They have done it.

At 13h20'26” UTC, Maserati Multi 70 crossed the Tea Route arrival line between Hong Kong and London passing under the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Giovanni Soldini and trimaran's crew composed of Guido Broggi, Sébastien Audigane, Oliver Herrera Perez and Alex Pella took 36 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes and 2 seconds to cover the 13.000 nautical miles of the theoretical route between the Chinese port and the capital of the United Kingdom. They have improved the record by almost a week (5 days and 19 hours) that previously belonged to Gitana 13, the 100-foot maxi catamaran that completed the route in 41 days in 2008. On the ground, the Italian trimaran travelled 15.083 nautical miles at an average speed of 17,4 knots.

Just after the finish line, the skipper Giovanni Soldini comments: ''We are super happy but also very tired. The last 48 hours have been very tough. Sailing in the Channel upwind with a lot of breeze, a lot of sea and a terrible cold. The record went very well, we are very happy with our route. The most difficult part was the last one: with more favorable weather conditions in the Atlantic we could have gained another 3 or 4 days, but that's okay. Indeed it could not have been better, technically the boat is perfect. From the last time we put Maserati Multi 70 in a yard, we have sailed more than 19,000 miles and everything is fine onboard, surely there is the work of preparation by Guido and the whote team. An excellent crew''.

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Maserati Multi 70 crossed Cape Finisterre last night around 23 UTC. During the second part of the night, skipper Giovanni Soldini and the crew had to make six tacks to get around the north western tip of Spain and enter the Bay of Biscay. Went first to the East to be able then to head North: the upwind tacking sequence against the steady northeastern breeze is going on off the coast of Spanish Galicia. According to some weather forecasts, the wind should turn to the East in the next few hours maintaining 20 knots of intensity, this could allow Maserati Multi 70 to follow a more direct route towards Ushant island and the tip of Brittany, now less than 300 miles away.

Giovanni Soldini comments: ”We hope to arrive next night in Ushant and then to face the English Channel where we expect to find eastern winds, very strong at the end”.

After almost 34 days of navigation, at the 9.58 UTC rankings, the advantage of Maserati Multi 70 on the record holder's roadmap is 1.472 miles. There are 637 miles left (of the initial 13.000 nm) to the finish line in London. The arrival is currently scheduled for the morning of 23 February.

Finally trade winds for Maserati Multi 70, skipper Giovanni Soldini and his crew. After struggling for two days to pass through a tropical depression, this night just before dawn, the trimaran entered the range of north eastern trade winds, meaning constant winds. 

In the coming days, the strategy and the route will largely depend on the evolution of the Azores high. Often centered on the Portuguese archipelago, from which the name comes, this high pressure separates the trade winds zone that blow further south at the tropical latitudes from the area of the powerful westerlies winds determined by the depressions that cross the North Atlantic from West to East in our latitudes above 40° N.

However, the current weather situation and what is expected for the next few days does not correspond to the classic scheme, as Soldini explains: "The Azores high pressure has unusual forms and positions. Today it is a strip that stretches from the Strait of Gibraltar to Florida. In the next 4/5 days, it is expected to extend from Ireland to the Azores. And this does not look good for us because it will bring cold and strong winds from East/North East, that is to say, contrary winds. We hope that the models are wrong or change in the meanwhile. Now we are concentrating on our trajectory and we are monitoring the weather evolution looking for some opportunities to go as fast as possible without extending the route''.

After 26 days of navigation, at the 10.46 UTC rankings, the advantage of the Maserati Multi 70 on the record holder's roadmap is 1.515 miles. There are 2.684 miles left (of the initial 13.000 nm) to the finish line in London.

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Photo courtesy of Pitsfoto

Where to cross the ”Line” and its infamous calms or doldrums?

This is the question of the moment as Giovanni Soldini explains: “It is very important to study well the strategy for the next few days. it is doubtful where the Equator shall be passed, usually we do it around longitude 27° W. But there is the possibility of going straight, near the African coast, but then things could get complicated the following week.

Together with Pierre (Lasnier, the team’s routeur, Ed.) who helps us from land, we are running many simulations to try and decide the best choice. There are many options, unfortunately the meteorology is not an exact science, we’ll have to ponder well this choice because it is fundamental.”

“We will take a decision in the next 24/36 hours”, concludes Giovanni Soldini.

Maserati Multi 70 is 798 miles ahead at 9.00 UTC.

The second week of sailing of Maserati Multi70 ends at 800 miles from Cape of Good Hope with a 564 miles advantage on the roadmap of the record to beat.

“Now we are passing through a hill of high pressure that has slowed us down. We're sailing on port side with light winds from the east, heading to 240. As soon as the wind will turn NE we will jibe”, explains Giovanni Soldini contacted by phone this morning. “We'll try to get out of this front quickly. This is why it is important to position yourself fairly to the south, in order to leave the front with the best angle to head for South Africa.”

“The problem with these fronts is that the wind can change in only ten minutes even with a 180 degrees rotation”, continues Soldini. “In this case, we are expecting winds from the North with gusts around 30/35 knots before the front then, once passed, it will blow from the South. But for many hours we will have the old swell from the North with the wind from the South, so it will be important to measure the speed to avoid damage.”

At the end of the second week of navigation on the route of the record between Hong Kong and London, Maserati Multi70 has covered 5,756 of the 13,000 miles of the theoretical route (18.1 knots of average speed). In fact, on the ground, it covered a distance of 6,364 miles at 20 knots of average speed. 

Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70's crew crossed the Equator this morning at 3:13 am UTC. After almost four days of navigation, today at 7.04 UTC, the cartography indicates they traveled the first 1408 miles of the theoretical route at an average speed of 16,2 knots. On the ground, they really sailed 1635 nm at an average speed of 18,9 knots, gaining a 468 nm lead over the reference time set by Lionel Lemonchois, Gitana 13's skipper.

“The spirit is high on board. We are all concentrated and motivated”, says Giovanni Soldini, skipper of Maserati Multi 70. “Compared to the routing simulations we made at the start, we gained about fifteen hours. We passed the worst area of the light winds bubble yesterday. Then, in order to stay in the pressure, we had to keep on jibing towards the Sunda Strait where we should arrive in about 15 hours (around 22 UTC on January 22nd).”

“Then, after the Strait”, explains Soldini, ”we will have to see how we will manage to catch the south east trade winds in the Indian Ocean. We know the route is still very long but it would be an ideal situation to get there with a lead on the record, because we also know that Lionel Lemonchois pushed hard on the first four days across the Indian Ocean.”

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Photo courtesy of Pitsfoto