CheLobizón progress report on a single-handed circumnavigation

by Guadalupe Iza on 29 Sep 2015 On September 12th, a navigator, Jorge Omar Iza, set sail in Orion 34 sailing boat, called Che Lobizón. The aim of this voyage is to sail round the world in a non-stop and solo sailing along the route of the three capes: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn.

At 9 a.m., family and friends came to Club de Regatas, La Plata, to see Jorge Iza off. The establishment Commodore handed the Captain the Club’s pennant over.

It is two weeks from his departure and “Che Lobizón” has already travelled roughly 1024 miles. Its current set of coordinates is: 40° 28.30S, 040° 00.57W. Its location will be updated twice a day on his Facebook page for anyone who wants to follow Jorge’s voyage.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]

About Jorge “el Vasco” (“the Basque”) Iza

Jorge Omar Iza is from La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, settled down in Ensenada in this country, and known by his nickname “el Vasco” at Regatas Club, La Plata. Apart from this club, he is also a member of Asociación Deportiva Argentina de Navegantes (ADAN) (Argentine Sports Association of Navigators).

He was born of September 20th, 1952. At the age of 20, he met the nautical world as a crewman in a Greek cargo ship. Then, he devoted himself to another of his passion: sculpture; so he studied Fine Arts at the National University of La Plata, School of Fine Arts.

When he was about 40, he resumed his interest in sailing and attended a navigation course lectured by Jorge “Negro” Solís. Since then, Jorge Iza he been steadily in contact with nautical activities and participated in regattas – in the beginning, with his friends’ and acquaintances’ boats.

In 2010, he bought his first sailboat, a spray called Vaivelén, with which he began his first single-handed voyages to Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, Uruguay. By 2012, he bought his current Orion 34 sailing boat; in those days, it was called 'Bruma' (meaning “haze”).

In December of that year, he together with his daughter Guadalupe Iza, set sail to Brazil in that boat. This journey consisted of a first eight-day leg from La Plata, Argentina to Florianopolis, Brazil; a second twelve-day leg, from Florianopolis to Ilha Grande and Agra dos Reis, Brazil; and finally, the third leg to Ilhabela, in the same country.

After this experience, in the late 2014 and after having retired, Jorge Iza renamed it “Che Lobizón” in honour of his football team: Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima, La Plata. And in November of that same year, this project inspired by the Argentine single-handed navigator, Vito Dumas, starts.

Over these months of planning and start-up, “el Vasco” counted on the help of the following people: Guadalupe Iza (his daughter); Mr. Matías Otero, an engineer at 'Micro Roe: Ingeniería Electrónica'; Mr. Manuel Moroni, a boatswain at Club Regatas, La Plata; Mr. Andrés Garibaldi who made the sails; Mr. Roberto Sens; Dr. Eduardo De Luca; Jorge 'Negro' Solís; and Rubén 'Negro' Flores.