191 days sailing around the world in a small boat: "I'd love to be like this for the rest of my life"

Barcelona"After so many months sailing such a tiny boat, my mind is still sailing. My head's still not on the ground, if you know what I mean," explains Pilar Pasanau (Barcelona, ​​1968), speaking by phone from Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean. At 58, the Barcelona native recently finished fourth in the Mini Globe Race, a solo round-the-world race in boats under six meters long. Her boat, the 5.80-meter Peter Punk, covered a total of 24,000 nautical miles, more than 44,000 kilometers, in 191 days. "I'm in a very sweet, very pleasant emotional, mental, and physical equilibrium. I would love to be like this for the rest of my life, that is, with total control of myself," explains the first woman in the final standings of a race created in 2020 by Australian adventurer Don McIntyre, who envisioned diving from a boat. For now, she remains in Antigua as she needs to find the money to ship the boat back home. In love with the sea, Pilar didn't hesitate to go into debt to make her dream a reality. "It was now or never. We'll pay them back," she says with a smile.

The race was divided into very long stages that the fifteen competitors faced, of whom only eleven finished. The journey began in Antigua, the start and finish of the voyage, on February 23, 2025, over a year ago, as participants were allowed a few weeks to rest and recover after the long stages. "I'm very happy to have finished this round-the-world trip and for Bernard Stitelmann," he explains about the Swiss cyclist, the overall winner of the race. The first stage was between Antigua and the Panama Canal, the second between Panama and Fiji, the third to Durban (in South Africa), and the fourth to Recife (a city in Brazil).

Pasanau had dreamed for years of having an experience like this. "I fell in love with the sea when I was fourteen, and my mother and I bought a windsurf board for summers on Sitges beach. I would raise the sail, and what I discovered fascinated me. How it moved, how it traveled... This is where it all began." He never left the water. He has competed, worked in the merchant marine, and has sailed with Óscar Camps on Open Arms missionsAlways aboard boats, always dreaming of sailing solo around the world. A member of the Royal Maritime Club of Barcelona, ​​Pilar had already crossed the Atlantic several times, some solo, but circumnavigating the globe was more complicated.

"It's a challenge in every sense because it's a very small boat and the conditions are anything but easy. But it was my lifelong dream. I tried in several ways, and finally, I had to achieve it now that I'm older by doing this regatta. I knew it might be my last chance; I needed to do it... but I had to make contact, explain to everyone that I wanted to do it and that if they could somehow lend me a hand by giving me the money, I would be grateful. And that's how I raised a thousand euros here, 500 there... I also received support from the friends I had made doing yoga." Arhatic, who have helped me a lot. And that's how we made it happen. Now I have a financial debt that we'll be repaying to those who have accompanied me, but I also have a personal thank you. When I was a sailor, I knew it was a reality thanks to these people. Without them, I wouldn't be here. I haven't felt alone, since I had their support. Spiritually, I've sailed around the world surrounded by so many people," explains the sailor, who has also received support from the Barcelona Nautical Capital Foundation.

During these months, Pilar has experienced all sorts of things. "Being a small boat, when a wave hits you, everything moves. You go from side to side. When I left Australia and went to the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, it was very tough. It's a place I love, but so isolated that some of the food you could buy was expired. A beautiful place, but the sea was very rough, with waves that seemed to turn the boat upside down. Every six or seven seconds, a wave would hit and rock everything." But luckily, I'm at a point in my life where I can face these challenges. I know myself and I know the boat," explains a woman who competed for many years in different sailing disciplines, eventually specializing in solo sailing. "I was the Spanish solo champion and I've competed in many places, from France to Italy, from North Africa to other locations, to gain experience and log miles," she says of her boat, Peter Punk, which she named herself. "Peter Pan is like a guardian angel who accompanies me, reminding me of this idea that you always want to be a child, but we grow up. And I changed the Bread by Punk "To make it more fun, with more energy." "At the top of Peter Punk, I've experienced more good times than bad. Every day the sun rose over the horizon was a gift. I've taken beautiful videos and photos to remember it, because the feeling of being able to see the sun rise in the middle of the sea, all alone, is a moment that will never be repeated in this way, because the sea and the sky are always moving. It connects you with nature and the universe," she explains. Now Pilar Pasanau needs to rest and face equally complicated tasks, as she needs to find the money to send the boat home with special transport. The idea is to sell the boat when she returns and decide what to do, since she won't be returning to the merchant marine. "I prefer to make a faith."