Giovanni Soldini and the Maserati team unsurprisingly obliterated an ancient monohull record for the NY to SF by around 25 days. A cool record, though clearly not a tough one for a modern Volvo machine. What’s more impressive is just how close they came to beating the 43-day mark set by Gitana 13 in 2008. In case you don’t remember, that’s the giant catamaran that lowered the Jules Verne bar to 60 days and change a few years back, and with an ETA of Saturday early morning, the 70-footer will trail the 110-foot super catamaran in for the most famous route of the Clipper years by just 3 days…with 40 feet less waterline and one less hull.
So Maserati will set the monohull Gold Rush Record, an official WSSRC record from Ambrose Light to the Golden Gate. But she’ll also set the Clipper Record, and the finish line is at Pier 39, so you can welcome the boys in yourself right inside the SF Bay. Giovanni’s team is talking to the Italian consulate and also to the organisation at PIer 39. The boat will berth there and the press conference is planned for Saturday morning (depending on boat arrival time) at the Neptune restaurant. Any SA’ers that want to show up, just wear your SA hat and someone will have mercy on ya!
Meantime, check out Ryan Breymaier’s little ‘best and worst of trip’ video from today. If he missed out on the Barcelona and 2015 Vendee, at least he’s got a budding career as a video editor. You can follow the last few miles here, and check in on the thread for the latest news here. C’mon Bay Area racers, including Oracle and Artemis; Let’s see how much SF really cares about sailing…let’s welcome in one of our own – an American offshore racer setting a world record.
