Yesterday, February 2nd 2012, Maserati set sail at 11:50 in an attempt to establish a new record for the Cadiz-San Salvador crossing, a challenge never before attempted by a monohull yacht before now.
The departure was postponed of a few hours in order to wait for the passage of a cold front ad the shift of wind direction from West to North-West.
At the moment, the crew has routed 424.7 miles. In the last phone call at 11:00 this morning, Giovanni Soldini, skipper of Maserati, reported: “We are doing well, wind is rising, we have 25 knots of north wind. We are sailing downwind with the spinnaker. Later on we will gybe and head for the Canary Islands. Last night a big plastic sheet tangled around our keel. The boat stopped, we had to furl the spinnaker and sail upwind to back up. Now we are sailing fast, we are fine and we are gliding on the weaves”.
This is not the only record that Maserati will attempt to break with Soldini’s help in 2012: when FIAT chairman John Elkann and the president of the Yacht Club italiano Carlo Croce presented the challenge Cadiz – San Salvador in October, they also spoke about Miami – New York and New York – Lizard Point (UK), all ocean courses monitored by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, the international body certifying the record times on the historic clipper routes.
The challenge is being supported by Maserati, the principal partner whose name has been given to the boat, the Swiss bank BSI (Generali Group) and by Generali itself as co-sponsor. Maserati will be flying the pennant of the Yacht Club Italiano, the oldest Mediterranean sailing club, founded at Genoa in 1879. Official suppliers to the challenge are Vodafone Italia and Boero Bartolomeo S.p.A. with Bulgari as the Official Time Keeper.
Soldini is being helped by the other eight members of the crew: Boris Herrmann, Brad Van Liew, David Vera, Gabriele Olivo, Guido Broggi, Marco Spertini, Corrado Rossignoli, Demis Alcaras.
REGATTA ESCP EUROPE 