Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard launch their attack on the all-time record around the world to the West
– The “Use It Again!” it must travel 21,600 nautical miles, in less than 122 days.
– Alex and Romain sail on a 100% recycled ocean trimaran, to demonstrate the great potential of the circular economy.
– They will complete the same route that Magellan and Elcano traced 500 years ago.
In the next few hours, the oceanic maxi-trimaran “Use It Again!”, Of the team formed by the Spanish navigator, Alex Pella, and the French, Romain Pilliard, will depart from Lorient (France) to try to break the record for sailing around the world 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.
After a month in a stand-by situation, waiting for the best weather conditions, the team has decided that the current storm is the right one to start the great trip. Depending on the activity of the storm, the probable departure could take place between 4:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., the sooner the better. The exit window allows them to exit in manageable conditions, with a relatively well established trade wind to continue towards South America.
“I arrived yesterday morning in Lorient, where we already have the boat ready to leave and everything indicates that it will be this afternoon. I have been very lucky since I have been able to spend the holidays at home with the family and now a very good possibility opens up for us with this window. They may not be the fastest conditions, but they are very safe to leave the Bay of Biscay at this time of year and we will have a good Atlantic descent, which is what we have been looking for. I really want to go out and be at sea again and I hope you will follow me through the “Use It Again” application, to tell you about good sea adventures, ”said Alex Pella.
The “Use It Again!” It will travel 21,600 nautical miles (shorter theoretical distance), passing through Cape Horn, crossing the Torres Strait in northern Australia and later the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Verde before returning to Lorient, where the clock will stop.
The challenge will be carried out aboard a maxi-trimaran, built in 2003 for Ellen Mac Arthur, and which was renewed by the “Use It Again!” Team. 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. The trimaran has become an example, icon and platform for the promotion of the circular economy.
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. “I am very motivated with this new challenge, a challenge that aims to promote the circular economy and raise awareness about the protection of the oceans,” said Alex Pella moments before departure.
ALEX PELLA
In February 2018 Alex Pella achieved a new record, by managing the Tea Route in 36 days, 2 hours, 38 minutes and two seconds, surpassing the previous record in five days. In January 2017, Alex Pella broke the absolute speed record around the world under sail, aboard the sophisticated Maxi-Trimaran IDEC Sport, circumnavigating the planet in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. On November 16, 2017, Alex Pella managed to win the Transat Jacques Vabre (the crossing of the Atlantic by two) aboard the “Arkema” trimaran. In 2014 he achieved victory in the mythical Ruta del Ron and became the first Spaniard to win a solo transoceanic event.
