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Maserati Multi70 is racing towards the finish line with tons of water on board, that the crew must keep under control constantly. “For the heavy loads, the jennaker loop has broken, and for now is on the deck. Fortunately, we are sailing well with the foresail. Oliver has already prepared a new loop, if the wind goes down we’ll send him to the masthead to replace the piece and put the jennaker back. I keep telling the crew to go slow, because the boat weighs 2/3 tons more and all the loads are much higher, but my guys don’t listen to me, they are pumped and they keep going a cannamorta!”

According the last positions received, at 16 UTC, Maserati Multi70 is still in the lead of the MOD70s fleet. The Italian trimaran has 635 miles ahead to reach the finish line. Soldini: “Everything is going well, we are getting close to the moment of the gybe that will put our bow towards Grenada, or almost there. We are expecting the wind to turn north east and to get gradually lighter. We will see how Maserati Multi70 does with 10 knots of wind and the belly full of water. Aboard the morale is high and we are all focused”

Water on board and problems with the centerboard on Maserati Multi70: “During the night last night, while jumping over the waves, the stopper of the drift puller exploded. The daggerboard popped out of its seat and fell back out of the guides, breaking all the backstays”.

At 20 UTC, Maserati Multi70 leads the fleet of trimarans and is sailing at 29 knots towards south west, with few dozens miles of advantage over the competitors.

Maserati Multi70 continues her course towards the Caribbeans: at 12 UTC the Italian trimaran has covered more than half of the course and is still in the lead, chased by the competitors around 50 miles away.

“Those of the second night after the start were intense hours, with crazy winds and speeds,” reports Giovanni Soldini from aboard, “We touched peaks of 37 knots with waves of two to three metres. We are where we wanted to be, in control of our opponents, the road is long but we are not giving up.”

The three competing trimarans are engaged in a fierce match in the trade winds since this morning: Maserati Multi70 at 20 UTC is in the lead and sails at 19.8 knots with around 10 miles of advantage over her competitors. Snowflake follows at 18.5 knots and Zoulou at 27.7 knots.

At 8 UTC on Monday January 9th, Maserati Multi70 recovered the few miles of disadvantage on its opponents: Giovanni Soldini and his crew are engaged in a head-to-head with Zoulou in the Atlantic, with Snowflake in pursuit less than 3 miles behind. The three trimarans are currently sailing southwest at about 23 knots.

At 20 UTC, 5 hours after the start, Maserati Multi70 is sailing towards west, north of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, chasing less than 5 miles away its direct opponents: Snowflake and Zoulou, who are proceeding side by side at about 26 knots.