The sailors journey

On October 19, 2014, a brave sailor determinedly set out to sea. His goal was to sail around the world alone, without the help of any fossil fuel or additional supplies, other than what he brought with him for the entire 50,000 nautical mile journey. What would a sailor bring along in order to survive such an ordeal? This sailor, the Italian Matteo Miceli, decided on a fishing rod, two chickens, a plot of dirt to grow vegetables, a machine to desalinate drinking water and three Leica Geosystems’ GNSS GR25 receivers and three Leica AS10 antennae.

To sail around the world self-sufficiently was Matteo’s motivation for undertaking this journey, however he was just one member of a group working together on the project, “Rome Ocean World”, and they had other goals as well, such as being the first sailboat to accurately record the water and boat’s movement throughout the trip using GNSS technology.

在旅途结束时，罗马大学的Paolo di Girolamo和Mattia Crespi教授和Polytechnic都灵的Allessandro Pezzoli将通过计算基于英国的MET（气象）数值模型来分析数据，以分析这些数据ECO40路线；improve the structural design of the Class 40 boat by calculating the dynamic stress and durability of the vessel during the trip and finally, to produce a polar diagram of the boat’s speed after recording wave characteristics, which will be especially useful for future Class 40 racing boats.

After setting sail from Rome’s nearby Port di Traiano, Matteo had three beautiful days of weather, allowing him to check in with his team back in Rome, with which he was in daily contact. However, he was soon confronted with the first of many tests of seaworthiness when the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo hit the Mediterranean with heavy rain and gale force winds. After several intense and expectant hours of lost contact, the Eco40 team received an automatic data transmission on the boat’s position, confirming it survived 80 km/h (50 mph) winds and six metre (20 feet) high waves, and that it was on its way towards Gilbratar.

这场暴风雨使Eco40，水手和他的鸡的状况不佳。花园被毁了，里面充满了咸水和蔬菜死亡。这些鸡已经受到创伤，一段时间不会产卵，而且大海仍然是如此暴风雨，以至于钓鱼是不可能的。对于此类紧急情况，水手将100袋冷冻食品放在船上，Matteo在100 g（0.22磅）的碳水化合物中幸存了几天暴风雨命中。

风暴过后,马特奥有时间去思考。A professional sailor by trade, it was a challenge for him to stop and fix damaged boat parts. Matteo wanted to push the high-performance Eco40 to set record speeds but instead, he had to wait, either for the repairs to dry, or for wind. The sailor had time on his hands and was confronted with the commitment he had set for himself when agreeing to take part in this adventure. The lack of wind got to him, and even with the daily tasks of running a boat, data collecting or just plain day-to-day survival, he was sometimes lonely and often doubtful. Luckily the chickens, whom he nicknamed Blondie and Brunette, needed encouragement to lay eggs and they became fast companions. He also had daily support from his Facebook fans to cheer him.

Data was collected by the Leica GR25 GNSS receiver and the Leica AS10 antenna and sent via GEO stationary satellites without any problems. And the Eco40’s hydro, wind and solar energies supplied as planned. The real problems of this journey were more mundane concerning human nature and the purpose of existence. For instance: The sailor could only get a few hours’ sleep before being awakened by gusts of wind, which caused severe jolting of the boat; or the auto-pilot’s voice waking him to tell him of some route change. If he could sleep more than 20 minutes at a stretch, he had to nevertheless keep his eye on the barometer since his life depended on knowing if a storm was approaching. Food was of course always a big concern – just to catch a fish or grow bean sprouts on a wet paper towel were major victories. Fish, sprouts or maybe an egg, this was Matteo’s diet for months – if he was lucky – and he was happy to have it. The companionship of Blondie and Brunette helped to distract Matteo from loneliness and it was a sad day for the sailor when, for no apparant reason, Blondie passed away. Sometimes he was lucky enough to be accompanied by birds or dolphins, however he was alone on this journey and for him, it was the little things in life that mattered most.

