The Maserati Multi70 Team has won its first race against time, fixing in record time the starboard foil and rudder destroyed during the incident that happened on the night of October 16, and will join the rest of the Rolex Middle Sea Race fleet at the start-line at 11.00 am on Saturday, October 22.
«Incidents of this kind are normal for multihulls like MOD70s», commented skipper Giovanni Soldini. «Rudder breakages are pretty common and luckily we were able to replace it without any trouble with the boat still in the water. The “old” Mod rudder is already fitted and we’ll be finished by this evening».
Moral aboard is high despite the fact that Maserati Multi70 will have a different trim than planned at the start. «The rudder we lost was a T-foil rudder», continued Soldini. «These are complex components with custom bearings (around which the rudders rotate) and a different attachment system. Unfortunately you can’t rebuild a rudder like that in a couple of days. In fact, the rudder that replaced the T-foil one has a different, completely independent attachment system with its own bearings and steering system tubes. We managed to rebuild the support for the axis of rotation of the ripped-off rudder system».
Tomorrow the Maserati Multi70 team will do a trial run. The weather forecast for the race indicates an air flow from the west which means an entirely upwind route with moderate winds on Saturday, freshening in the final stretch.
credit@Benedetta Pitscheider
