To have read Jimmy Cornell is to have entered into a religion. It is, for those who practice long distance cruising, to have absorbed the knowledge of the man who has sailed 200,000 nautical miles. Born in Romania in 1940, the BBC journalist based in London began sailing in the late 1960s.
Boats and books
In the mid-1970s, he embarked on a world tour that would take him to nearly 70 different countries over the next six years. It was aboard Aventura, a 36-foot fiberglass hull ( plan Van de Stadt ), that with his wife and two children, he will cross 68,000 miles. He financed part of his journey by providing reports and commentaries to the BBC, among other media.
In the late 1980s, a successor to Aventura was born. The boat was a 40-foot steel hull, designed by Bill Dixon. Named Aventura II, she set off on a 3-year circumnavigation and took part in the first round-the-world rally that Cornell organized in the early 1990s.
In 1987, he published for the first time the " World Cruising Routes " ( grand Cruising routes ) This book has become a reference work for those who love long-distance cruising. Translated into 17 languages, more than 200,000 copies of this book have been sold in the 8 editions that have been published since.
It was in 1998 that the sailing editor touched Aventura III. This 43-foot aluminum boat built according to Philippe Briand's plans headed for Antarctica in 1999. Then it reached Alaska and British Columbia. In 2001, at the age of 61, Jimmy Cornell began his third round-the-world voyage, which he completed in 2006.
In 2007, he wrote and published " A Passion for The Sea, Reflections on three Circumnavigations " ( A passion for the sea, Reflections on three circumnavigations ). This book is based on his in-depth knowledge of ocean cruising, acquired during 40 years of sailing. A true bible of blue water cruising, this book deals with all aspects of navigation and reads like a user's guide, although it is more fun and practical. Republished and updated, the book is now called " 200,000 miles - A Life of Adventure " came off the presses in 2017.
In 2014, Aventura IV, a Garcia Exploration 45 in aluminum, designed by Olivier Racoupeau is launched. Thought by Jimmy as the ideal cruising boat, both for high latitudes and tropical regions. In 2015, Jimmy successfully crossed the Northwest Passage on this new Aventura.
The books
When he writes, Cornell covers all the points related to sailing, his only subject of writing. He works like an investigator, collecting the words of the greatest practitioners to make condensed knowledge. He has written 17 books that have been translated into several languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian and Japanese.
The rallies
In 1986 Jimmy Cornell created the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers), a transatlantic rally between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean. Following the success of the first ARC, he founded the World Cruising Club which specializes in international sailing events.
Between the mid-1980s and the year 2000, Cornell organized four rallies around the world. The America 500 Rally was held in 1992 for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas. The Hong Kong Challenge around the world race was held in 1996 and the annual ARC transatlantic rallies.
Cultivating an image of a man of union, he created the Millennium Odyssey. It is a rally around the world that started in August 1998 with a symbolic flame around the world in a circumnavigation. Completed in April 2000, the rally carried the Millennium Flame from Jerusalem to Rome. Cornell symbolically presented this flame to the Pope on Easter Monday 2000. With more than 50 boats, the Millennium Odyssey remains the largest round-the-world sailing rally to date.
Marketing
A man of books, Jimmy Cornell is also a marketing expert. He is the creator of several rallies and races around the world and has built a publishing empire around his name. It is not without reason that only the sites and books in his name (or in the name of the "Cornel Family") are really successful. Noonsite, a site that lists the countries of the world and the cruising opportunities that exist there, is not as successful as expected.
It is moreover, if it is allowed to express a reservation on the character, on this absolute cult of the personality that one can stop. Founding an empire on a practice is a conceivable thing if one ensures the durability of this empire. Now a speaker and business consultant, Jimmy Cornell is trying to pass on the torch by communicating more and more about the "Cornell Family".
More projects
At the respectable age he has reached, Jimmy Cornell may have retired from the business and lived a comfortable retirement. This would be a misunderstanding of the man who today is a defender of the environment and opts for "zero emission" sailing. It is therefore aboard Aventura 0, his new catamaran Outremer, that the navigator will try to replay, for September 2022, the return of Juan Sebastián Elcano. He is the first navigator who in 1522 completed the circumnavigation of the globe under the command of Magellan. It is thus in the same conditions of autonomy, but on board of course of a modern boat for the blow, that Cornell will go to make again a turn of the world. The event will be part of the celebrations of this sailing event, which has already begun. The " Project 500 "This event is part of a series of events planned and will start with the planting of 500 trees in Getaria (Basque Country), in the land where Juan Sebastian Elcano was born.
