“Un solo mare per tutti” means “There is only one sea for everyone”
MATTEO`S OCEAN PROJECT
This project is a real dream come true for me. The region I come from in Italy, Liguria, faces one of the biggest stretches of open sea to the inside of the Mediterranean Sea. Not everyone knows that Liguria is exposed to big storms. From the west, southwest there is nothing but water for miles and miles. The Ligurian sea is a really deep part of the Mediterranean Sea that looks like an open ocean. The first land you find in front of you is the north point of Corsica, with the island of Giraglia on top of it. If you miss that little point, you would have to sail thousands of km to reach Africa, and there is nothing in between.
A DREAM COME TRUE
It has always been one of my dreams to be able to cross the open sea and reach Corsica on my windsurfing gear. Finally thanks to the help of my team and the support of “Tirreno Power”, “Hana Group”, “Monetto”, “Comune di Albisola”, “Yacht Club Italiano” and “Il Porto dei Piccoli”, this project came to life.
THE WAITING PERIOD
The waiting period will be open on the 29ht of August and will run till the 18th of September. With a big time window, we will be able to pick the right day wind-wise. That is important to be able to cross the Ligurian sea. The journey will be more than 150kilo meters. The whole crossing will be on starboard tack. 80 of the 150 km will be done without being able to see any land. I’ll be sailing in the middle of the ocean.
WHAT GEAR MATTEO WILL USE
I’ll most probably use my medium Foil Slalom Starboard board, the big front wing, and 8.0 HG5 Severne. With this gear, I’ll be able to sail at an average speed of 25 knots more or less in 7 to 25 knots of wind. Hopefully, I will reach my destination within 5 hours. If anything goes wrong in these 5 hours, it will easily become 7-8 or more hours.
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
What concerns me the most is if the wind drops in the middle of the sea, or on the other side, close to Corsica.
I also never sailed 5 hours on one tack and it will be a challenge. We will stream the start and (hopefully) the finish on our social media channels. There will also be a GPS live tracking with a map to see where I am, and at which speed I have all the time. This will be shown in a dedicated section of the website of the Yacht Club Italiano.
THIS IS MORE THAN JUST THE CROSSING
The project goes beyond the crossing itself. Thanks to “Il Porto dei Piccoli” we have been able to bring more than 200 kids to the local beaches doing beach clean-ups, lessons about the environment, and education about the flora and fauna of the ocean. They also discovered what windsurfing is and how fun it is to enjoy our ocean every day. It has been an honor to share my passion with all these kids who came from local primary schools, hospitals, and recovery structures in Liguria. I want to thank one more time “Il Porto dei Piccoli” for their passion for helping out future generations discover new sports and take care of our world.
Stay tuned and follow me through my journey!
