Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati and his international crew aboard the modified Volvo Open 70 Maserati have less than a week’s sailing before they cross back into the northern hemisphere on their way north towards San Francisco. Soldini’s crew have been at sea for 33 days now on their attempt to set a new monohull record for the clipper ships’ ‘Golden Route’ between New York and San Francisco via Cape Horn.
Soldini said the team were relieved to have broken through into downwind conditions after facing five days of tortuous upwind sailing since rounding the Horn on January 22. Now sailing South Pacific trade winds they are ripping along at speeds in the high teens and low twenties and have around 1500 miles to sail to the Equator.
“We are at 27° South and we are in good spirits now that we met the trade winds,” says Soldini on the satellite phone on Thursday. “Life on board is going well, marked by shifts every 4 hours. We expect to reach the Equator around February, 6th.”
Maserati are currently well ahead of the previous monohull record pace set by Yves Parlier on board Aquitaine Innovations who made it to san Francisco in 57 days and 3 hours. Latest estimates suggest Soldini’s crew will complete the passage on or around the 15th February, weather dependent.
Image credit: Michele Sighel Giovanni Soldini Maserati
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