Sydney Hobart Race – Maserati and Giovanni Soldini are ready + Video

by Imagina on 24 Dec 2015 There are now just three days to go to the start of the 71st edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. One of the most important and historic international events on the sailing calendar, it is renowned for the gruelling conditions both boats and crews must face as they grapple with the notoriously challenging seas of the south.

Maserati and her 14-strong crew will cross the start line at 13.00 local time (2.00 GMT, 3.00 Italian time) on December 26 and then race against 109 other craft from 20 different nations on a 628-nautical mile route that also crosses the fearsome Bass Strait.

Aboard, skipper Giovanni Soldini will be flanked by Italians Guido Broggi, Corrado Rossignoli, Matteo Ivaldi, Francesco Malingri and Carlo Castellano; Spaniards Carlos Hernandez and Oliver Herrera; Pierre Casiraghi from Monaco; Brit Sam Goodchild; Australians Elizabeth “Liz” Wardley, Drew Mervyn Carruthers, Trevor Brown and journalist and “special guest” Nick Vindin.

Daily training sessions aboard Maserati aside, Soldini and his crew are also carefully monitoring weather developments for the coming days with models and forecasts often contradicting each other. However, what is becoming increasingly clear is that a front will be arriving on the day of the start.

Soldini explains: “This morning’s models confirm that a front will be coming in in the first few hours of the race. It will be followed by south-south-westerly winds of around 30 knots, maybe even higher. Today’s model, however, sees the front moving away fast and so conditions should improve. For the second part of the route, there should be light easterly winds, tending to north-easterly. Right now, the second half of the race looks trickier and we’ll really have to work hard to get to Hobart. We can’t wait to get going!”

Organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and the Royal Club of Tasmania, the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race was first held in 1945. The current race record was set in 2012 by the Australian yacht Wild Oats XI (winner of eight of the last 10 editions) which covered the distance in one day, 18 hours, 23 seconds and 12 hundredths of a second.