MASERATI MULTI70 READY TO FLY IN THE TRADE WINDS
The Italian trimaran continues to head for the North Atlantic to catch steadier winds
Atlantic Ocean, 28 November – Storms, unstable winds and peak speeds of 38 knots. That was the situation Maserati Multi70 left in her wake as she emerged from the second night of the RORC Transatlantic Race. Now at the same longitude as Cape Verde, she is continuing her race north to catch the Trade Winds this evening as they finally come into their own.
Aboard there is great satisfaction with how Maserati Multi70 is performing on the ocean in flying trim as Giovanni Soldini confirmed this morning by sat phone (at 09.00 GMT): The boat is doing really well: last night, we foiled for a couple of hours in complete darkness. Flying between the Atlantic waves at 33/36 knots with not even a sliver of moon was quite stressful but we’re happy with how the foils are coping with the long ocean waves”.
The current weather situation in the North Atlantic (12.00 GMT) sees Maserati Multi70 still grappling with a weak N/NE airflow that doesn’t get above 15 knots. The coming hours will be pivotal for the Italian multihull which is now 170 nautical miles from the American trimaran, Phaedo3, which took the southerly route and is sailing in a 15-knot E/SE wind.
Soldini explained: «We are trying to pass a bubble with very little wind to position ourselves even further north where the Trade Winds will come in good and strong tonight. They will then stay with us for the next 500 miles as we sail west. Unfortunately, we are slower than anticipated and Phaedo3 has more wind than we thought she’d get. But now she’ll have to go north to avoid the dead calm ahead of her. Our paths will cross in a couple of days at around 30°N and 36°W».
Maserati Multi70 is currently 2,837 nautical miles from the finish-line at Grenada (at 8.00 GMT).
The RORC Transatlantic Race, now on its third outing, is competed over a 2,865-nautical mile route from Lanzarote (Canary Islands) to Grenada (the Caribbean). A total of 14 boats are competing in three classes: IRC, Class 40 and MOCRA Multihull. The current multihull record was set by the trimaran Phaedo3 last year in a time of 5 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 3 seconds.
The challenge is supported by Maserati which, as main sponsor, gives the boat her name, while UnipolSai Assicurazioni is sponsor.
The official suppliers to the challenge are Ermenegildo Zegna for clothing and Boero Bartolomeo S.p.A. for hull enamels and paints.
