Jimmy Cornell, father of the sailing rally, has turned to two hulls for his next epic voyage, the Elcano Challenge. Known for a string of monohulls all named Aventura, the founder of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) is planning to follow the route of the first-ever circumnavigation—the one made by Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano 500 years ago.
Cornell, who will turn 80 next year, will be sailing a 45ft Outremer 4X cat equipped with electric drives. He is naming the boat after Elcano, who took over leadership of the original voyage when Magellan was killed in the Philippines.
Starting from Seville, Spain, in October 2020, the route will faithfully follow that of Magellan’s expedition. Cornell and his crew will call only at the same places where Magellan and Elcano stopped. After sailing across the Atlantic and down the coast of South America they will transit the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean. They then will sail across the Indian Ocean to South Africa before heading north to Seville to complete the 30,000 mile voyage.
Cornell estimates the journey will take between nine and 10 months, finishing in July 2021. The original voyage took several years.
MHS Winter2019
