On 29 January 2009 Ambassador Pradap Pibulsonggram presided over the launching ceremony of the celebration voyage for 140 years of Thai-Italian relations at Genoa Yacht Club.

Thai and Italian dignitaries joined the ceremony which included representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Thai Honorary Consul-General in Genoa, the President of the Yacht Club and the representative of Lombardy region.

The boat used for the voyage is named "Pasaya" and is owned by Mr. Chale Woodthanan, Managing Director of Satin Textiles. It is a Sleeker 45 model and was built in Italy. The boat will cruise through the Mediterenean Sea, the Suez Canel, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean toward Phuket for its 6 months trip.

The voyage symbolizes the on-going activities in various cities of Italy during January to September 2009 to celebrate the cordial relations between Thailand and Italy.

A special blog - www.genovaphuket.com - is created to narrate the adventure, telling about nautical points, meteo conditions, sithtings, as well as the stories, the meetings, the places and the events in the visiting cities during the voyage.