It all started in 2017, immediately after completing the successful sea crossing from Palermo to Recife on board a standard RIB. “I wanted to do something different – Sergio Davì says – something that no one had ever done before”. Then the idea: to sail from Palermo to New York, passing through England, Iceland, Greenland on board a RIB. Sergio took about two years of intense organizational preparation before setting sail.
Sergio Davì, from Palermo to New York with a standard rib
Nuova Jolly Prince 38 with two 350 HP Suzuki outboard engines, the most powerful model of the Japanese company, equipped with double counter-propeller. Sergio took one year to test his boat. Compared with a standard model, there are no significant differences, with the exception of seating (signed by Besenzoni) and of an enveloping protection around the helm station. Finally, on June 21st 2019, the departure from Palermo. The numbers of Sergio Davì’s crossing are stunning. The challenge saw the Nautilus Explorer travel a total of 300 hours and 6,270 nautical miles on his own, which took 84 days including several stopovers in various countries along the way, approximately every 24 hours of navigation.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SAIL FROM PALERMO TO NEW YORK ON A RIB
THE RIB
“Onboard, I had two 12-inch GPS Simrad displays, autopilot, Ais, two radars, double VHF and two 1,000-liter feul tanks, plus various fuel “bags” for a total capacity of 2,700 liters on board. On average, I traveled with about 1,500 liters and, in this, the Suzuki double propeller helped me a lot. The engines, I want to say, have not been modified for the crossing“.
MIND TRAINING
“How did you prepare yourself for this challenging voyage? As for my personal preparation, mental rather than physical training was the most important. In fact, I had a great coach who guided me in this. My strength was my desire to achieve my challenge. There were no moments when I thought ‘who made me do it’; but there were some where I said, between me and me.
‘I hope to arrive soon’. I did not suffer solitude as much as homesickness, although some things were clearly missing from me. The hard part is knowing that nobody can help you and you can only and exclusively rely on yourself”
THE BODY
“To tell the truth, I did not follow special diets, also because my stomach suffers a little at sea. I ate some fruit, canned food and so on. The most physically hard moment was in the Labrador Sea, where I hardly drank or even ate. The reason is easy to say: decanting hundreds of liters of fuel, with the smell of gasoline rising, while there are 3-4 meters of wave and cross sea, was quite extreme“.
After a few days in Halifax, Canada, Sergio Davì arrived in New York on September 12, 2019, after almost three months of travel. “It was a unique joy for me and for the team that supported me. The skyscrapers, the Big Apple and the discovery that half the world was following me was a truly indescribable emotion”.
