Translated 9 was able to depart for Punta Del Este.

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The team

The crew of Translated 9, composed of 70 percent non-professionals, was assembled by Translated through a selection process open to sailors from around the world.

Under the leadership of co-skippers Marco Trombetti, Nico Malingri, Simon Curwen, and Vittorio Malingri, people from seven different nations (Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, and the United States) took turns. The crew members are: Isabelle Andrieu, Pietro Luciani, Niccolò Banfi, Riccardo Serranò, Maretta Bigatti, Deniz Derin Bınaroğlu, Marco Borgia, Baptiste Gillot Devillers, Sophie Fontanesi, Emiel Joye, Paul Marshall, Teresa Marshall, Ezgim Mistikoğlu, and Connie Stevens.