He SAILED AROUND THE WORLD Alone TWICE

During my trip to Açores, in between hikes and boat rides, I stumbled across a man who really got my attention. João Madruga happened to be the only Portuguese guy to have sailed around the world alone. Not once, but twice, on a small boat. And his story inspired me so much that I decided to sit down with him and have a small conversation. So, I hope you enjoy it. Let's talk a little bit about your adventures. Before we start, I'd like you to tell us a little bit about how your passion for the sea came to be and how it all started. Well, first of all, my name is Genuíno Madruga, I was born on the island of Pico, in Açores, on the 9th of December, 1950. I live in the city of Horta, this is where I did my studies. So, you came from Pico to Ofeial with your family, when you left in the summer of 1958. Then I stayed here, I did my studies in high school, and I grew up here, seeing all this movement of adventurers, as they were called, appearing here in Porto da Horta. And that's how it was. Well, my first row, so to speak, on the sea was here in the bay of Porto de Pico, when I was 12 years old, when I built my first boat. You built your own boat, right? Exactly. Alone? Completely alone? Alone, no one took me with them. And then, when did this desire to make a really big trip start? It was as I grew up, and I met people who passed through Porto da Horta, and I was also building my own trips, so to speak. Then I went to the troops, I was in the troops for 44 months. The troops, at 18 years old? Military service. At 18? No, earlier. No, at 20. 20, ok. I was in the troops for 44 months, almost completely lost. Almost, completely lost, because there I couldn't make money or do anything. Well, I got married, I gave birth to my family, and I was doing what was possible. I worked where it was possible to work, picking up the shields. Always with that idea of ​​one day later being able to do it. Exactly, the idea always. I always had the idea. And maybe one day, I didn't know when. I didn't know if it was going to take a year, if it was 10, if it was 50 years. And you ended up being almost 30 years to be able to buy your first plane. Yes, of course. Only at 49 I had the money to buy the boat. Before that, I didn't. The Hemingway. And now, just a curiosity, why Hemingway? Hemingway, exactly. I don't know who, I don't remember, but they offered me, I don't know if it was for months, years, if it was for a year, if how it was, they offered me a copy of the Old Man. And that story impressed me in such a way that I read it and I read it again. I was sailing at that time. I was going to the troop. And that's it, I was going to sell that and such, and then I would stay with that story. And in the meantime, I already had a name for the boat. I didn't have a boat yet. You already had a name. Very good. So, explain to me, you already explained it to me yesterday, but can you explain to me again the trajectory of your first and second trip, as well as your first trip? I left here, from Ilha do Real, in October 2000, to Cape Verde Islands. I went there on several Cape Verde Islands, then I crossed the Atlantic, to the Caribbean. I also went there on several Caribbean Islands. I crossed the Caribbean Sea, to Panama. The Panama Canal, then Panama and the Galapagos Islands. From the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands, in Polynesia. And so on and so forth. From Samoa, I went to the Tuamotus Islands, in French Polynesia. And in Fiji, then Darwin, in Australia. From there, straight to the Mauritius Islands. Because, meanwhile, the station was already passing and I had to get to Africa Zoo before the Cyclone Station. To be able to cross the Indigo River. In the middle of the year, because of the storm, I was without a mast and sails, because I left there in a storm. Then I had to navigate, in the most feasible way, to Rodrigues Island. And how did you manage to navigate without a mast? Ah, it was a prediction, with a stick of thorn, a prediction, a small thing, to navigate. Because, well, I had to get to some place. With the help of a motorboat, slowly, I got to Rodrigues Island. There was no problem that I had enough sails for three months. Water supply for three months was guaranteed. So, when I got there, I knew how to get there. Well, in Rodrigues Island, then there were no big seas. To recover the boat? To recover. I had to improvise a small mast, maybe about 6 meters. I remember that the mast is also a boat, so 16 meters. With a sail also all improvised to go to Africa Zoo. I only saw that a huge box came with a mast and sails. So, this was still a great adventure to get to Africa Zoo. Then, from Santa Helena Island to the northeast of Brazil, to the island of Fernando de Noronha. On the first trip, I also went to Fortaleza. From Fortaleza, again to the island of Guadalupe, in the Caribbean, where I completed the circumnavigation trip. And then I went to the island of Feial. I must say that when I left here on the first trip, in October 2000, in addition to my family, there were half a dozen people in the car. Here in Feial? Here in Feial. Possibly no one believed that this was going to happen, that I had to make a trip around the world, or at least two, or more than two. When I arrived, it was the biggest party I had on this island. This first trip. On the second trip, I left again... Before explaining the second trip, that is, the first trip ended in... 2002. May 2002. And then the second trip was in 2007. 