Magellan Global Adventure

The dream to retrace the journey of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1995 during a walk on the beach which coincidentally was the same date in which Magellan himself was born. Vilfredo Schurmann and Heloisa Schurmann were talking about the amazing feats of some of the adventurers who altered the course of History. When Magellan's name came up, they wondered how amazing it would be to follow the path of the first fleet that circumnavigated the world and proved that the Earth was round.

The Schurmann Family dream began to become a reality on November 23, 1997. After three years of detailed and careful planning, the Schürmann Family left for their second great adventure: Magellan Global Adventure. But now, with a new crew including their son David Schurmann and daughter Kat Schurmann, five years old at the time.

After almost 30 months after departing from Brazil the yacht Aysso docked at Porto Seguro, Bahia, in Brazil . The date: April 22, 2000, exactly 500 years after Brazil was discovered by Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral. The Schürmann Family was part of the celebrations of the historical date and was welcomed by the Presidents of Brazil and Portugal .

Taking the same route Magellan had sailed 478 years before, the Schürmanns sailed 32,657 miles (60,481 km), during 891 days. Captain Vilfredo steered Aysso throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Altogether, the adventure took the family to 48 ports, 31 islands, 19 countries and 9 territories.

On their second circumnavigation the Schurmann Family had a quite extensive “crew”. Thanks to the technology which made it possible to transmit photos and texts from the boat to the world, Magellan Global Adventure was followed on the internet by more than 1, 5 million people.

Schools in Brazil and abroad utilized the educational content especially produced for the expedition. Internationally, the site was recommended by several educational organizations, including UNESCO the UN educational arm.

More than 40 million Brazilians watched the images of the trip broadcast monthly on Fantastico on Rede Globo Television Channel. The support and love towards the family were measured by the number of e-mails received during the adventure: 39,560 messages, from 44 different countries.