After studying Economics at the University of Bucharest he emigrated to London, England in 1969 with his British wife Gwenda.
Cornell sent back regular radio reports to the BBC World Service throughout the voyage, which was to become the first of three circumnavigations he has completed totalling over 200,000 miles afloat.
[2] In 1986 Cornell set up the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), in which cruising yachtsmen who want to complete a transatlantic crossing sail together in loose convoy.
[5] Cornell also wrote the book World Cruising Routes; first published in 1987 by Adlard Coles Nautical, it has gone on to sell 150,000 copies.
Being oriented to the specific needs of the cruise navigators, it contains information about the winds, the currents, the regional and seasonal climate, as well as suggestions about the optimal schedules for the individual routes, although it should be used together with the Regional Sailing Directions, according to Cruising World that defines it as: "The most important book for long distance travelers in decades", actually, since the British Admiralty 1895 book: Ocean Passages for the World.