RORC Transatlantic Race – Maserati Multi70 inside extensive front

by maserati.soldini.it on 29 Nov 2016 Now on her fourth day in the Atlantic as part of the RORC Transatlantic Race, Maserati Multi70 is eating up the miles at a speed of 26 knots having hooked a more widespread 20-knot E/NE wind which will freshen still further as the hours go by and she moves further west.

As of 14.00 GMT, Maserati Multi70 had also made up almost 100 miles of the gap between herself and Phaedo3. The data have just been updated as the race organisers encountered tracking problems due to the very high peak speeds logged by Maserati Multi70 causing anomalies in the tracking system.

The American trimaran Phaedo3 moved up to almost the same latitude as Maserati Multi70 overnight and is 300 miles ahead of her, making a speed of 27 knots.

Giovanni Soldini described the situation encountered last night in this morning’s sat phone link: 'We are out of the wind-less zone now and we’ve started to really eat up the miles: we made peak speeds of 35 knots sailing through the dark, moon-less night. The boat goes silent when she flies and accelerates like a bolting filly. We’re absolutely delighted with our progress and how Maserati Multi70 is coping on the ocean waves which are much longer than in the Mediterranean. We are managing to foil in conditions that would have been unthinkable until yesterday'.

That said, the weather situation in the North Atlantic remains unusual for the time of year: the Trade Winds have yet to become established with a definite flow and, hanging over the route, is a low-pressure system associated with a very extensive front, which the two trimarans are now tackling. Soldini commented as follows: 'We are inside the flow from the depression on its north-easterly side. We need to cross over to its westerly side. We’re hoping we won’t get stuck in the dead calm at its centre. Once we’re across, we’ll finally be able to hook the Trade Winds or at least a high pressure wind that will stay with us all the way to the finish'.

At the last reading at 14.00 GMT, Maserati Multi70 still had 2,028 nautical miles to go to the finish-line off Grenada.