Making aliyah on board a yacht

Mexican citizen Galia Moss, 40, will spend 65 days sailing through the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea on her way to Israel. 'Anything is possible when you have the passion,' she says

Itamar Eichner|Published: 10.16.10 , 08:25

A 40-year-old Jewish woman from Mexico is currently making her way to Israel via a yacht in what is her very own private aliyah journey. Galia Moss, who departed from Veracruz on Tuesday, is expected to spend 65 days sailing through the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and will eventually dock in the Herzliya Marina.

She is equipped with a satellite phone, water and canned food. Moss is slated to cross no less than 12,000 km (roughly 7,500 miles) in a small 32-foot yacht and emerge a full fledged Israeli citizen.

"I'm not afraid of the ocean, I love the ocean," she says. Moss is also undeterred by the fact that she'll get only 20 minutes of sleep every hour in order to keep the yacht in course. "When there is passion anything is possible, and my passion is to cross the oceans."

Her only connection to the outside world will be via a satellite phone which she will switch on for several minutes a day. The main issue is electricity: Only when her little yacht is sailing can the battery be charged and her video camera, computer and phone be activated.

Guinness record holder

Moss discovered the world of sailing in her 20s, and after several years of training and racing left for an arduous 41-day journey from the Gulf of Mexico to Spain and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first Latin American woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by herself in a watercraft. She is also a licensed pilot and a music composition graduate of the Boston Conservatory.

At the age of 10 Moss fell in love with Israel. "I visited relatives in Israel and after high school I came back for nine months in a kibbutz," she says. "I love Israel and the people."

Her special voyage is being sponsored by the Jewish Agency, the Israeli Embassy in Mexico and a line of companies which have contributed over $150,000.

Moss's yacht will feature two flags – the Israeli flag and the Mexican flag. "I feel as much Israeli as I do Mexican," she concludes. "These are the two sets of roots that comprise my identity."