Raymarine supplies marine electronics for Bulgarian solo sailor
by Raymarine 28 Oct 2023 12:00 BST
Global Solo Challenge - Pavlin Nadvorni © Raymarine
Raymarine is supporting a Bulgarian sailor intent on conquering his own personal Everest by completing the Global Solo Challenge.
The brand has supplied Pavlin Nadvorni and his Farr 45 yacht with a range of cutting-edge marine electronics that bring him one step closer to achieving his lifetime ambition of sailing alone around the world.
On one level, the Raymarine-sponsored race represents just another 26,000 sea miles for a man who has already notched up more than 200,000 miles in a varied career afloat. On the other, it is the ultimate test of mettle as one person in a small boat takes on some of the toughest seas in the world. Sailing from A Coruña in Spain, down the Atlantic Ocean and round the three Great Capes, the voyage will take at least 150 days, according to Pavlin's estimates.
"It will change my life," he said enthusiastically. "First of all, on a personal level, it will be the pinnacle of my career as a sailor. It should also make me relax a bit - this thing is very hard on the family. Even though no one can stop me - my wife of 24 years hasn't even tried - the family will be finally able to relax. I'm not planning to come up with another crazy idea! Well, perhaps..."
Pavlin's boat Espresso Martini was in fact salvaged in 2018 after being wrecked by a winter storm in Holyhead, north Wales, and required a thorough refit to race again. As a former Raymarine installer, Pavlin put the new equipment in himself. The list runs to a new Axiom chartplotter, Quantum 2 radar, AIS system, twin wind instruments (one at the mast head, one at the pushpit) and a camera to keep watch from below.
"I've used many systems, but in my experience, Raymarine is the most user-friendly in terms of software and interface. There's an ingenious simplicity of wiring," Pavlin explained. "I used to have an E-series display and now have an Axiom. It's robust and very user friendly - it's so easy to go through the menu.
"The electrical drives of the autopilot are absolutely outstanding. Bringing the damaged boat back to Bulgaria in 2018, we were going downwind in 60 knots of wind and I was absolutely amazed to see the difference between the old fluxgate compass and the new Evolution system. When we came out of the lee of Africa and started getting waves from the southwest, it took one slap from that direction, and the autopilot sensed the motion - it was like intuition."
Pavlin is a resourceful sailor. From sailing dinghies on the River Danube he graduated to an engineless 9m boat, then began working on private yachts in the Med. He worked his way up to captain, deck officer and engineer in the superyacht industry sailing the USA East Coast, the Caribbean, Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, before returning to Bulgaria to found a marine services business at Varna on the shores of the Black Sea.
"Sailing to me has been a passion for the last 47 years - everything in my life has been leading to this challenge," said Pavlin. "This trip is an event, not so much of a race - it's the Everest of ocean sailing, that every single serious sailor dreams about. The latest count was less than 200 people who have completed this kind of voyage - compared to 1,500-plus who have flown into space. You can imagine the appeal!"
After a 2,000-mile qualifying voyage, he believes he is ready for the solitude. He has satellite comms on board, but regards it as a mixed blessing. "I'm a very sociable person and this presents a challenge. It's about finding a balance between calling your family and friends, or shore team to get some reassurance, and at the same time realising that this throws your concentration off totally."
The first boats departed in August. These are the slowest boats, and were waved off by the faster participants. With his Farr 45 among the strongest potential performers in the event, Pavlin set off on October 21, part of the Super Zero group pursuing the rest of the fleet.
To find out more about The Global Solo Challenge, and to see the current rankings, visit: globalsolochallenge.com
To find out more about Raymarine, visit: www.raymarine.com/en-gb