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Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard, following in the footsteps of Magellan and Elcano, in search of a world record

November 12 from 2021 - 10: 53

Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard will depart from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz, next December, with the aim of breaking the absolute record for the round-the-world tour to the West, sailing against the prevailing winds and currents, following the wake of Magellan. and Elcano.

At the controls of a reconditioned maxi-trimaran, the French-Spanish duo is determined to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve maximum competitiveness while minimizing the impact on the planet. "We will sail together with my partner Romain, in a project that, as its name says, tries to raise awareness about the importance of recycling for the sustainability of our planet," says Alex Pella.

Romain and Alex will leave their home port in Trinité-sur-mer (French Brittany) on November 28 for the Bay of Cádiz, where they plan to install their technical base in Puerto Sherry. There they will await the best “weather” window to launch for the homologated record of the circumnavigation to the West. The time to beat is 122 days, 14 hours and 3 minutes, a mark set in 2004 by French sailor Jean Luc Van den Heede.

The official start and finish line is located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river in the Cadiz town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, to commemorate the expedition of Magellan and Elcano that started from the same place 500 years ago.

Andalusia, origin and destination

A departure from Spain to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first voyage around the world of Magallanes-Elcano

In 1519, Fernando Magellan began the Spanish expedition in search of a maritime route to the islands of spices. An expedition that was completed in 1522 by the Marine Basque Juan Sebastián Elcano, who assumed command of the expedition in the Philippines; he managed to reach the objective of the Moluccas Islands and decided to return to Spain, always sailing towards the West, thus demonstrating the roundness of the earth and changing history forever. 500 years later, Alex Pella, aboard the Maxi-Trimaran "Use It Again!" It will set sail "from home" paying the best possible tribute to JS Elcano, in the V Centenary of the 1st World Tour.

The crew of the "Use It Again!" It will depart from La Trinité-sur-Mer (France) next Sunday, November 28, for a prologue stage of 800 nautical miles to Cádiz. This will be one last large-scale training session before tackling the big challenge: a 34.000-mile (63.000-km) round-the-world tour, passing Cape Horn, crossing the Torres Strait in northern Australia and later the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, before returning to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the clock will stop, to later go up the Guadalquivir river to the city of Seville.

A challenge: go around the world

A 100% recycled ocean trimaran, following the principles of the circular economy: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Built in 2003, for the British Ellen MacArthur, this oceanic maxi-trimaran (23 meters in length by 16 in beam) was renovated by the Use It Again! in 2016. The objective was to rescue this trimaran and minimize the impact of its repair on the environment, in accordance with the principles of the circular economy: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle.

Reliable and robust, after a Rum Route in 2018 and many miles sailed to promote the circular economy, it is now the ideal boat to undertake the Around the World in reverse. Attempting the record with this legendary trimaran is a sporting and technical challenge with little impact on the planet.

In this project, the “Use It Again!” Team will also use the miles traveled to support the work of Olivier Adam, a scientist specializing in cetacean noise emissions and ocean noise pollution. Underwater microphones have been installed in the central hull of the multihull to make periodic recordings throughout the trip with the aim of making a global map of the acoustic pollution of the oceans after the trip.

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