Sailor on 6.5 metre yacht circumnavigates non-stop in 268 days

by Nancy Knudsen on 23 Jul 2010 It took him 268 days, but Franco-Italian Alessandro Di Benedetto has just completed his circumnavigation of the world in a 6.5 metre yacht, non-stop and unassisted, in spite of being dismasted when approaching Cape Horn and continuing under jury rig.

Returning to Les Sables d'Olonne, where he started nearly nine months ago, on 26th October, hundreds of his family, friends, fans and followers were there to welcome him home.

'It was really fantastic for me. It was a dream I've always thought was feasible. However, there are plenty of people told me I was crazy and that I would die,' Alessandro said on arrival yesterday (Thursday)

The geologist, who turned 40 in January, arrived just after 8:00am, and his mother, Anne-Marie Di Benedetto, was there on the wharf to greet him. 'It's really surreal, what he did,' she commented with pride.

His record, as the smallest boat to complete a circumnavigation in such a time, has been approved by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC) with 268 days, 19 hours, 36 minutes and 12 seconds as the official time.

Like the competitors of 'real' Vendée Globe, he traveled 24,000 miles nonstop and without assistance, a first for such a small boat.

'I stroked the dolphins in Indian Ocean!', said Alessandro, very talkative when he arrived after nine months in his small sailboat.

It was not the time to concentrate on the most difficult moments of his circumnavigation, his dismasting when he was just about to round Cape Horn. It was at the time when Abby Sunderland was just about to become the youngest person ever to round Cape Horn solo, and Sail-World reported on the incident.

When the dismasting occurred, he decided to set up a jury rig and make for a Chilean port, as he still had a little over 6 metres (around 20 feet) of his mast left.

Having set up the jury rig, however, he made the amazing, brave, and some said crazy, decision to round the Horn under jury rig and continue all the way up the Atlantic so as not to break his non-stop attempt.

At the time we commented that this was seamanship of the most sturdy kind, and the watching sailing world wished him well.

Now he has done it, and his record is richly deserved.