After many years with my beloved Clovis, spending winters in large ports and sea metropolises such as Tarragona, Palermo, Nice, Trapani, Brindisi, Tunis and many others, my partner Mari and I decided on a different kind of winter: we decided to pass the winter with our sailboat in Formentera.

In past years, the huge amount of work and the meticulous re-building we did onboard totaling 1,400 days forced us to winter in places where it was easy to find very specific materials, spare parts and equipment, which allowed us to carry out our work independently without without the help of third parties.

This year, with my Clovis now in perfect condition, Marika, our dog Kita and I chose Formentera, given the beauty of the island, its sea and its wind protected bays. We found the harbor there particularly welcoming and well-equipped and very sheltered from storms: at the Marina of Formentera we received real sailor-like treatment; the kind that only those born on the sea and those like us who sail all year round know.

This kind of hospitality is more valuable than money: in fact, as soon as the islanders understood the nature of our visit and our stay, they gave us all the possibilities to put us at ease and safety from every point of view.

The island, which as everyone knows, during the summer is extremely chaotic and stormed by hundreds and hundreds of boats. But from mid-September onwards,the tourists vanish: October the bars or“chiringuitos”as they’re called in Spain begin to close and the island changes.

Apart from the hospitality and the wonderful people we met, the island and its magic did the rest. The quiet, the silence of the wonderful Mediterranean, bays with indescribable waters, the salt lakeson the island and the salt mines, long promontories that launch into the sea and a land that releases an energy and a unique atmosphere capable of reassuring the most restless of spirits and even stimulate the lazy ones.

Being part of the restless spirits, this year it was my desire to rest with my fiancée, but fortunatelyI was unable to stop the call of my greatest passions, which are in this order: working on Clovis and giving her the best of me to rediscover and bring out the best in her, fishing, and lastly, cooking.

I was able to dedicate my time, which is the most precious of our possessions, to what I love by practicing a little sailing with friends native to the island on a lake called Estagne, then dedicating myself to great fishing trips, while always respecting the our precious sea and the laws of the place, fishing only what Mari, our dog and I could consume.

It was also very interesting to share our catch with the islanders.With many friends from Formentera, we got together and grilled fish and had memorable dinners where I took the opportunity to learn and taste new fish recipes that in our twenty years of experience we had never tasted.

Formentera: a unique and special island.

We are still here in the archipelago, sailing far and wide for these beautiful pearls of the Mediterranean, throughout the summer until January 2020. However it is very sad to think og how challenging it will be to find another winter destination like this.

But we will do it!

The post A Long, But Short Winter One Year Ago on a Sailboat in Formentera appeared first on Sail Universe.

We will live on the sea, the source of endless life and nourishment for the world, giving us the possibility to travel the globe, connecting cultures and continents with a boat as our vessel, granting us the possibility of feeling at home on the sea.

My mission is to travel around the globe from 2020 to 2024, experiencing and studying the marvels of our magical world, of its oceans and its men. We will document everything that the boat, our crew and our guests encounter and we will push ourselves to discover the most remote corners still unknown to most of the world.

It will be a 48 month long journey that will bring in close contact with new cultures, customs, cuisines and precious places that we will document with our photographers respectfully and truthfully.

It is a trip that will test those of us aboard and the boat itself, and we must be prepared and eager to face the discovery of the unknown. Writers, artists, and biologists that follow us throughout the journey will become travelers on a voyage in which they can also participate in the ups and downs, living aboard with us but in total safety.

We will collaborate with nautical equipment companies who will supply us with the most modern and reliable equipment available. With state of the art equipment, we will always be able to report to our companies and consumers in any condition, as well as communicate with journalists who can help us spread the idea far and wide that this journey is the greatest form of culture.

Read all the Clovis Chronicles episodes here.

The post Clovis Chronicles ep. 3 “Four years around the globe to discover sea and… men” appeared first on Sail Universe.

The Clovis originates from ideals of ancient times, from the desire of the master carpenter Jean Pugliese, who brought it to life with great love and conscience, to stand out and last over time. A real challenge, costly and tiring, to create something that is capable of sailing to discover the whole world by hand: a solid, fast, self-sufficient boat, independent in all necessities, able to sail in any condition and at any latitude.

Over three long years, an team of 16 experts, among them architects the likes of Dominique Presles and Airbus engineers, worked with passion on the project for over 30,000 hours, following rigorous construction criteria and techniques, from the use of particular metals to complex procedures related to the aeronautical industry.

As Pugliese said in a valuable interview: “It is the first and most solid sailboat we have ever built, using very high quality alloys and materials, working with love and conscience. The Clovis is founded on three fundamental principles that make it indestructible: the safety of the hull, with a frame made of aluminum profiles and laminates, just like an aircraft, giving it strength and elasticity; the power of high and well supported pass-through trees that allow great veiling with their structural support on the hull; control by means of a large and rapid rudder and of a sturdy and deep trapezoid keel firmly welded to the hull. A boat is eternal when these three points are present”.

Hence this solid, fast and eternal boat can make the members of its crew true navigators, because sailing is not just regattas or a few weeks holiday on board… it is also living the sea to embrace its nature, to enjoy its elements and to live it 365 days a year.

Read all the Clovis Chronicles episodes here.

The post Clovis Chronicles ep. 2 “Sailing is also living the sea to embrace its nature” appeared first on Sail Universe.

When I was 8 years old in 1997, my father, the last of a family who for generations has always worked in buying and selling boats, bought the Clovis ketch, a very special boat. In 2002, after 5 long years of great work on the boat in the port of Antibes, Clovis became a traveling home for him and a constant thought for me.

At the time I was living in Como with my mother, Ambra, while all through the sad school days of winter I waited for the summer when I would sail and work as a sailor aboard Clovis, learning and reveling in her infinite potential.

Clovis became a “second mother” and a school, teaching me things that cannot be learned with people, but only by being in close contact with nature.

In 2014, after my father had been captain for almost 20 years, the time came for him to make some hard decisions, and the future without a “generational passing down” would have meant for him and Clovis making a final stop at some port to live out the rest of their days.

At that time, at only 24 years old I had under my belt thousands of miles of navigating the sea. My father saw my tenacity, passion and projects that I had never stopped creating and studying to bring to fruition, and he decided that I was sufficiently skilled to take total command. In a short time I completely changed my life, finally being able to devote myself entirely to Clovis.

I put all my now useless belongings up for sale; such as my motorcycles and my van, and the things I cared about the most I gave to my loved ones.

From 2014 to today, my girlfriend Marika, my great friend Luca and I have made enormous efforts and great sacrifice to give Clovis what she deserves, spending long winters working on endless maintenance and on fine and detailed preparations that slowly bring her back to the right condition to face what awaits her.

The efforts are then rewarded by intense summers of sailing and training, and sharing some of the work and all of the satisfaction with our partners.

We are getting ready once again for our big departure!

The post Clovis Chronicles ep. 1 “Can You understand why my Sailboat is my Second Mother?” appeared first on Sail Universe.