Australia in sight for ocean rower

“I have spent a lot of my life dreaming,” says Alex Bellini, Italy’s intrepid adventurer, “of being someone else, somewhere else in the world, living a life that is quite different from the often confused and monotonous life of a young person.”

Bellini’s latest rowing adventure is to row from Lima, Peru to Sydney, Australia. Leaving earlier this year, on 21 February, Bellini aimed to get to Sydney by mid-November. He is not far off track as the coast of Australia is now just 200 miles away and Sydney just 500 miles away, but making a December finish more likely.

This will be Bellini’s longest time at sea. Previously the adventurer has spent 226 days rowing the Atlantic Ocean when he rowed from Italy to Fortaleza in Brazil. For Bellini, who grew up in the mountains, 400km from the sea, it took three attempts. His first attempt, in 2004, got him just five hours off shore. His second attempt got him 1100km before his boat was wrecked.

Bellini returned to again attempt the Atlantic crossing in 2005 for “revenge against those who didn’t believe I could.” This time he was successful.

Before leaving on his Pacific voyage Bellini admitted, “I still haven’t found the reasons why I chose to cross the Atlantic and now to attempt crossing the Pacific, but that’s no problem for me. I feel it, I want it, so I’m doing it!”

In regular communication with his support team, Bellini has been updating his website with logbook entries. His days at sea means that Bellini is climbing his way up the ocean rowers rankings for the number of total days spent at sea and he currently sits at fifth place in the rankings.

Bellini calculates that he takes about 18,000 rowing strokes a day in his seven metre rowboat. He has been averaging about 30 miles a day.

On 30 June, Bellini wrote in his logbook that his greatest enemy has been boredom as bad weather forced him into being closed inside his small boat. “I would go out only to row enough to make some water.” The water maker is connected to his rowing seat.

Recently Bellini noted that he had been feeling quite wobbly walking around the boat. “He no longer feels safe if he doesn’t hold on, and the paint has become very slippery when wet. But also, he feels he loses his balance more easily,” Bellini’s 2 November logbook stated. He calculated that he walks just 40 metres per day and spends only seven minutes standing.

To follow Bellini’s progress go to www.alexbellini.it

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