Jimmy Cornell’s Next Adventure

Veteran offshore sailor and prolific author Jimmy Cornell turns 80 in 2020 and what better way for a man with over 200,000 sea miles under his keel to celebrate than to start another circumnavigation. This year also happens to be the 500th anniversary of Ferdinand Magellan’s first circumnavigation of the planet, a voyage of exploration that was completed under the leadership of Juan Sebastian Elcano who took command of the fleet when Magellan was killed in the Philippines. To give the adventure a current theme, Cornell will make the circumnavigation using only renewable energy and without leaving a carbon footprint. The boat Cornell has chosen to sail, named Aventura Zero, is a modified Outremer 45 that he and the principles at Outremer are calling the 4 Zero, due to its zero omissions. The boat also carries the logo Elcano 500, in honor of the great explorer and to emphasize the project’s theme: Electricity, Carbon, No. To achieve a zero carbon system, Cornell has partnered with OceanVolt, which designed an all-electric propulsion and energy system that both drives the boat under power and uses its propellers to generate up to 1,000 watts of energy when under sail. This system is augmented by a large solar panel array and a water generator. The route Cornell and his crew of three will follow is that sailed by Magellan and Elcano from Europe around Cape Horn then west to the Philippines and on around the Cape of Good Hope and back to Europe. The new Aventura Zero was launched in France on Monday (September 7) and will start sea trials next week. Cornell expects to depart from Sevilla, Spain later this year. To follow his adventure, check out his logs on his website Cornell Sailing here.