Maserati hurtles onward at a speed of 18.5 knots

A record speed: seven days after setting sail from Cadiz, Maserati has soared through no less than 3107 real miles (2500 of the theoretical route) at an average speed of 18.5 knots. An outstanding performance for Giovanni Soldini and his team, currently embarked on the attempt to establish the best possible time reference in the monohull category from Cadiz to San Salvador (Bahamas).

"For the time being, we’re very pleased," says Soldini from on board. "The boat is proving to be extremely fast, and the crew is a great team. Right now we’re sailing at 20 knots with a full trysail and spinnaker with 22—25 knots from the west. Conditions should remain stable until we reach our destination. The heat’s reached us, but we’re bearing up."

Boris Herrmann is in good condition. He has a fractured rib after being slammed against a winch by the force of a wave.

Maserati is expected at San Salvador on the morning of Monday 13 February. There are still 1376 miles (according to the theoretical route) to go.

Activity at the new http://maserati.soldini.it/ site, which is following Maserati’s nautical exploits, is also at record-breaking levels. In just 15 days, there have been 27,000 individual users registered, 49,000 visits and 182,000 page views. Constant growth on the social networking front too: 60,000 followers on Twitter and a Facebook page with more than 10,000 fans as of this morning.

The record attempt can be followed, almost live, on Giovanni Soldini and Maserati’s new website (www.maserati.soldini.it). The site contains news, videos and photos of life on board, and provides continuous monitoring of the marine weather conditions, as well as online tracking to check, in real time, the position and speed of Maserati. Continuous updates are also available on the Facebook (Giovanni Soldini’s official page) and Twitter (@giovannisoldini; @borisherrmann; @BradVanLiew) social networking sites.

The challenge is being sponsored by Maserati as main partner and inspiration for the boat’s name, by the Swiss bank BSI (Generali Group) and by Generali itself as co-sponsor.