For the Record: Passing the Equator

(November 14, 2016) – The Italian solo sailor Gaetano Mura, on board his Class40 Italia, has crossed the Equator today at 15:16, thus entering the Southern hemisphere. Eighteen days after the start from Gibraltar, the round-the-world record attempt by the sailor from Sardinia, gets onto a new phase. From now on his route will go deep down into the Southern Atlanticand towards the next crossroad: sail past the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean and the Southern latitudes.

This is the third crossing of the Equator for Gaetano Mura, that he recounts in his blog from on board. “They all have been very strong moments of my life, and very different from each other. The first one, in 2009, was during thr Mini Transat, single.handedly but on a tiny boat of only 6.5 metres. In 2013 I was not alone, I was with my mate Sam Manuard during the transatlantic race Jacques Vabre from France to Brazil an today for this new round-the-world challenge. It’s a dream come true. This time I feel plenty of support and warmth from my family, friends and fans. I felt it in Cagliari with so many people who came to say good-bye. There are also so many messages I get every day on social media, that encourage me. This time I also represent my country, and it is a very nice feeling.”

Gaetano also describes the passage of the Doldrums. “The passage of the TCZ was especially easy, we never really stopped. Our strategy paid off and we managed to find a canal where wind was never totally absent. I’m especially happy because deciding to stay on the 27 degrees latitude, we skipped the windless area and we made excellent progress. The mos perturbed area was more north than our route. Since lat night we have entered a new flow of trade winds and we are sailing upwind with some 20 knots, in a pretty choppy sea. Poor Italia and myself are beating on every wave. The air is very hot and everything on board is wet and salty, bit this the life at sea, isn’t it? There will be better days and we need to resist waiting for the expected wind shift, then we will be able to ease the lines and put more pressure on our sails.”

Gaetano Mura’s route can be followed via the tracking on his official website: http://www.gaetanomurarecord.com/la-rotta/

Source: Carla Anselmi

Background: Italian solo sailor Gaetano Mura on board his Class40 Italia begun on October 27 (at 05:20 CEST) an attempt to beat China’s Guo Chuan singlehanded around the world record (40ft Division) of 137d 20h 01m 57s set in April 2013. Mura’s course is from Gibraltar to Gibraltar, with the starting line positioned south of the Trinity Lighthouse, on the famous Europa Point marking the extremity of the Rock of Gibraltar.