At 4 p.m. of Oct. 25th, Giovanni Soldini and the crew of Maserati Multi70, after 673 miles of sailing crossed the finish line of the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race with an elapsed time of 3 days, 2 hours, 53 minutes and 37 seconds.
The Italian trimaran, the only participant in the multihull class, left Victoria Harbour on Wednesday, October 25, at 11:10 a.m. local time (3:10 UTC, 5:10 a.m. Italian time), with a regulatory gap of 24 hours from the other boats.
Already on the eve of the competition organized by the Royal Yacht Club of Hong Kong, the weather forecast predicted weak winds and scattered bonanza on Asia’s longest offshore course. All was confirmed at sea, where in the first hours of the race, the trimaran maintained averages of about 25 knots and then sailed at very low speeds for nearly two days.
“It was a tough race with very little wind,” confirmed Giovanni Soldini from Nha Trang, Vietnam: “Good the first hours with aft winds, then a trickle until tonight when with 6 knots we finally got back on track to the finish line. The crew, even in this race, maintained concentration and high spirits.”
On board with Giovanni Soldini was a team of seven: John Elkann, Oliver Herrera Perez, Francesco Pedol, Matteo Soldini, Gero Soldini, Gianmarco Sardi and Pierre-Laurent Boullais.
