The story: abandoning the old life to become The SoloSailor
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It’s not the usual story. Andrea Lodolo will sail alone around the world for 30,000 miles in the craziest and most romantic of ocean races, the Golden Globe. At 52, he has changed his life by abandoning a brilliant career to spend a small piece of his life living a constant present, where there is no more past and no more future. Because, to him, sailing makes him feel good. Interview with The SoloSailor.
At 52 years old and 40 pounds lighter, Andrea Lodolo has changed his life from a brilliant manager and entrepreneur from Milan to a sailor/explorer of the third millennium. He calls himself “The SoloSailor.” Perhaps unwittingly, he is creating a new figure that abandons the romantic approach of the stereotypical figure of the salt-filled sailor who travels the world. His challenge is sporting, made up of tenacity, preparation, technology. But the desire for discovery, inner (himself) and outer (the unfamiliar world), remains central. He meets this challenge with solo sailing trainings in search of even extreme situations. He needs them to prepare for participation in the craziest, most romantic, adventurous of ocean races, The Golden Globe Race, which starts in September 2026, circumnavigating the world. Without modern instrumentation, without stopovers, with “old” boats. Alone. We interviewed him aboard his 11-meter Rastler 36 Bibi moored in the Atlantic, in the Azores, in the port of Punta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel during a training session.
What was your dream as a child?
Becoming an explorer.
The first time you saw the sea?
First memory at age 4. My mother Mariarosa, in Rapallo in winter, took me to the little beach in front of the Riviera hotel to get the good air. I had bronchitis that wouldn’t go away.
What about the first time sailing?
The first real time is at age 12/13 in Dervio, Lake Como for a sailing course. The turning point is during college. My friend’s dad invites us for a cruise to France with several stops, from Marseille to Beaulieau sur mer. There I had, for the first time, a totally different perception of time than I was used to. I could see Antibes, it seemed to me that it would take us a moment to get there. Instead we were taking so long. I had a great sleep and a new world opened up to me.
Your first boat as an owner?
A seven-meter mini tonner by Ron Holland, the Tato, bought used in early 2000. I kept it in Liguria and went out with friends. Sometimes, I would go out alone. Then the first offshore race, Corsica for two (400 miles) with a French girl.
What boats bai had before the Rustler 36 Bibi?
After the Mini Tonner I had a 40-foot Elan, then a Hallberg Rassy 43. I chartered boats with family and friends. The boat you would like, haven’t had and maybe will own? Among the standard boats, the French Boreal 44. But if I talk about the ideal boat, one off, that maybe someday I will own, here it is: aluminum no longer than 45 feet (14 meters) with fixed dinghy. The design to my specifications for up to two people with a dog house (covered extension of the cockpit giving access below deck) with charting on one side and a kitchenette on the other. Why at cockpit level and not below deck? Because if I’m sleeping I go below deck, but if I’m awake I’m on deck, either in the cockpit or in the galley or charting. And I want to see out and always be ready to maneuver. But when I sleep, I really sleep. And I go below deck. By the way, my ideal boat below deck has only two rooms, without a bathroom as we conceive it today. One, which I call the multimodal room, is a kind of dinette that converts into a cabin, a lower square, if you will. And then the smart room, which instead is the room where you can take a shower, stow things, but it’s workshop, calavel, etc. In the bow, the boat is empty, with a watertight bulkhead with a door, before a crash box, where you stow whatever you want, from bicycles to respect materials. Because boats today have so many spaces that are not so smart for how I experience the boat. Going back to the deck, my ideal boat has a very marine and dry cockpit, enclosed aft and deep with a large rear storage locker. Rig with no more than six winches. Rudder is tiller, cutter rig (one mast, mainsail and two jibs) with fairly short keel mast with two flying shrouds, draft of at least two meters with good righting coefficient. And, I repeat, aluminum because I consider it safer than fiberglass, at least than today’s fiberglass.
Who taught you how to sail?
