In a major triumph for one man’s will and determination, Sergio Davi, a 65-year-old Italian adventurer, just arrived in Los Angeles, completing his 9,201-nm voyage from Sicily on his 37-foot RIB.
Davi was greeted at the dock by officials from Suzuki, the Italian consulate in LA, and some fishermen from Terrasihi, a small fishing village near Palermo, where Davi started his trip on Dec. 15. The route took Davi along three continents (Europe, Africa and the Americas), and included a 6-day, 8-hour, 1,770-nm crossing of the Atlantic from Cape Verde off Africa to French Guyana in South America.
The boat, a Nuova Jolly RIB named Aretusa Explorer, was powered by twin Suzuki DF300F dual-prop outboards that sipped an average of just 0.92 gallons a mile. It also had a sophisticated suite of Simrad electronics, including an autopilot, radar, AIS and MFD with C-MAP cartography.
The trip included 23 legs, so Davi could rest and refuel. In LA, he said he ran the boat for 519 hours and 32 minutes, in “not always favorable sea conditions” and was very happy to wrap up the Ocean to Ocean RIB Adventure. A rotating cast of companions joined him on some legs, including the Atlantic crossing.
A professional yacht captain, Davi originally hoped to complete the trip in 100 days, but he tested positive for Covid in Grand Canary and had to self-quarantine for about a week. The trip took him to Gibraltar, Cape Verde, French Guiana, Trinidad & Tobago, Curacao, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, and finally San Diego and LA.
In 2019, Davi also drove another Nuova Jolly RIB from Palermo to New York. You can read more at
https://www.ciuriciurimare.com/avventure/ocean-to-ocean-rib-adventure-2021-22/
and see a video of his run up Baja California below:
