NEW YORK – Maserati is on track to take the New York to San Francisco monohull speed record. But who’s keeping time?

That would be the World Sailing Speed Record Council, or WSSRC. Its New York commissioner Janet Hellman officially clocked the Volvo Open70 as she left Manhattan for forty-something days at sea.

Hellman is an executive assistant at the Sandy Hook Pilots, which always have a vessel stationed at Ambrose Buoy, the official starting line for the race. The Pilots visually confirmed Soldini crossing that line and entered it into their ship’s log book.

Check out our video interview with Hellman, and come back later this week for Bjoern’s images and coverage of Maserati’s arrival at the Golden Gate Bridge.