Displaying items by tag: solo sailing

13th July 2010

The World's Smallest Circumnavigation

Most of the news at the moment, save the Round-the-World antics of the Clipper fleet, is small boat stuff, close to shore. But there's one story drawing to a close that mixes both. Franco-Italian sailor Alessandro DiBenedetto is nearing completino of his solo, unassisted non-stop circumnavigation in a customised Mini Transat boat. He left Les Sables D'Olonne in November last year and is just shy of 1,000 miles from home, parallel with the coast of Portugal.

Like a true Frenchman he somehow has a herb garden on board his 21-foot boat, and his missive from yesterday, having caught a bream with a crossbow, read: 'Meanwhile, at noon, sea bream filets with olive oil, parsley from the garden and freeze-dried vegetables'.

Di Bennedetto's website is HERE, and while the updates are brief, they give a good insight into the mind of a single-minded, food-obsessed solo sailor.

Some gems:

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
No wind for 48 hours. Dolphins keep me company

Wednesday 9 June
Alessandro has lengthened the bowsprit.

Sunday, April 18th, 2010 09:38 pm
To celebrate my passage round the Cape Horn this evening it is a party on board: Champagne very freshly, with "foie gras" and pastas with mushrooms and cream!

Monday, March 22, 2010 02:15 am
Beautiful sunshine these days in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Not a single ship in sight from the South Atlantic ... Even the birds are rare. Sometimes a solitary albatross comes to visit me. The nearest point of earth is: Easter Island 1000 miles farther north.

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour