Maserati Multi70 spent her first night both of the race and on the ocean sailing upwind as she attempted to bridge the gap with her only direct rival in the multi class, the American trimaran Phaedo3 which is currently leading the fleet.
The two trimarans have now left the Canary Islands in their wake and are racing west at a speed of between 16 and 20 knots in a North/North-Westerly of around 12 knots (as per reading at 13.30 GMT). They have, however, made different tactical choices: Maserati Multi70 has headed north of the direct line to the finish at Grenada, while Phaedo3 chose to sail south.
In this morning’s satellite phone link (08:00 GMT), skipper Giovanni Soldini said: «Overnight we decided to head north of Las Palmas because we thought that going south, on the leeward side of the island, as Phaedo3 did, would lose us too much time. However, we ended up meeting several big wind-killing clouds and very little wind. But now we’ve caught some clean wind again. We’re counting on our route paying off over the next couple of days and being faster through the becalmed zone in mid-Atlantic».
As of 13.00 GMT, Maserati Multi70 was lying 2,610 from the finish-line at Grenada, while Phaedo3 had a lead of around 130 nautical miles on the Italian trimaran.
credit@James Mitchell
