A 70-foot sailboat named "Maserati" (from the name of a luxury car) skippered by a top Italian sailor is on the last leg of a grueling record-breaking race from New York to San Francisco.
The Maserati's skipper is Giovanni Soldini, 47, who has sailed around the world alone and holds several sailing records.
The Maserati sailed from New York on New Year's Eve and if it arrives Friday it will have made the voyage in 46 days, faster than the record of 57 days set in 1998 by the Aquitane Innovation.
Soldini and a crew of eight aboard the Maserati are expected to set a record for single-hulled sailing vessels on the New York-to-San Francisco passage.
If all goes well, it will be a triumphant end of a 13,225-mile voyage around Cape Horn at the tip of South America that is considered one of the toughest sailing challenges in the world.
The voyage around Cape Horn is historically significant since it was the route taken by the clipper ships during the California Gold Rush and the trip usually took 200 days.
The race from New York takes weeks and involves a voyage through some of the most difficult seas in the world.
At board of the Maserati there is a multinational crew. There are a couple of Italians, but the crew also has Spanish, French, Chinese and American nationals on board.
The navigator, Ryan Breymaier, 37, is an American who learned to sail on Chesapeake Bay. In Fact Breymaier has had an important role in helping to chart the voyage away from areas of high atmospheric pressure, little wind and around storm systems
It can say that Soldini and his crew have been lucky. The weather around Cape Horn was favorable for the passage,
But in the last few days the winds died away, slowing the boat. "The winds are unstable" Soldini wrote "we have to tack continuously. These last miles will be very hard."
The arrival at San Francisco will be greeted by a large celebration for the Maserati when it arrives....Soldini continues the great tradition of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci!
tony curtis
