The only trimarans participating in RORC Transatlantic Race - Italian Maserati Multi70 with skipper GiovanniSoldini and MOD70 PowerPlay fromCayman Islands with skipperNed CollierWakefield - finished in Port Louis Marina , Grenada in the Caribbean Sea on 1 December.
Their«match race», which started almost immediately after the start, continued throughout the race. Team Soldini's time was 6 days, 18 hours, 54 minutes and 34 seconds, while Team Wakefield's time was 6 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes and 12 seconds.
The difference in the«actual» finish time was only about 45 minutes, and after adjustments it appeared that the Maserati who finished first would only get the Line Honours Multihull prize, while the PowerPlay crew still took first place in the MOCRA echelon this year. The situation is perhaps a little comical, considering that apart from these two competitors there are no other multihull boats in the racing fleet, not only of the MOCRA class, but of any other type as well.
« The race was very intense, but to be so many days in the ocean with PowerPlay so close together was fantastic. We are thrilled. We learned a lot about our boat, also thanks to PowerPlay: we studied their strategy at the beginning of the race and it was very curious»," confessed Giovanni Soldini.
None of the crews managed to break the Phaedo3 record of Lloyd Thornburg , who in 2015 during theRORC Transatlantic Race went fromthe Canaries to Grenadain 2995 nautical miles in a record 5 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 3 seconds.
«The first night I thought the next seven days in this mode would be tough, but it actually got better and better. The speed was decent and the weather was great, even despite a few flurries. Being on the team with EddieWarden Owen , CEO of RORC, was a pleasure. He told us his stories and we laughed the whole race»," said PowerPlay team captain Peter Cunningham.
It looks like the largest boat of the race, the 39.62-metre monotype Baltic 130 My Song by Italian Pier Luigi Loro Piana, will finish next in Grenada. According to the tracker, it could happen as early as the morning of December 5. He still has a chance to break the RORC Transatlantic Race speed record for single-hulled boats, which was set in 2015 by a French crew on the 30m Maxi Dolphin Nomad IV. To do so, My Song must finish earlier than 10 days, 7 hours and 6 minutes after the start of the race. According to the tracker, the estimated finish time is now 10 days, 15 hours and 30 minutes.
In Class 40, represented by only three teams, the Norwegian Hydra crew withdrew from the battle for first place. The yachtsmen had to make a pit stop in Cape Verde due to a play in the steering system. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the boat had a broken tiller support. The French Earendil remained the unchallenged (at least for now) leader of the class. The tracker data shows Earendil is about 4 days behind the second-placed boat Sirius. At the same time, Sirius and Hydra are separated by about 7 hours.
