A life for sailing. Antonio Solero lived more at sea than on land

Passing the age of 80, Antonio Solero recalls some of his most significant experiences as a sailor, sailor, solo sailor. And he provides very useful advice that is the result of endless experiences that are not yet finished.

Antonio Solero – My life as a sailor

My name is Antonio Solero. This year I celebrated my 81st birthday with some excellent prosecco and a candle cake. What can one do come my age besides accompanying grandchildren to school? If you are healthy, proportionately, how much did you do before.

One can also recall past experiences and try to understand the choices made from both technical and psychological perspectives. In fact, often our choices are due more to the mood of the moment than the rationality of them. Memories, that’s what surfaces.

Alone with a six-meter for 78 days

As in my first double crossing from Imperia to Venezuela and back when I was uninterruptedly at sea for only 34 days outward and 44 days return with no contact with land. Very long times due to the slowness of the boat of only 6 meters. Despite the commitment of the two crossings, especially the return that took place in October, November and December, I never felt the sea as an adversary to fight against but one of the many faces of nature with which to confront. I remember doubts about the choices to be made but I also remember always trying to keep myself lucid and rational. My experiences in the mountains or underwater had tempered me.

leggi anche

Good wind GM Fercioni, the sailor who brought tattooing to Italy

Boat, underwater mountain united by contact with nature

Between sea and mountain there are extreme technical differences but the method needed to handle them is the same. On the wall the difficulties to be overcome you encounter from start to finish climbing but every meter of ascent must be evaluated and solved with the right technique. Error is not tolerated, wrong handhold and you are dead, there is no appeal. The same happens underwater, you are in a cave, your regulator fails, you have only one or two minutes left to resurface. It is said that the sea is unforgiving, it is a meaningless statement, the sea is neither your friend nor your enemy, it does not attack you. Waves are created by the weather situation not by an enemy god.

It is up to us to have the courage of choice.

As in the mountains so at sea it takes preparation and cold blood. It is not enough to read a manual to acquire the necessary skills, it takes time, practice, dedication and attunement to the environment. When I was climbing I felt in harmony with the mountain even in the most difficult moments, and as a navigator I am experiencing the same emotions.

Lesson on the floating anchor. Need?

A book would not be enough to analyze all possible dangerous situations.

I know professional skippers who in the ocean, in very rough weather situations with all-around clear seas, have dealt with bad weather by trying, as some still suggest now, to slow the boat down by lowering a floating anchor into the water or, alternatively, a sail tied to the stern to brake speed and better control the boat. A serious mistake, this technique does slow the boat down, but it makes it uncontrollable with the rudder, exposes it to the breakers, which, being almost stationary, can do serious damage to its structure. The boat I am talking about will sink, the crew will manage to save themselves with the self-inflating boat. This technique can or should be used only in extreme cases and if the windward course pushes you to shore. Fortunately, such harsh wind and sea conditions are rare but not impossible.

Closed in dry hood cabin

I remember two other dramatic episodes. In the fall of 1976, I had recently laboriously crossed the Strait of Gibraltar because of an adverse current that can reach up to 5 knots.

leggi anche

“I who don’t sail love sailing and I’ll tell you why.”

Having no engine only on the third attempt I manage to reach the Atlantic. As is my custom, I celebrate the difficulties overcome by uncorking a bottle of prosecco for a solitary toast. The next day, after a lunch of freshly caught tuna, the weather changes. The wind strengthens and seasickness sets in. I return as much to the sea as I had taken. Not having an anemometer I cannot say for sure how much it was blowing certainly at more than 40 knots. I go to the dry cape, lock the tiller of the rudder and lock myself in the cabin hugging the bugliol. Once the bad weather has passed I resume sailing in a sea crisscrossed with waves I had never seen before, impressive and magnificent.

Tragedy over a wrong choice

Meanwhile, 100 miles to the south, a tragedy had unfolded in front of Casablanca that more reasoned and competent behavior by the skipper would have prevented. A German ketch with a crew of five had set sail en route to the Canary Islands. The arrival of bad weather catches them at night. The situation is challenging and the choice made by the skipper dramatic. Rather than face the storm at sea he decides to return to port. He misses the entrance, the coast is rocky, and they end up on the rocks. They all die. Upon my arrival in Lanzarote I learn what happened and for the first time I realize that the sea is unforgiving if you make a mistake.

In 1979 memories of the Mini Transat

In September 1979 I was in England in Pensance waiting for the start of the Mini Transat. My boat, the Chiquita Blue, was in the water in the town’s marina protected by movable bulkheads that are opened or closed due to the steep tidal differences. Not having much to do on board left me time to visit the beautiful Cornish coastline and watch competing boats fraternizing with opponents. I would become friends with Daniel Gilard, Jean Luc Van Den Heede, meet Loick Peyron then in his twenties, and hang out with others especially Amy Boyer, a very brave young American.

In the harbor in addition to our boats one of about 10 meters was moored along the pier opposite ours. It was very beautiful, laminated. You could tell from the way it was rigged that it was a fast, racing boat. She was in very bad condition, had dismasted, one winch almost detached from the deckhouse, deck and hull damage. Intrigued, I ask for information. She had taken part in the dramatic Fastnet that year, and the crew, seeing the condition of the boat, panicked, abandoned her and climbed into the life raft. No one would be saved. I could recount other similar incidents but it is not my intention to frighten those who go to sea. I would like to remind that nature is not the enemy but should be understood and respected.

These considerations are limited to a quick analysis of the mental attitude to have when navigating.

But sailing has affected my life

The experience that most affected my life was sailing, fourteen ocean crossings. Three solo on a 6-meter boat with no engine in ’76, starting from Imperia, reaching the Caribbean and Venezuela and then returning to Imperia in February ’78.

In 1979 I took part in the second Mini Transat from England to Antigua.

In 1982 I participate in the first edition of the Transat des Alizées with a crew of former Italian ski racers. We officially place second out of about eighty participants. Two years later I race again to avenge the victory that had been snatched from us by a Frenchman who by motor, taking advantage of a week of becalmed weather, had recovered 350 miles on us. We finish first out of two hundred starters, the runner-up coming a day and a half after us.

The following year I took part in the Brooklin Cup, the Portofino New York, a mixed-crew regatta: one woman and one man.

Because of a broken bulkhead that will force me to a forced stop in Toulon, a break suffered when we were in the lead, we will restart last. In New York we will finish second, first in class.

In 1995 I will reach Quebec in Canada. Since then only charters in the Mediterranean with one last Atlantic crossing in 2015. My resume tells how much of life I have spent at sea or in close contact with nature.

Antonio Solero

Who is Antonio Solero

Antonio Solero’s Curriculum: 14 Atlantic crossings of which three solo all as skipper, first Italian to participate in the Minitransat (1979), runner-up in the Transat des Alizee (1982), first runner-up in the Transat des Alizee (1984), runner-up in the He and She, Portofino/New York (Brookling cup, 1985). Twenty-five years of chartering his own boat sailing between the Mediterranean, Caribbean and North America. Eleven years embarked as skipper on a Franchini 63.