Soldiers ashore? No, it looks like he’s going to ride in a Ferrari sailboat

But what is Giovanni Soldini doing now? Is he staying grounded after Maserati and the Italian sailor officially announced their separation after 11 years and 200,000 miles in seas around the world chasing records?

What will Giovanni Soldini do next

True, Soldini is no longer a first-timer; he is 57 years old, but in sailing, age matters up to a point.

One of Soldini’s avowed myths, Francis Joyon current record holder of the crewed circumnavigation of the globe, the Jules Verne Trophy, is just ten years older, 67. And Joyon is still on track, not hanging up his oilskin.

So what does Soldini do now? Where does it go? With what boat? Toward what goal?

We at the Sailing Newspaper anticipated to you on December 23 that something was simmering with this indiscretion titled: “Indiscreet. An Italian superboat with foils will sail around the world. Perhaps.“.

We were not mistaken if Corriere della Sera goes so far as to say, “but Soldini’s adventure with his owner John Elkann does not end: a new multihull with illustrious sponsors will be born.”

Comforted by the claims of the well-informed Milanese newspaper, we took the trouble to put ourselves in the shoes of the tried-and-true Soldini-Elkann duo. And bet on their sailing future.

Soldini’s new sponsor. Betting on Ferrari

Let’s start with the latter. John Elkann is one of the partners in Maserati, which is part of the carmaker Stellantis, through the Agnelli family’s holding company Exor. But Exor is also a partner, this time a majority partner, in Ferrari, of which John Elkann is also chairman.

What if it is indeed the car manufacturer Ferrari that is the new illustrious sponsor mentioned by the Corriere? If in Maserati Elkann is not in charge, in Ferrari he is. Of Exor, he is both chairman and CEO.

So if we were to bet on Soldini’s new sponsor, we would bet on Ferrari. The best of technology and prestige that Italy can express.

Soldini’s new adventure. Betting on the Jules Verne Trophy

In recent years, Giovanni Soldini has specialized in trying to break records in the world’s major regattas/races. He is missing one, the most prestigious, the Jules Verne Trophy. This challenge is nothing more than the prize for whoever circumnavigates the world by sailing the fastest. No boat or crew rules or restrictions.

The path yes is fixed. It starts from the imaginary starting line that connects the Ouessant (France) lighthouse with the Cape Lizard (England) lighthouse at the mouth of the English Channel. Then the three classic capes must be dubbed: Good Hope (South Africa), Leeuwin (Australia), Horn ((Argentina). Only to return to the starting point, which becomes the finishing line. Obviously cut in the opposite direction from the beginning of the adventure. The total miles in the orthodromic line is 21,600 miles.

And do you know who holds the Jules Verne Trophy? Giovanni Soldini’s legend and that is Francis Joyon, 67, who established it in 2017 by taking 40 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes aboard the 31.50-meter-long trimaran “Idec Sport.”

To give you an idea of the difficulty in breaking this record, The very strong Franck Cammas tried twice in 2020 and 2021, but both times he retired due to breakdowns. Yet he had no shortage of money-the sponsor of his 32-meter-long, 23-meter-wide maxi trimaran Gitana 17 with foil is the powerful investment bank Edmond de Rothschild. Neither did Dona Bertarelli, sister of Ernesto of Alinghi, who tried four times.

If we had to bet on the new record for Soldini to break, we would love it to be the Jules Verne Trophy. As you have realized it is the highest, most difficult, most dangerous challenge for a sailor.

Soldini’s new adventure. We bet on a flying superboat

Moving on. If the record to be broken for Soldini will be the round-the-world crewed record, the Jules Verne Trophy, then we can go wild in our journalistic speculation.

As we said, the beauty of this challenge is that there are no rules. So Soldini’s new “sailing Ferrari” could be any boat, monohull or trimaran. As long as it is super-fast, the fastest in the world.

So, of course it has to fly over the water and be equipped with foil. To give you an idea, the record for the fastest Jules Verne boat is by Joyon’s Idec, which covered 894 miles in 24 hours at a daily average of over 37 knots per hour!

The sum of the best times obtained by different boats from the intermediate stages of the Jules Verne Trophy would bring the limit of the new record to just over 36 days. This is the goal of those who want to break the record, as we hope, Soldini wants to do.

The size of the new boat will be what? 100 feet (32 meters) or possibly more. It makes little difference if the boat flies.

The Evening Courier is certain, it will be a multihull.

We like to think that the idea of a monohull was also contemplated in the hypothesis. Fascinating, if far-fetched, hypothesis of a huge America’s Cup boat making the round-the-world record chase. More certain, given Soldini’s experience with flying trimarans and the boats that have taken on the Jules Verne challenge, that it will be a multihull.

The name of the designer following this assumption seems a foregone conclusion. That would be Frenchman Guillame Verdier. First of all, he knows Soldini well; he is the one who oversaw the flying foil implementation of the trimaran Multi 70 Maserati with which he just finished the Soldini experience. But Verdier is also on the design team of the flying monohull New Zealand that won the last America’s Cup. He is the guru of large flying boats.

One thing in our opinion is certain, of the match will definitely be one of Italy’s top nautical excellences, Cariboni. There is no high-performance racing boat that does not mount Cariboni’s ingenious hydraulic devilry. From America’s Cup boats to Imocas to Wallys. Not to mention Maserati with Soldini.

Soldini’s new adventure. We will know shortly

The newspaper La Stampa, which is part of the Gedi group of which Soldini’s owner John Elkann is also chairman, is certain: “ Soldini’s new adventure will be announced soon.”

Good. So we will see if our bets on the future of the exploits of 57-year-old Giovanni Soldini and his owner John Elkann, 47, are right or wrong.

To dream of seeing an Italian boat attempt the most prestigious record in world sailing, the Jules Verne Trophy, costs nothing. We will already know the truth, perhaps, tomorrow.

Check out this teaser video from Ferrari…