Unpredictable weather patterns were also a major concern. One night, a sudden wind change caused the boat to do a death roll. Matteo woke to an almost capsized boat, halfway under water. Alone, in the dark and with water rushing into the cabin, the sailor had to think fast. It’s a situation many of us wouldn’t want to be in. Sometimes the boat sat in fog for days on end. Another time, a massive wave hit the boat while the sailor slept, causing a very bad head injury and severe anxiety. Nonetheless, Matteo had to go on tending the boat in order to survive.

He journeyed through cold polar air and icy waters of the Sub Antarctic, with the unseen dangers of icebergs looming ahead. Severe waters for a boat to be in and it was during this part of the trip that the Eco40 lost its auto-pilot. It was damaged along with much of his electrical equipment after being struck by lightning. Luckily, his team (Cecilia Angelelli, Valerio Brinati, Allesandro Farina with Leica Geosystems’ technical support Pierpaolo Pecoraro) “walked” him through this part of the journey, restoring his PC software, the boat’s instruments and helping with battery problems via satellite calls. This damage needed to be rectified as quickly as possible, even if only temporarily.

随着冰冷的降雨和冰冻温度，Matteo仍然很强。但是压力给水手带来了损失。在这一点上，他已经独自航行了100多天。缺乏睡眠，太少的食物和持续的感冒产生了影响。他忍受了近乎致命的风暴和严重损坏的电气设备 - 非常担心。这无疑是他旅程中的一个惨淡的一部分 - 在他的沟通中，这有点明显。他开始吃鸡肉饲料以生存，不得不拔出自己的牙齿。然而，他做了他必须的工作 - 生存。

3月初，Matteo发现了Eco40的舵以下300升（80加仑）的水。这些固定舵的衬套几乎造成了旅程的尽头，但是Matteo设法修复了它们。这次，将船的龙骨固定在适当的位置，导致Matteo在13日（星期五）3月失去了龙骨，并将Eco40盖住了。警报系统警告Matteo，并向意大利海岸警卫队提醒，后者随后向附近的商船Aramon发了一句话，以捡起水手，后者耐心地用充气筏等着他设法从Eco40钓鱼，然后才沉入eco40。水手还试图营救黑发，但可悲的是，他为时已晚。

然而Matteo很幸运。船倾斜的地区以其平静的水而闻名，他八个小时前就关闭了赤道的双重交叉。他完成了他打算做的事情。他绕开了好希望的斗篷，Leeuwin Cape and Cape Horn。两次越过赤道，越过了他计划的子午线。ECO40从一开始到悲惨的饰面，大约25,000海里（约46,000 km /28,600 mi），在倾覆时，距巴西海岸约965公里（600英里）。

Matteo also succeeded in accomplishing his goal to sail non-stop, all alone, around the world, from point of departure to point of arrival and maneuvered the Eco40 several times across oceans for 112.4 days at an average speed of 7.4 knots. After being rescued by the Aramon, Matteo was pampered by its crew. He had lost more than 30 kilograms (66 pounds) and spent his time relaxing, eating and making use of the ship’s gym.

Matteo Miceli arrived back in Italy on March 19th at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. Upon seeing the professors for the first time since he left Rome, the sailor presented them with the all the SD cards containing the data that the receivers collected during the trip with the exception of the very last cards that were still in the GR25 receivers as the ship went down. These cards were last exchanged on February 28, when the Eco40 was off the Argentinian Coast.

Almost immediately, the professors and the sailor began planning how to recovery the boat. A satellite tracker was still sending out signals from the boat, which was drifting with underwater currents. The tracker's batteries would soon be empty so with little time to spare, the team flew back to Brazil and organised a boat for the rescue, while also planning the stabilisation, and transport of the Eco40 once it resurfaced. Unfortunately some 30 hours before reaching the recovery area, the tracker stopped sending a signal. The area was too large to search and on April 4th, the search was suspended and the team went home.

However, the journey is not over yet. Just seven days ago, word reached the professors that a Spanish fishing vessel spotted what was thought to be the Eco40 floating off the coast of Brazil, 350 nautical miles from where the team expected to find the boat. A photo was taken and posted on Twitter.

不幸的是，从那时起，没有人跟踪其位置，但是根据教授的计算，它已出海……
What next? The journey continues. Stay tuned …
所有人的风！

Written by Katherine Lehmuller and Marco Mozzon