Many. But I only really learned how to sail in the last period of my life, in Les Sables d’Olonne, Atlantic France. Until that time, even though I had already gone on a sailing sabbatical in 2014, I realized that I didn’t know how to sail. I learned from so many people in Les Sables d’Olonne, I mention three: Jean Luc Van Den Heede (79 years old, winner of the first Golden Globe in 2018) and his son Eric, sailmaker Olivier Tarot. There I realized that what I knew before sailing was something else. Doing offshore sailing with professionals or at least “resting” professionals-because real professionals don’t have time for me-is another sport. Especially in boat preparation because sailing well, in my opinion, means knowing the boat well, preparing it well. It is impossible to sail well with wrong sails, wrong rigging, wrong sheet points, wrong weight distribution. So if you work first on preparing the boat and managing everything that is rigging, at that point we learn how to sail well. And I have found that the most useful outings to improve are the ones with little wind where you refine the adjustments. Not the outings with very strong seas and lots of wind.
Who would you go boating with?
With writer/historian Yuval Noah Harari. On board is not like in normal life, you have time to get to know each other and to confront each other. That is why I would like to go on a boat with Noah Harari, whose thoughts I value as expressed in his books, especially in “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” (Bompiani, 2018).
The place you always want to go on a boat you’ve been to?
Brittany, or rather the Bay of Biscay.
What about the one where you haven’t been?
I would like to sail to Tasmania.
Of all your readings, which sailor has inspired you the most?
Joshua Slocum.
What do you like about the practice of sailing?
Living a constant present, entering a totally different state of perception of time than the life we are used to. In sociology it is said that either the individual influences the environment or the environment influences the individual. At sea, the environment influences the individual. For me, the practice of sailing is living this constant present, where there is no more past and no more future. You are only in the “here and now.” I am Milanese, a bit of a workaholic. Sailing suits me perfectly because, especially on my own, there is always something to do, not only to make the boat go as well as possible but because the brain is always active to prevent and the hands go into action to put it right. You realize it’s a great school of life, everything you leave alone and don’t do, because you think it’s a little problem to be put right later, then becomes a big problem. I like the continuous activity, which is never hyperactivity, because it involves the head first and then the hands. Jean Luc Van Den Heede always says that you should not be in a hurry, but you have to do things right. He is right.
What don’t you like?
There are so many things I don’t like. It bothers me that sailing is sometimes still considered an elite sport, while it is a practice for everyone, to be taught in schools. Like in Brittany where sailing is really for everyone. You see children with wetsuits going out to sea in winter, with sailboards with foils. I don’t like the way generalist news treats going to sea and sailing. They only talk about it when there are swells, wind blows and accidents. But sailing is “serendipity,” tranquility, time for ourselves, time for others. Instead it is talked about, always and only in extreme and critical situations, to get attention. I, too, used to have a stereotypical image of the lone sailor, his face always full of salt, tired destroyed almost dying. It’s an image that serves only to sell oilskins. But if it is in your DNA this sport, at sea you are fine, you are happy. As for me, I am among those who love to go to sea, love to make crossings alone. I do it for myself, but I try to share it with many. I do not consider myself a professional, nor will I ever be. I am an amateur/navigator who tries hard.
Do you have other passions besides sailing?
I have been a BMW biker with aluminum cases and tent. Now I have switched to cycle touring. I enjoy overland travel by bike because I ride bikes, which at my age doesn’t hurt. I am also an avid reader of marine travel fiction and, in general, I have a passion for reading. I read a lot.
When did you decide to change your life and become The SoloSailor?
I am convinced that in life you have to be like cats and live more than one life. I had already done something different when in 2014/15 I took a period to cross the Atlantic goliardically, round trip, on the Hallberg Rassy 43. The choice to become “The SoloSailor” matured in 2023.
What were you doing before?
I was CEO of a Swedish maritime training company.
When did you decide to go around the world in the Golden Globe?
I’ve always had the ambition to one day say, I’m going to do the World Tour. I realized, however, that I was not so interested in getting to the ports of the world and then visiting them. I had already done that for work and on my motorcycle tours. I was much more interested in a long sail around the world via the three mythical capes (Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn). The next step was to think about the Golden Globe, which I have always followed. The Golden Globe gives the opportunity for amateurs, enthusiasts, adventurers to realize the ambitious project of sailing around the world via the three Capes with a larger safety coefficient. Above all, with a huge learning curve, because you compare yourself with other participants and learn from people who have done it before. When I had the opportunity to leave my operational loads I said to myself, okay then I’ll sign up. I have spent and will spend the rest of my life probably accompanied by artificial intelligence and algorithms, very nice things that make life better. But it fascinates me to spend a small piece of my life, a few months, without all that. Not because I reject it, but to try something different, and also out of respect for the more than 100-year-old seafaring tradition that has always sailed without A.I. I am not a person who rejects modern tools on board, as required by the Golden Globe. On the contrary, technology helps and in most cases represents greater safety. But I am drawn to the challenge of sailing the way it used to be done.
