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Board » Flag Officers » Races » New York to San Francisco Record Attempt

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The 13225nm New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn is a historic route, widely travelled by clippers that were involved in the goldrush starting from the second half of 1800. The best result of the time was set in 1854 by Flying Cloud in 89d 8h, a record that stood for more than 130 years.

After several attempts by many boats, the 60ft Thursday’s Child of Warren Luhrs arrived in San Francisco after 80d 20h in 1989. In 1994, Isabelle Autissier aboard Ecureuil Poitou took 62d 5h. Then, in 1998, Yves Parlier on board Aquitaine Innovations has dropped to 57d 3h 2m. The overall record in the multihull category belongs to Lionel Lemonchois aboard Gitana 13 (43d 38m in 2008).

Giovanni Soldini and Maserati set the new record of the Golden Route
New York-San Francisco in 47d 0h 42m 29s. Maserati crossed the finish line at h 18 31′ 59” GMT

“We are happy! – says Soldini – The Golden Route is an historic record, a very important and challenging one. Now it will bear the colours of the Italian flag. Maserati proved to be a powerful boat, a technological and reliable one. The crew has been extraordinary, everyone was prepared to face even the hardest situation. I want to thank all my companions in this adventure and to thank also all my partners, Maserati, BSI and Generali who allowed all of us to make our dream come true”.

Based on:

http://maserati.soldini.it/giovanni-soldini-e-maserati-battono-il-record-della-rotta-delloro/?lang=en

Hi all, since this is a record attempt, can we talk about the start time a bit?

The current prediction is all of 4kn wind for the announced start. We could certainly do better.

I've run the route in BWR, NY-Recife, all start times 19Z. And yes I'm aware routing beyond the wx is iffy.

Monday: 9d19h fast start, but runs out of wind.

Tuesday: 9d13h does very little in first 12h.

Wednesday: 8d22h wind direction at start is not ideal

Thursday: 8d15h near perfect

Any later and we fall out of the low pressure system, I do believe the transition into the trades favors a somewhat early start, maybe 12Z Thursday.

Thoughts?
outlaw - as we are more than 24hrs away from the start and you are absolutely right, a record attempt should have a good start at the very least.

I shall now change the start to Thursday, 7 March @1200utc.

Thank you for caring about this!!
Concerning records:
Saturday eve (west coast USA) I saw a chance to run to Bermuda in less than two days and proposed a NY/ Bermuda race in chat. After waiting a bit for any takers, I set off at 04:00UTC Sun March 3. Then I began to wonder what the fastest time recorded for sailing from NY to Ber. was. After digging around a bit with google, best I could find was last years record run by Rambler in the Newport/Bermuda race. They did it in 39 hours 39 minutes and 17 seconds (I tossed out the seconds).
I crossed the line between Battery Park and St David's Head at 18:59 UTC Monday March 4. An elasped time of 38 hours 59 min. Some 40 min faster than Rambler's record.
Another note: the Newport to Bermuda race is 635 Nmi. The distance from our start mark to Battery Park Point is 653 Nmi, 18 miles further.
Also I could have shaved another 1.5~2 hours off Rambler's record if I hadn't set a bad DC early Monday morning. :-)
As Jlinc and PocketRocket head for Bermuda to meet up with captjack in the bar, SOL has another first to announce.

New SOLer jay8s is the first SOLer to sail (on SOL) from the US East Coast and through the Panama Canal.

OK folks.. who will be next with a "first"??!!
nothing to see here

--- Last Edited by A2R at 2013-03-06 20:42:04 ---
None so blind
as newsartist just said... don't hit Bermuda!!

Bermuda Coords: 32.3000° N, 64.7833° W
Race Report Day 3
The start of the SOL attempt to break the record has got off to a storming start. Very strong winds in a favourable direction were generated by a deep low north of Bermuda. Easterly winds in excess of 40 kts pushed the fleet along at great speed with over 25 kts seen on the dial. After 3 days, the race leader has averaged more than 21 kts and knocked off 1800nm of the 13200nm long course. Half of the North Atlantic has now been covered.

The fleet is now approaching the light wind ridge that forms a boundary between the low pressure to the north and trade winds to the south east. This will be an early test of navigation and tactics. Most of the fleet is to the east of the rhumb line with only a few choosing to sail close to the Caribbean Islands. There is spread of over 500nm of boats that can still be considered to be leading the race. The boats furthest NE will come out of the 180 deg wind direction change with a better wind angle, but further distance to travel. It will be several days before the better tactic will be rewarded.

The trades will be enjoyed for another 1000nm of perfect sailing conditions before the doldrums need to crossed. This band of light winds formed by global atmospheric circulation will be the focus next week. For now, enjoy making good progress towards San Francisco.
Race Report – Day 10
As the fleet approach Recife, the first part of the record attempt is nearly done. Soldini Maserati took 10.5 days for the 3700nm North Atlantic leg. With our leaders less than 350nm from the easternmost point of South America, we will have kept track with the record holder.
The last week has been difficult for the fleet. Most boats were positioned east of the rhumb line to take advantage of the trade winds. However, there was a ridge of light winds in the way. This ridge grew much broader than earlier forecasts and blocked the way. It also moved SE at a similar speed to the fleet. Each forecast indicated a better way to go, resulting in boats zig-zagging across the Atlantic trying to find a way through. The boats were trapped for several days.
Whilst these boats foundered, those that had kept close to the Caribbean Islands were relatively unaffected by the ridge and overtook the fleet. They kept good speed and turned a large deficit into a sound lead.
When the ridge eventually released the bulk of the fleet, they were several hundred miles behind the leaders. However, they do have wind direction advantage and regain some of those lost miles. The leaders are now hugging the coast, trying to squeeze around the corner.
We now look ahead to the South Atlantic. One benefit of the large ridge is that the doldrums are weak. It looks like they will not slow the fleet. The St Helena high is not well established and many depressions are crossing at mid latitudes. This results in a complex weather situation. Routing will be difficult and the weather subject to change. This may help the chasing boats as passing lanes could open up. Cape Horn looks far away!
Gilles' track vs Maserati



--- Last Edited by 76Trombones at 2013-03-24 14:58:17 ---
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