We set sail last night with quite severe conditions. In front of Montecarlo there were 25 knots of southwesterly wind, 3 miles after the starting line they became 30/32 knots, then they gradually became 45.
Until we reached the deep water, the Ligurian current that flows from east to west against the waves was creating walls of water that wouldn’t let us speed up.
For the first 15 minutes, we stayed slow and followed a high route, to avoid damages on those steep waves, but as soon as i felt the waves getting longer, I started to bear away a few degrees and Maserati Multi 70 immediately sped up, keeping incredible average speeds. At that point there were 40/45 stable knots, we were sailing with a triple reefed main and the trimaran was doing very well, the wind that was at 235 degrees during the first miles, was turning right as we expected and the waves were getting calmer and more regular. I was already thinking that within an hour the weather conditions were going to get even better, we were expecting 30 knots of wind from 260 degrees that would’ve brought us to the Strait of Bonifacio in a flash.
While everything was going great and Maserati Multi 70 was sailing between 27 and 31 knots, the rudder’s hook unfastened, with the system that gets the rudder free to come out of the water when there’s an impact. This time around, I didn’t feel any crash, the new spring we replaced during the last time in the shipyard probably needs a harder regulation than the old one.
In normal conditions, it takes us less than 5 minutes to put the rudder back in place when the system engages, but yesterday we were sailing with 40 knots of wind and 3-4 meters of waves. It would’ve took us way longer than usual, but most of all the risks of going in aft of the side hull with those waves were too high. This is the reason why we decided to give up: a great pity, the weather window was violent but very good for Maserati Multi 70‘s characteristics.
You never stop learning! We will try again as soon as there’s a convincing weather window, this time with a better spring regulation and with the awareness that Maserati Multi 70 can reach great average speeds even with big waves and 40 knots of crosswind.
