January 7, 2013

"Maserati sta galoppando al traverso verso l’equatore." Which means the Equator is almost abeam for Giovanni Soldini's Volvo 70 Maserati and crew on their attempt to set a record for the New York to San Francisco Route d'Or. The international team has made great progress since their start in New York on December 31. They blasted away from the coast on a low pressure system and quickly got ahead of the record held by Yves Parlier on the Open 60 Aquitaine Innovations in 1998. After stalling out in the Horse Latitudes, they are now cruising along at 20 knots, 835 nm ahead of Parlier's record. But ahead lies a lot of ocean before trying to round Cape Horn the 'wrong' way. And that is just one of the tricky parts of this famous record, as the Pacific has its own challenges. Aquitaine Innovations' record is 57 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes. The overall record holder is the catamaran Gitana 13 with Lionel Lemonchois and crew.

Even professionals spend time leaning over the lifelines in big seas. ©2013 Maserati

For exciting video and a chance to practice your Italian, see TV station RAI's website. You can keep up with the crew at http://maserati.soldini.it.