At 17:20:57 local time (21:20 UTC, 22:20 Italian time) on Tuesday 22 February, with an elapsed time of 1 day, 5 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds, Giovanni Soldini and the team of Maserati Multi70, only two minutes behind their rival Argo, placed second in the Multihull Honours Line of the 13th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
On board with Soldini, the crew of 7 sailors, made up of Italians Guido Broggi, Vittorio Bissaro, Francesco Pedol, Matteo Soldini, Spaniard Oliver Herrera Perez, Frenchmen Gwénolé Gahinet and Thomas Joffrin, sailed head to head with Jason Carroll’s American Argo, with Brian Thompson on board, along the entire 600-mile course between the Lesser Antilles: Barbuda, Nevis, Saba and St Barth, St Martin and a lap around Guadeloupe, where overtaking the opposing team ignited the challenge.
The trident reacted quickly and took the lead again at the Pointe Doublè lighthouse (east of Guadeloupe) and from there maintained an advantage, resisting the siege with all their might. In the last upwind leg before the finish line, with the gap now reduced to just a few lengths, the two multihulls engaged in an exciting match race: a duel of tacking in which Argo was the first to cross the finish line and set a new regatta speed record, finishing the race in 1 day, 5 hours, 38 minutes and 44 seconds. The previous speed record was set by Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi70 in 2019 in 1 day, 6 hours and 49 minutes.
In pursuit was Peter Cunningham’s PowerPlay from England, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield, who sailed with Frenchman Loick Peyron.
With stable winds of around 12/14 knots, the weather conditions were favourable throughout the race, with the 70-foot trimarans reaching speeds over 35 knots.
For the multihulls class, the race started on 21 February 2022 at 11:30 local time (15:30 UTC, 16:30 Italian time). Maserati Multi70 participated in the RORC Caribbean 600 for the fourth time after running the 2017, 2019 and 2020 editions.
Foto © Francesca Sanlorenzo
