FAQ, THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Over the past years I have met a great number of people who were entrigued by my "extravagant" activities. Each one had many questions. Curious, orginal, bizzare, but never trivial.
The answers to many of those questions often seem obvious to me, since I am directly involved, but it is my duty to satisfy your curiosity. Therefore, here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions.

1. Why do you do it?
Why do you do it? I´ve never been able to really find a complete answer to this question, but why should I even try to answer?
It´s a matter of emotions so it´s always hard to express. I do it becauseit makes me feel good, it makes me feel 100% alive and involved in a way I can´t otherwise do on land. I do it because for me it´s extremely easy to do what seems extremely hard for others to even imagine. And, after all, the journey is the reward!

2.Why alone?
Alone, because I think it the safest way. Isn´t that paradoxical? In certain difficult situations people react unpredictably - sometimes we even surprise ourselves. I think that no matter how well you get to know someone, you can never know, except for exceptions, how he will react in a critical situation and when the closest land is a few thousand miles away an argument, a discourgement crisis, different goals or motivations can be heavy as a boulder, jeopardizing the safety and survival of who is on board.
I also think that such a a long experience of solitude is the best way to learn to know yourself.

3.Is it dangerous?
I really don´t know how to answer this question. It sure is. In the Ocean any minor lack of attention, such as leaving the porthole open, taking a longer nap than appropriate, bumping my head or spraining a shoulder or wrist can ruin all my effort besides endangering myself. While crossing the Atlantic I often thought how easy it would be to turn it into a failure and, on account of minor things, I sometimes came close.
So concentration is very important and makes me like every moment without getting distracted - and that´s part of the fun. It´s living every second 100%.

4. Are you ever afraid?
Fear is always with me every day of the corssing. It´s that kind of fear that doesn´t freeze me, but rather makes me keep my eyes open. I must add that any times things go really bad, I´m so concentrated on "surviving" that I don´t have time to be afraid!

5. Are you ever lonely and/or homesick?
While crossing the Atlantic I remember having gone through different phases. During the first 30-40 day period homesickness and lonelyness were always with me, like a condor hovering over my head.
Going far away from land, from my friends, from confort was very hard and even if I was so far away I felt as if I still had one foot on the ground, holding tight.
In the second phase, lasting till arrival, my sense of being somewhat connected to land slowly disappeared (obviously physically but also psicologically) so much that at a certain point I had almost completely lost interest in what I had left behind.
This crossing will be different, since in July I got married, tieing my life to that of another person and I am sure that although I will be thousands of kilometers away from her, I will always feel her close to me.

6. Do you ever communicate with land?
Most communication with land is for necessary communication with my team, through my satellite telephone. For an expedition like rowing the Pacific it is necessary to hae a support team to rely on, working on supporting me in a number of fields.
Among my team members there are two people, Roger and Stefano, with whom I am in contact daily and they routinely send me weather and routing information by SMS or email.

7. What do you eat?
Eating is a very important aspect, not to be underestimated, because it is my fuel. My diet is based on freeze dried food that besides being light and small and long lasting, ensure a proper amount of calories. Then I also have a large quantity of energy bars that replace meals and many high calorie foods. Fishing fresh fish is a welcome addition to this fare.

8. How do you get water?
Regarding water to drink, I obviously can´t carry all the water I will need, for a matter of space and weight.
I will be using a reverse osmosis water maker to make drinking water from sea water. It is powered by the movement of my rowing seat and can provide up to 5 liters per hour of operation. And I also have an identical spare unit.
And any rain is welcome!

9. What happens when you go to sleep?
When I go to sleep the boat just drifts. That is the biggest disadvantage of being alone. When I sleep my AIS system is on guard to alert me of any approaching ships. Collision is a major danger particularly in certain areas where there may be traffic. The AIS system recieves the position of ships in a 20 mile radius and broadcasts my position to them.

10. How do you "go to the bathroom"?
Very simple: I take a bucket, I put a couple of inches of water in it and I do all I have to do! When I´ve finished I throw it all overboard. In the Atlantic I saw that the fish love it!