Mediterraneo, Gabriele Salvatores’ film released in 1992, is certainly a cult favorite, but those who go to sea often feel a kind of nostalgia while watching the film. Perhaps it is not nostalgia, but simple desire to navigate. And to do it in the Mediterranean, in the waters seen in the film, is a unique thrill. On the route “traced” by Salvatores’ film, the Milan Dinghy Club organized a 3,100-mile raid from Genoa to Kastellorizo, a Greek island just a stone’s throw from the Turkish coast. The spirit of the trip is clear: no sports, simple passion and desire to sail.
From Genoa to Kastellorizo by dinghy: 3,100 miles
Thirty years ago Mediterraneo was released in theaters. On May 22, crews from the Milan Dinghy Club will depart from Genoa to Kastellorizo where the Oscar-winning film was set in ’92.
Powering the dinghy, a Nuova Jolly 650, will be a Suzuki DF140BG, 140-horsepower outboard equipped with drive-by-wire technology. The goal will be to reach Kastellorizo, a delightful island in Greece, whose official name is Megísti, located in the Levant Sea, less than 3 km from the Anatolian coast of Turkey.
Sponsored by the Italian Powerboating Federation, FIM, Mediterraneo 2021 will start on May 22 with departure from Genoa. From the Boat Show, which as a trade association, promotes the culture of going by sea, it will continue on to Naples, Palermo, Santa Maria di Leuca, Corfu, Corinth, Athens, Rhodes, until the turning point in Kastellorizo. From there it will return to Genoa, touching the Aegean islands first, arriving on July 9.
Nine crews will take turns during the seven-week voyage. The more than 3,100 nautical miles will be a real stress test for the Japanese outboard and the 6.50-meter dinghy.
About the Suzuki DF140BG
The Suzuki DF140BG, unveiled together with the DF115BG in a world premiere at the 60th Genoa Boat Show, brings with it an environmental innovation. It is the world’s first microplastic collection device that can be installed on outboards: the Suzuki Micro Plastic Collector. According to research conducted in Japan, significant deposits of microplastics were found among the substances collected through the Suzuki filtering and collection system.
As an example, the DF140BG outboard motor filters, at maximum speed, 40 liters of water per minute, which translates into 2400 liters of filtered water in one hour of operation. This shows how an outboard in operation, can also be a real help to the environment, without affecting performance. More data are being updated and will be forthcoming when the research and development phase of the system, which Suzuki is conducting worldwide, is completed.
Read here what the Suzuki DF140BG looks like.
Dinghy Club and Suzuki
The Dinghy Club of Milan and Suzuki are no strangers to organizing raids aimed at promoting nautical culture: 1,767 miles traveled in 2017 for “Tour of Italy in an inflatable boat”; 2,414 in the 2018 “To Gibraltar in an inflatable boat” raid; 2,550 miles in the 2019 “Athens 2019” raid, for a total of 6,731 miles. Adding the approximately 3,100 miles that will be sailed this year, the total tally of the four enterprises will be close to 10,000 miles sailed.
Incredible numbers that would be even higher if in 2020, the 50th anniversary year since the founding of the Milan Dinghy Club, the pandemic problem had not appeared. In the year of the anniversary, in fact, the raid, “London and other European capitals,” was to be held, even longer and more articulated, which would take gentleman drivercrews,starting from Rome, to touch some of the European capitals: Paris London Amsterdam Strasbourg. A unique navigation experience that, by improving health conditions, could be carried out in 2022.
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