At 4.30 UTC, Maserati Multi 70, while sailing at 23-24 knots, collided with a big floating object that damaged the left side hull’s bow and the rudder’s wing.
Giovanni Soldini explained: “We couldn’t understand what it was, but it was very big, it was at least one meter high out of the water. It hit the left side hull with great force, severely damaging it, then it glided along the hull and hit the rudder. The fuse system worked, but the object was so big that we lost the outer half of the wing. We stopped for one hour: we took off the wing completely so we could use the rudder’s blade. Now we’re sailing with the bow out of the water using the foil: we’re waiting for the light to do a thorough inspection of the side hull – which has 7 watertight bulkheads – to check if there are any holes.”
According to the 3.00 UTC position updates, Maserati Multi 70‘s Team was sailing at 26 knots, with 1872 miles ahead of them, on the wake of their competitors: Argo, at 25 miles, had 1732 miles before the finish line, followed by PowerPlay, at 25 knots with 1833 miles to go.
