The 8th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in collaboration with Yacht Club de France, will start tomorrow, January 8th, 2022 at 11:00 UTC/local time.
Maserati Multi 70 and the other 31 yachts entered in the race will set off in two slightly staggered fleets (at 11:00 UTC the multihulls, at 11:10 UTC the monohulls) from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, and will cover 2995 miles passing the Canary Islands and sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the island of Grenada, in the Eastern Caribbean.
Maserati Multi 70 will sail the Ocean in foiling set up, challenging in a highly competitive race the three rival multihulls, two of them equipped with the latest generation foils: Argo (USA) with Brian Thompson, and PowerPlay with British sailors Giles Scott (tactician of Ineos Team UK in the America’s Cup and winner of two Olympic gold medals in the Finn class) and Miles Seddon (who set the record on this route with Phaedo3 in 2015). The Italian team’s third competitor is the Antoine Rabaste’s 80ft maxi trimaran Ultim Emotion 2 (FRA). The common goal will be to break the record of 5 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 03 seconds set by Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 Phaedo 3 in 2015.
“We foresee a beautiful and exciting race, even if the weather situation at the moment seems to be complicated by a rather low depression that makes the trade wind disappear and therefore the classic route to the Caribbean looks slow and with little wind. Maybe the solution will be to look for more stable winds around the low and then take a northerly route despite some difficult passages,” explains Giovanni Soldini. “The race will be very close with three equal boats – Maserati Multi 70, PowerPlay and Argo – and Ultim Emotion 2, which is bigger and very dangerous”.
Maserati Multi 70 participates in the RORC Transatlantic Race for the third time, after competing in the editions of 2016 and 2018, when it crossed the finish line first with an elapsed time of 6 days, 18 hours, 54 minutes and 3 seconds. The crew that will accompany skipper Giovanni Soldini is made up of 5 expert sailors, already crew members: Vittorio Bissaro, Oliver Herrera Perez, Thomas Joffrin, Francesco Pedol, Matteo Soldini.
Photo ©James Mitchell
