Another amazing weekend in Italy working on the boat and spreading the word about Sogno Atlantico.

The weekend didn’t start well – my flight was delayed by three hours. Nevertheless there was a silver-lining: I spent three hours plus the flight going through the boat inventory and reading the required equipment lists provided by Atlantic Campaigns.

This was extremely useful and it was something that had been on my to do list for a very long time. I now have a very daunting to do list and less than 180 days to get everything done. This list is also a great opportunity though – I can now breakdown this enormous challenge into individual tasks and set myself goals and deadlines so that step by step I can get closer to achieving my goal and dream.

Raising enough funds to complete the challenge is still a major concern but I’m trying to stop it from affecting my morale. This won’t help. I’ve set myself a goal, as many times before in my life (although I’ll admit that this time is a pretty massive one) and I’m determined to reach this goal.

It’s always great to go back to Italy. People in my village and in the surrounding area have been extremely supportive. Many said that they really thought that I’d escaped the Perucchini crazy-genes but that I obviously haven’t!

It’s always great to talk with people about my challenge. I really hope that more Italians will venture into ocean rowing. So many people say to me that they would love to take on the same or a similar challenge, BUT…! All I keep on saying to them is that I’m certainly not a superhuman athlete or an experienced adventurer, I’ve just been dreaming of this challenge for over ten years and time after time I managed to find reasons not to go for it. I reached a point where I started to think that this dream would never become reality and that I’ll find myself 30 years from now truly regretting not trying to chase this dream. So I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and jumped. Now I’m less than 200 days away from the race, with thousands of things to do and plan, working effectively two full time jobs…but I’m happy, because a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m actually trying and whether I’ll make the crossing in 40 days or 100 days, it doesn’t matter, what is truly important is that I decided to follow my dream.

I truly hope that my challenge will inspire other people to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. Obviously we don’t all have to row oceans there are many many unfulfilled dreams big and small – what truly matters is to avoid turning them into regrets.

The weather was lovely throughout the weekend but sadly the boat didn’t make it onto the lake. Definitely going for a paddle next time though.

I was still able to train though and I was lucky enough to do so Sport Club Renese, which was fantastic. This is the first club that I joined, as a cox, probably around 25 years ago and where a few years later I won my first Italian championship.

Less than 170 days to the start of the race, there are still many hurdles between myself and my dream but I’m not giving up and I look forward to the challenges ahead.