LIKE A MINER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA IN A BICYCLE OUTFIT

Like a miner in the middle of the sea in a bicycle outfit.

Navigating and oceanic navigators.

My dream, now become reality of sailing around the world, starts from far away.

It starts from the insecurities of a shy child with poor health.

Rickety ( my head grew too big ) and with chronic rheumatoid arthritis I grew up very shy under the loving wing of a protective mother.

I was so shy and demure that I refused any kind of sport that involved showering in the locker room.

In that ugly duckling shell of mine, I dreamed and escaped from my sad reality.

In my dreams I saw myself as a successful man driving super cars and a very powerful motor yacht: ” what sailing puristu now call iron “

Over the years my vision has changed.

Super cars remained, but by sea I could see myself with a nice sailboat.

My pre-departure imagery of this world tour coincided exactly with the phrases, now, of my friends.

Blessed are you always fishing for tuna… how I envy your freedom… you do not do a cxxx… you do not know what stress is… these positive expectations seasoned with so much respect for the sea with as many phrases like: I would be afraid if I were you… how do you sail for 20 days without seeing land… and if a storm comes…

In August 2021 I cast off my moorings from the port of Naples with the goal of returning there after circumnavigating the world.

Now, one year later, I find myself in Polynesia taking initial stock.

I have just come out of the shower and a merciless mirror reflects my image: I am bicolor.

Like a cyclist only my appendages are tanned while the trunk is milky white.

Something must have gone wrong–what about the white beaches ? What about sailing with your ass in the wind ?

I have to do something!!!

I decide it’s time to swim like Mom made me all the way to the beach and finally do what my friends expect: a cxxxo all day.

Determinedly I walk naked out of the cabin across the dinette ready to throw myself overboard when Cristiana, my traveling and living companion stops me with a peremptory: where do you think you are going?

I with a smile answer her: to bathe!!!

She: yes of course you can take all the baths you want but certainly not before you fix my fridge!!!

And there my whole role as an ocean navigator falls back on me like a boulder.

I get dressed again, put on my miner’s faceplate and slip inside yet another JK sail hole: this time behind the refrigerator where I will spend all morning.

Yes my friends, the navigator is a miner with a frontal always on his head and a cyclist’s tan.