A few hours after the start (15:30 local, 13:30 UTC) Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70‘s team were busy in a tack race with their rival PowerPlay approaching Capo Passero, the extreme southeastern point of Sicily.
The Italian crew encountered a technical problem with the main sheet’s hydraulic piston. The oil that lubricates the system slowly dropped in the air chamber and the crew wasn’t able to haul in the mainsail. “We emptied the air chamber” explains Giovanni Soldini. “The downside is that the mainsheet is slower to ease and it can be more dangerous sometimes so we will have to be more careful.”
An hour later, the right-side rudder’s fitting broke. “We still don’t know how it happened, we don’t think it was because of an impact, we are now looking into the causes” commented the skipper.
In spite of the damage, Maserati Multi 70 is still slightly in advantage over PowerPlay. “Without the rudder we will surely have many problems sailing port tack, but we keep going and we will do our best!”
