Latest record for Maserati

Giovanni Soldini and team reach Shanghai

Giovanni Soldini and his crew on board the turboed VO70 Maserati have set a new record for the famous Tea Clipper Route between San Francisco and Shanghai.

They crossed the finish line at Shanghai at 21:25:44 UTC on 31 May, covering the passage across the Pacific in a time of 21 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes and 54 seconds - the record subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. While the passage is 5334 miles on the great circle, in fact Maserati sailed 7392 miles at an average of 14.1 knots. 

Sailing alongside Soldini were their international crew of eight: Italians Guido Broggi, Andrea Fantini, Francesco Malingri and Marco Spertini; German Boris Herrmann; Chinese sailor Jianghe 'Tiger' Teng; Spaniard Oliver Herrera Perez; and Swede Andreas Axelsson.

“We are satisfied,” said Soldini just after crossing the line. “As always, Maserati proved what an excellent craft she is and the crew was an efficient and very tight-knit team. 21 days from San Francisco to Shanghai is a very impressive time. We will be requesting that the World Sailing Speed Record Coucil certify it. 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.”

Maserati’s next event is is the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.