Testimony
Embarking on a World Tour Aboard the Samana 59 | A Dream come true
Roberto et Corina
Model
Samana 59
Location
Around the world
Trip duration
Since 2020
The spirit of adventure aboard the Samana 59. Roberto and Corina open the doors of their catamaran and share their incredible experience.
Roberto and Corina absolutely embody the spirit of adventure, undertaking an extraordinary round-the-world voyage aboard Fountaine Pajot-designed Samana 59, a catamaran that perfectly combines elegance, comfort, performance and conviviality.
Their story highlights both the challenges and the precious moments of a life at sea, aboard a yacht designed to offer its owners space and comfort.
Step aboard with them and take advantage of one on display at the Marseille Boat Show, which runs in the Vieux Port until Sunday 8th December, for a private visit.
Roberto and Corina’s story of a dream that started long ago – a desire to sail around the world with their six children. “We tried two times and life had its different plans for us,” Corina told us before they set off.
Samana 59 owners’ story – Ohana
Now their epic circumnavigation is complete, so we caught up with them again back on terra firma in Buenos Aires. They bought the boat via Zoom during the Covid epidemic and were thrilled to find that it exactly corresponded with the renderings they had seen. “When we were on the boat for the first time, we felt we had been on board for a long time,” says Corina. “It was exactly like the renders.”
Aboard the Samana 59: a family getaway between sea and sky
Their youngest child was just three-and-a-half when they slipped the lines. She has a severe form of cerebral palsy which meant that she was wheelchair bound and in need of special care. The oldest was 14. And yet, there was very little need for modifications to make the boat suitable for all those different requirements. “We converted the midships cabin and split the two beds to take two kids,” says Roberto.
In the end, one of the older girls spent many nights in the Tropics sleeping out under a blanket of stars on the flybridge. “There are very nice cushions up there, so my 12-year old slept 70% of the time up there,” says Corina. When it rained, they had the vast saloon to play in or watch TV, or do schoolwork. And the large master cabin also became a social hub for the children. Most of the night-watches were accomplished from the chart table.
Round-the-world catamaran | A dream come true
The couple set sail from Florida to join the World ARC before it passed through the Panama Canal. With the pandemic nearing the end of its first year, just four other boats joined them for the transit. They got as far as Galapagos before the rally organiser took the difficult decision to cancel the event.
Roberto and Corina weren’t ready to give up on their dream, however. “We continued all alone,” Roberto says. “Fiji was starting to open up, so we applied there. We went straight from Galapagos to Fiji (a distance of 6,000 nautical miles), but in the middle of the passage we got permission to enter French Polynesia.”
Mythical escapes, from the Galapagos to Polynesia
From there they made the 25-day passage to Indonesia – another rare country that was willing to let them enter. “We had to sail straight through the Great Barrier Reef. The Australians let us anchor four or five times in the crossing of the Torres Strait, but we couldn’t go ashore.”
From there, it was on to Reunion, then South Africa, St Helena in the south Atlantic, the little-visited island of Fernando de Noronha and back to Florida. “We visited fewer places, but made longer stops,” says Corina. “We managed to spend much more time in every place, and be more in touch with the locals, since we were the only tourists in the area. In many places, we were the first boats to arrive, so we were very welcome.”
The trip has clearly made a deep impression on the whole family
For Corina, there was joy in meeting different peoples and cultures – the more so during lockdown. She remembers the surreal moment when they were invited to drink ceremonial kava with in Fiji – sipping from the same coconut shell as all 40 villagers.
For the children, the trip has awoken a love of sailing and the sea which won’t be quenched. “They all started enjoying these long passages at sea,” says Corina. “When we went back to the boat again, my 8-year old shouted ‘we’re free, we’re free!’. I asked them whether there were any bad moments, and they could only think of one: getting home.”
When every moment on board becomes a precious memory
There were highlights aplenty for Roberto, who took turns with a hired hand and his elder daughter doing the night-watches. But the one that he holds above all the others was the time spent with the family. “Being 25 days together in a close space was something we won’t get to repeat,” he says. “We really got to know each other better.”
For those who still think that the passages are the boring bits that happen between the islands, think again. “I loved watching the sea alone,” says Corina. “I also remember sitting on the flybridge with all my kids together one night watching the stars, putting music on and singing. We’d fish, we’d cook special meals. We just wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without being on a catamaran,” she finishes.
