On May 9, 2012, the Maserati racing team led by Italian skipper Giovanni Soldini set sail from New York bay headed for Lizard Point (UK) in an attempt to beat the nonstop monohull trans-Atlantic sailing record. The previous record of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, 39 seconds is held by Robert Miller's monohull Mari Cha IV. Soldini's boat is half as long and has a third of the number of crew as Mari Cha IV did on its crossing. By May 11, Maserati was well underway and had high chances of beating Mari Cha IV's record. They were sailing fast at 23 knots, weaving through icebergs in the same expanse of water that sunk the Titanic a century ago. At the time, they were almost 200 nautical miles ahead of the previous record holders. Unfortunately, things have turned for the worse for the Italian captain and his international crew. A high pressure area has stalled the team and their speed has dropped precipitously. They were just 30 miles away from avoiding this high pressure area. Soldini and his crews' chances of beating the NY-Lizard Point record have dropped to almost nil, the crucial arrival time at Lizard Point before 1:12am GMT on Wednesday May 16th seems all but unattainable. Soldini expressed his sadness saying, "It’s a pity, a great opportunity missed in an instant but as usual we were in Neptune’s hands and we couldn’t do better. We showed that Maserati can break Mari Cha IV’s record, it only needs a better weather situation, more settled and steady than the one we faced”.
For more information about the Maserati record attempt visit their website at http://maserati.soldini.it/?lang=en.
