RORC Transatlantic Record for My Song
by Louay Habib 4 Dec 2018 14:00 PST
4 December 2018
Pier Luigi Loro Piana's Supermaxi My Song finished the 2018 RORC Transatlantic Race on Tuesday 04 December 2018 at 17:47:11 UTC taking Monohull Line Honours.
The Baltic 130 owned by Pier Luigi Loro Piana, a member of the International Maxi Association (IMA), has also set a new Monohull Race Record after completing the 3,000 mile race between Lanzarote and Grenada in an elapsed time of 10 days 5 hrs 47 mins 11 secs, shaving 1hr 19mins 48 secs off the previous monohull race record set in the 2015 race by Jean-Paul Riviere's French Finot-Conq 100, Nomad IV.
It was a champagne moment for My Song's team once alongside the dock at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis as they were greeted by marina staff and well-wishers. Nikoyan Roberts, Manager of Nautical Development for the Grenada Tourism Authority presented Pier Luigi Loro Piana with a basket of Grenadian goods, including chocolate, local spices and condiments.
RORC Race Officer Steve Cole presented Pier Luigi with the magnificent International Maxi Association Transatlantic Trophy for Monohull Line Honours and congratulated the team for setting a new race record.
"I feel very happy to come to Grenada, but it is too close to Lanzarote! We were enjoying crossing the Atlantic so much and racing My Song at 20 knots was amazing. I am very happy," commented Pier Luigi Loro Piana. "A little bit of rain at the end was fine, but we hope Grenada will show us some more sunshine." Pier Luigi had a message for his fellow members of the International Maxi Association: "They have to continue cruising and racing if they want to enjoy sailing."
"I'm tasting the Caribbean right now!" smiled Nacho Postigo, sipping an ice cold beer courtesy of Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina. "The conditions for the RORC Transatlantic Race were the best I have ever had. Almost every day we had very few squalls, and at night we had brilliant stars, so it was fantastic. After getting through the pressure ridge at the start, the wind was between 16-22 knots, which is perfect and really pleasant. The main objective for us was to safely get the boat to the Caribbean. After the first few days, we were 240 miles behind the record, so we just forgot about it. Then slowly we were cutting it down and in the last three days, every half an hour someone was coming to the chart table wanting to know if we were on record pace. Personally, I love coming to Grenada; the atmosphere of the island, the fantastic sailing, but especially the people who are super, super nice."
My Song Crew for the RORC Transatlantic Race were: Pier Luigi Loro Piana, Giacomo Loro Piana, Luca Albarelli, Jaime Arbones, Andrea Balzarini, Gerri Baracchi, Giorgio Benussi, Alberto Bolzan, Ambrogio Francesco Maria Cremona Ratti, Gaetano Figlia di Granara, Andrea Forlani, Flavio Grassi, Cristian Griggio, Jose Ignacio Braquehais, Giorgio Peretti, Jacopo Piazzolla, Ignacio Postigo, Nicola Simoncelli, Vittorio Zaoli, Gabriele Zoppi.
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