Let’s go back on the elements that have inspired us and allowed us to prepare such an adventure. First, there is a story, that in our case is drawn from the incredible and wild ride of Magellan. It is thanks to his courage and perseverance, that unfortunately ended up killing him, that we have realized the earth was round (it is funny to think that the main motivation of this fabulous adventure was to discover a new and cheaper route that would simplify the European approvisionnement in spices).

We note that in the early years of the 19th century, Joshua Slocum reported that some astronomers and other scientist of South Africa were still intimately persuaded the Earth was flat. Taking the example of this man. He was without saying one of the key figures that has opened new perspectives to the modern navigational shipping industry. As a matter of facts, Joshua was the first men to perform a solo round the world tour aboard a small 12m Ketch. Even if he was one of the most experiences sailor, which reputation was already made, this great adventure will forever remain an exploit in the heart of all ocean lovers thriving for adventure. His book “Sailing alone around the world” is a wheel of knowledge. It is like if the immense knowledge of a great wise man was condensed in only a hundred pages. It is simply one of the most extraordinary adventure book I had the chance to read. He is like the Saint­Exupery of the Oceans.

More recent and also because he his French, we will cite Bernard Moitessier, for which writings such as “Sailing to the Reefs” or “Cape Horn: the Logical Route”, have greatly instructed and inspired us. If I could, one more time give my personal point of view, I would not conceal to cite Henri de Monfreid who, despite a controverted reputation, remains an exceptional seamen an outstanding writer. Is it necessary to cite “Secret of the Red Sea?”

Well, all this is nice, but sailing today has not much to do with the navigation of the 18th or even the 19th century. For this we benefit from Jimmy Cornell’s science, delivering not only his 30 years long experience sailing on every water on the planet, but also the ones lived by numerous other famous adventurers in his latest work called “World Voyage Planner.” Gold mine for valuable insights concerning the preparations, the routes to take, the ideal places to stop to in case of an emergency, etc… We will complete this work with another of his books “Cornell’s Ocean Atlas” which regroups all the pilot charts of every ocean on the planet, and this for every month of the year.

This will help us forecasting the weather, intense navigation conditions in the zone we want to be at a certain time of the year, and anticipate the worst. Hence, we are making everything in our power to minimize the risks of finding ourselves at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Of course, I say minimize because even though navigation is far from being an exact science, weather on water is highly capricious and unpredictable.