Water on board and problems with the centerboard on Maserati Multi70: “During the night last night, while jumping over the waves, the stopper of the drift puller exploded. The daggerboard popped out of its seat and fell back out of the guides, breaking all the backstays”.
Now on the fourth day of racing, Giovanni Soldini transmits updates from the trimaran and reminds the episode that has occurred over the last 24 hours: “Usually two tracks are used to block the daggerboard: one at the exit of the hull, the other one and a half metres above the bottom of the hull. Last night, however, the centreboard slipped out of its high seat and thus remained precariously fixed in the hull bottom slide, free to swing left and right. The violent oscillations broke through the ‘case’ inside which the centerboard slides. The whole area is enclosed in two watertight compartments that are designed precisely so as not to flood the boat in such cases. Both compartments are full of water at the moment, but there are no other leaks. We managed to get the centreboard back into its high seat and secured it at deck level with makeshift tie-downs. Overall, however, the weight of the water embarked upon constitutes 30% of the total weight of the Maserati Multi70. We also tried to empty the compartment with buckets and a pump but after an hour of work the volume regained was 10% and we eventually threw in the towel. The problem for now is limited to the performance, the boat is certainly under a lot of strain, but it reacts very well and we hope it continues like this!”
At the last updates on 12 UTC, the three MOD70s sailed over 2200 miles and are less than 900 miles from the finish line in Grenada. Maserati Multi70 is still in the lead and is sailing at 23 knots, 697 miles from the finish line, Zoulou (FRA) is second, 804 miles away, and Snowflake (USA) follows in third place, 817 miles away.
