Giovanni Soldini - sailor | An Affair With Italy

Giovanni Soldini's exploits as a sailor are legend.  Below are some highlights.  More pix and a good interview at the link below.

Giovanni Soldini - sailor | An Affair With Italy

Giovanni Soldini Achievements

• 1991 in his 50-foot Looping he took 3rd place in the La Baule-Dakar single handed race before taking second class the following year in the Europe 1 Star solo race.

• After losing his boat during the Quebec-Saint Malo race, he built the 50 foot Kodak which took him to second place in the BOC Challenge. Renamed Telecom Italia, he then used the same boat to win the Europe 1 Star solo race in 1996.

• With his Open 60 Fila he took the overall win the the 1998 Atlantic Alone, folowed by the 1999 Atlantic Alone, setting record times in both regattas. In 1999 during the third stage of the Around Alone, he rescued French Sailor Isabelle Autissier.

• In 2001, Soldini began his adventures with the trimaran 60 TIM Progetto Italia which he raced in three Transat Jacques Vabre races, one Route du Rhum, one Ostar and one Quebec-Saint Malo. In 2005, during the Transit Jacques Vabrew, his trimaran capsized off the coast of Senegal and he was forced to abandon the race.

• In September 2007, he launched Telecom Italia Class 40. He took first place in the Transat Jacques Vabre together with Pietro D'Ali. In 2008 he won the Artemis Transat Jacques single-handed race and took fourth place in the Quebec-Saint Malo.

• In 2009 he won the two-handed Transmanche race and the Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables and took second place as a crew memeber in the Rolex Fastnet race as well as second place in the two-handed Solidaire du Chocolate race.

• In January 2012, he began his adventure as skipper of the Maserati VOR70. After setting the time reference for the Caide-San Salvador route, Soldini attemtped to record for the North Atlantic crossing but he was forced to withdraw due to weather conditions.

• In February 2013 he and the Maserati's team set the new world record of the Golden Route: from New York to San francisco in 47 days, 42 minutes and 29 seconds.

• In january 2013, Maserati crossed the finish line of the 14th edition of the Cape2Rio, setting a new world record.

• In June 2015 the Maserati covered the Tea Clipper Trade Route in world record time, plied between San Francisco and Shanghai in the mid-1800s.