Was the choice to become a solo navigator a difficult one?
No. First of all, because I will not do it all the time, 365 days a year. For me, life is good because it is shared, but when I sail solo I like it. I live in solitude, but I am not isolated. I understand, it is a selfish act, but it makes me feel good. When for the first time in preparation for the Golden Globe I went out for 36 hours alone in the Bay of Biscay I was fine, I was hyperactive, alert, as alert as ever. Over time sailing solo you gain confidence in yourself and in the boat. You start in small steps, then increasing the time at sea starts the Routine. It takes me three days alone at sea to change modes. Let’s understand, if 30 days go by for those ashore, for me that same period becomes a series of 2-3 day Routine cycles. And the passage of time stops. I notice that I age biologically because I grow hair, beard, nails. But I don’t actually age, I live in the constant present thinking only about improving the boat. I reflect, take notes, make time for my own things. I sleep and feel more rested when I wake up. Of course, the Routine can be interrupted because you got hurt, you got scared, you can’t sleep. Only then do I notice that the clock is ticking.
In your navigations when have you been afraid?
Fear yes, twice. The first was when in solo sailing I went up halfway up the mast and couldn’t get down. The descent mechanism that I had tried a thousand times had jammed. I calmed down and managed to land on the deck. The second time during a gale 300 miles from Brest in the Atlantic. There were 45 knots with gusts over 50, waves of 6/7 meters. I had done everything right, lowered the mainsail, tied down with matafions and was left with a small piece of jib, flying ironclad crap. It had to stop, but it never stopped. It increased, increased without end. First a wave fringed every thirty, then twenty, then every three. It was never ending. At one point I stopped looking at the sea, I stayed inside, focused on something else. Then I realized, the fear was not for what I was seeing but for what was coming next. When you have forecasts of bad weather – Van Den Heede taught me – be prepared because it will be worse. I was also taught that when there is a gale, it no longer matters what the course is, it only matters to keep the sea in the right position relative to the boat. So I kept adjusting the wind rudder to have the sea on the stern quarter. Until a wave smashed into the deck taking everything away, antennas (Starlink, AIS, GPS etc.), sprayhood and everything it could find. Then my cooler head returned, I mounted replacement antennas by connecting them directly to the batteries. After 40 hours, the gale gave up. But I didn’t trust it and did well by treasuring what they had recommended in France, “watch it come back.” After six to seven hours it started up again.
What goal do you set for yourself. To win or to arrive?
My goal today is to be on the starting line on September 6, 2026, after which when I am there ask me the same question and maybe I will answer it. I want to participate, which means getting to the start ready. Ready the boat that still has to do refits (Bibi is a Rastler 36 just under 11 meters launched in 1998, Andrea has owned her since 2022). Ready myself as a solo sailor. For now I’m learning. I need to learn how to navigate without instruments. Difficult, not least because today’s instrumentation lets you know if you are making the boat walk well. But at Golden Globe you’ll have to trust only your gut feeling. And for weather now you have all the information in real time, in the regatta it won’t be like that anymore.
Why do you do it, just for yourself or for others as well?
I do this for me, because solo sailing is a selfish act. By sailing alone I exclude many people who would enjoy sharing this experience with me. But at the same time I can share my experience, once I have had it, with others. Not because I have something to teach, but because it can be an inspiration to others who want to do something similar to what I did. Today anyone can follow online what one does.
What would you have liked to do and not have done outside of sailing?
A Ph.D., to devote myself to scientific research.
What about in personal life?
In personal life I probably devote, when I was younger, much more time to my children. Would you like your children to be passionate about sailing? I would like my children, Leonardo 23 and Carola 21, to be passionate about something that fulfills them, not necessarily sailing.
Until when (age) do you plan to go sailing? Why?
I would like to tell you that I want to sail forever. However, I think that alternation, change, evolution itself needs some change. I tell you now that I would like to go sailing as much as possible, however, I also know that maybe other things will intervene in my life that I will dedicate myself to with the same passion that I reserve today for the Golden Globe (30,000 miles) in 2026. Maybe it won’t be a sporting challenge, it will be something else, I don’t know.
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