The day could not have been better chosen. The sun shines and strikes the hull, reinforcing the blue of the sailboat, and the wind started, as a good presage for the trip. At the Cascais Marina, the dream finally becomes reality. Rute Gonçalves, her husband, João Monarca, and the three children of the couple, Marta, Afonso, and Carmen, give the starting shot for the “greatest adventure of their lives.”
Friends, colleagues and family wanted to attend an emotional farewell that takes place after years of preparation, with repairs and many sleepless nights. The sailboat, purchased in Holland, underwent a major overhaul, to adapt to the specific needs of a voyage of this magnitude. And the family had to prepare for the coexistence in a new space.
We need to go back four years in order to tell the story of the beginning of the project. Or even longer, if we take into account that João, a businessman linked to the recreational nautical industry, had been set on the idea of travelling around the world in a yacht for quite some time. Rute Gonçalves succumbed to her husband's goal, thereby enabling her to spend valuable time with her family. Employed as a brand manager at Galp, the company decided to give her the incentive required to fulfill this dream by granting her temporary leave from her duties, in addition to donating the sail and fuel for the boat.
The trip they have started is expected to last two years – the return is scheduled for 2021 – but there is not much pressure to keep up with timetables, because even the weather can delay matches, forcing a few weeks break. There is, however, a certainty. During all this time, the family will not be alone. To all who met with the five in the match in Cascais, join a whole world that can accompany the crossing here, in the official page of the project 5 to Bombordo, on Facebook.