2007, 2009. So, during that time, or at the end of the first trip, what made you think you wanted to make a new trip? Well, actually... Was something missing on the first trip? The great trip is the second one. The trip. To have the international knowledge of a trip around the world, you can't go through any official channel, especially the Panamanian channel. Of course. I went from the first trip to Panama, all right, it's a trip around the world and such, but be careful, you don't have international knowledge. I went there on the second day. On the second trip, then, when I went through Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape York, in the north of Australia, it's done. It's all over. Just to have an idea, I don't know if you have an idea, but how many people have been able to cross Cape Horn alone, sailing? Sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that is, in the opposite direction. This is more difficult? Very, very, but much more difficult. There will always be opposite winds, and sea, and current, everything is opposite there. So, only 10 people, I'm in 10th place worldwide. In 10th place? Worldwide. What does that mean, the places? Ah, it was the 10th person to be able to do it. Exactly. The first was Barre de Yon, in 1953. I came here and passed the 9th, the 8th. And I managed to get through in 2008, in January 2008. So, since we don't have much time, can you tell me, for example, an episode of one of those trips? In the first trip, in the Fiji Islands, it was forbidden to sell and consume alcoholic beverages. Therefore, people consumed cava. Now, cava is something that hurts the head of the hand. It's legal. It's made from a root. Of a plant. And so, they invited me to go to a cava session in the Fiji Islands. And I went. But did you know what it was? No, no, I didn't know it was cava, but I didn't know what it was. I had never seen anything like it. I didn't know what it was. But cava, in the end, what it does is that people stay calm and there are no problems with anyone. Unlike alcohol. Alcohol sometimes only hurts the head and then there are problems. In other words, there were times when I realized that I was going to die. But I didn't drink anything. Because there was a car, and so on. I was cleaning, and it was good. I had taken it here, and when I boarded, they gave me a bottle of water and I drank it. Anyway, the bottle was there. Completely dry. And I remembered that thing and I said, you can't drink it, you're not used to it. Ok, today I'm not going to drink your cava, but I'm going to bring cava from my islands for you to try. Everyone was satisfied. They wanted to try a different cava. To try cava from the Azores. I arrived there, and I was already waiting for cava from the Azores. Well, the taxi driver was the first one. And there, it's a container that is cut in half, and they make a kind of bowl, and they drink cava with that. And they played, I saw Aguardente, I was already there, waiting for cava from the Azores. And then, I put a little bit of Aguardente, and he said, put more, more, more. I put a little bit more, I put a lot, but I put a little bit more. He went to drink, but he drank cava in a different way. Cava doesn't have alcohol, it's a little bitter, but you drink it, no problem. That Aguardente was strong, the man was almost out of breath. He had to go to the street, catch some air, then he was badly exposed, he screamed, I remember, maybe half an hour, the others also left, but no one wanted to. But among the women who were inside, almost all of them, went to drink, and almost all of them, from Aguardente, must have felt a blow in those heads, with a serious face. Cava, Aguardente, Pico, that's how it was. During those days, those women in those houses, I don't know what happened to them, I don't know what happened. It was a funny episode, and later, on the second trip, I found the same people, I went looking for them, in Savo Savo, on the island of Vanua Leiva, and they spoke again about Cava dos Açores, but this time, no one wanted to. No one wanted to. Very well. So now, just to finish, so as not to take up too much time, what would someone say, not that I would like to do the same thing, because I think that is out of reach, not only in monetary terms, but at the level of knowledge, it is very difficult to... It is not for everyone. But for someone who wants to travel the world, not necessarily by boat, but alone, what would be your biggest advice from what you lived and learned? Above all, think about safety. Safety, yes. Safety above all. Be it close, or far away, anything, there can be a problem, it can happen, it is not easy. And it is not just about taking care of places, or people, it is also about food. All of that, what you eat, and where you eat, you have to be very careful with everything. Because it has to do with safety. Because my friend can only travel if he is in good health. If he is in good health, and everything else. If not, everything is bad, everything is lost. Well, I don't want to take up any more time, and thank you for your disponibility. I really enjoyed meeting you, and I think you are a great inspiration for me, and I think for many people. I think so. The important thing is that people never give up. Even if it is a goal, people say it is a dream, but it is not a dream, it is a goal. Dreams disappear, and we don't know what it was. And goals, we don't forget, and we can't forget. No matter how difficult the situation is, sometimes, this year I couldn't find any money, I couldn't find anything. I don't have a problem. The following year, I will find something. I even had the money to buy a boat. It took me years. It wasn't like that. But never give up. Sometimes people ask me, during the trip, this and that, did you ever think of looking back? I never look back. This is not in the dictionary. Giving up and looking back, no. Just look forward. Look forward, and more. When I left here, on the first and second trip, I set the arrival date. I set the arrival date, so I had to keep it. And I kept it. Just out of curiosity, do you still plan to make a third trip? This is how it is. It's not about thinking or not thinking. We have to see what is reasonable or not. To where it should go. So far, the trips have been let's say good. With all the mistakes, with everything that happened. It doesn't matter. But I'm here. That's what's important. A third trip, I don't know. I'd like to go back to some of the same places, and others that I didn't go. And others that I didn't go. Maybe the opportunity arises. We'll see. Very well. Thank you for your availability and sharing this story. All the best to you too. And above all, never give up. If you don't make it today, maybe in a year or 10 years, or maybe in 20. Or 30 or 40. We'll see. Thank you.