Maserati sets reference time for San Francisco to Shanghai

The Volvo Open 70 Maserati led by skipper Giovanni Soldini (ITA) and a crew of eight have established a reference time of 21 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes and 54 seconds on the old 7,315-mile Tea Clipper route between San Francisco-Shanghai.

Aside from Soldini, his international crew was comprised of Italians Guido Broggi, Andrea Fantini, Francesco Malingri and Marco Spertini; German sailor Boris Herrmann; Jianghe “Tiger” Teng of China; Spaniard Oliver Herrera Perez; and Swede Andreas Axelsson.

The passage was monitored by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), which did not have a recorded record of the route. Soldini and Maserati will ask WSSRC, the international body that certifies sailing records, to ratify the time.

Maserati sailed across the finish-line at Shanghai on the 31st of May at 9:25:44 pm GMT (11:25:44 pm Italian time, 5:25:44 of the 1st of June local time). The team cast off from San Francisco at 1:52:50 GMT (3:52:50 Italian time) on the night of May 10 and then sprinted 7392 real nautical miles (great circle distance: 5334 nautical miles) at an average speed of 14,1 knots.

“We are satisfied,” declared Soldini just after crossing the line. “Conditions were good almost the entire way. The first part of the route was very fast: six days to Hawaii is an excellent time. Then, once we got into the Trade Winds, we had 10 days or so of good average speeds with the spi out the whole time.

“The final section as we neared China was the trickiest with very light winds and rain, but nothing we weren’t expecting. There was also an earthquake just as we were off the Japanese islands. This route was very important in the 1800s and remains important today. We hope that these 7,000-plus miles will quickly become a classic record for monohulls, like the New York-San Francisco.”

The VOR70 Maserati’s next event is in Australia where the team will take part in the Rolex Sydney – Hobart Yacht Race in December.

Team website: www.maserati.soldini.it