© Maserati Soldini
Press release n. 12 – New York-San Francisco Record
Milano, January 22nd 2013
At 15.37 GMT Maserati has roundedCape Horn against the prevailing wind
Giovanni Soldini and his team are now facing 35 knots of wind from West
At 15.37 GMT Maserati has rounded Cape Horn against the prevailing wind and dominant streams.
Giovanni Soldini, Guido Broggi, Corrado Rossignoli, Michele Sighel, Sébastien Audigane, Boris Herrmann, Jianghe Teng, Ryan Breymaier e Carlos Hernandez left New York on December 31, 2012 attempting to break the historic record of the Golden Route. They rounded the mythical Cape Horn after 21 days, 23 hours and 14 minutes.
They did it in record time, considering that the 110 feet maxi catamaran Gitana 13, which holds the overall time record on the New York – San Francisco route, rounded Cape Horn in 2008 after 22 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes, i.e. 8 hours longer than the VOR 70 Maserati.
This because Gitana was forced to stand by for five days just before Cape Horn due to strong winds.
“We are really happy” says Giovanni speaking on the phone immediately after the passage. “We did a great time so far. We have been stuck in a windless area up to 10 miles from the Cape. Then – a couple of hours ago – we were just in time to haul the J4, hoist the Code 0 and reef when gusts of 20-25 knots suddenly arrived. We are now sailing with gusts of 35 knots, as expected. The wind is going to increase more over the next few hours. Our strategy will be to exploit the slightest change in the wind direction in order to head quickly towards the west and then north, parallel to the Chile coast. At the same time we must not get too close because the Andes are so high they form a wall that compresses the isobars causing the wind to increase by up to 15 knots”.
According to the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) rules – the international body that certifies the best times of sailing boats on the historic route – the monohull Maserati has to break the time achieved by Yves Parlier in 1998, aboard Aquitaine Innovations: 57 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes.
The record in the category of multihulls achieved in 2008 by Lionel Lemonchois aboard Gitana 13 is 43 days, 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
At http://maserati.soldini.it you can follow Giovanni Soldini and his team’s navigation from New York to San Francisco almost live, 24 hours a day: videos and photos sent from aboard, news and comments form the crew members. At Cartography page, the position of Maserati is updated every hour to experience the challenge of Soldini and his team surfing from home.
CAPE HORN
The discovery of Cape Horn goes back to the Seventeenth century when a wealthy Dutch merchant named Isacc Le Maire decided to finance an expedition to India. His aim: to find an alternative passage to the Strait of Magellan. At the time the strait was under the control of the Dutch East Inda Company which had a monopoly of all trade to and from the Asian continent. With this goal Isacc hired his son Jakob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten of Horn, a veteran Dutch captain famous for his skill and experience at sea.
The expedition departed on 14 June 1615 from Texel (Netherlands) with two vessels (the Unity – 360 tons with 65 men – and the Horn – 110 tons with 22men). The boats reached the coast of South America in December 1615, after 6 months at sea. Schouten led his crew off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, across the Strait of Le Maire at Isla de los Estados’ latitude, until the sighting of the island of Cape Horn. According to Schouten’s diary, Cape Horn was rounded on January 29, 1616 and named by Schouten himself in honor of his hometown (Hoorn – Netherlands).
The challenge is being sponsored by Maserati as main partner and inspiration for the boat’s name, by the Swiss bank BSI (Generali Group) and by Generali itself as co-sponsor.
MASERATI
Maserati’s support and participation in this majorItalian challenge in sport and technology confirms the company’s role as a world ambassador for that level of excellence for which Italy is universally known. Maserati gives zealous expression to that excellence every day in 65 countries worldwide, through successful high-quality cars like the Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranCabrio. The performance of Maserati cars on the road matches that of Giovanni Soldini and Maserati on water.
BSI and Generali
BSI is one of Switzerland’s oldest banks andspecialises in private wealth management through top flight global management. BSI is a fully controlled member of the Generali Group, and fields a presence on all major international financial markets, especially in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Generali is one of the world’s largest international insurance groups with offices in over 60 countries. The group boasts a robust footprint in Europe, EEC member states, Asia and Latin America, serving over 70 million customers. The Generali Group is a European leader in life insurance with assets of over 400 billion euros.
Suppliers for the attempt include Vodafone Italia, responsible for providing telecommunication services and developing the official website, official time keeper Bulgari, and Boero Bartolomeo S.p.A. producers of the special paints and enamels used on the hull.
Maserati is also sponsored by Eataly, suppliers to the boat’s galley, Beta Utensili, who have provided all the professional tools, Corderia Lancelin, supplier of the special ropes and cables, FPT Industrial for technical assistance with the engines, Jeppesen for the cartography, B&G Navico for technical assistance with on-board instrumentation, Cantiere Picchiotti of La Spezia, home of Maserati on dry land, and the Port of La Spezia, home of Maserati when at sea.
