The Multi 70 Maserati, led by the Italian skipper Giovanni Soldini and his crew (Guido Broggi, Sébastien Audigane, Oliver Herrera Perez and Alex Pella), crossed the latitude of Gibraltar (36° N) during the night of 18th to 19th February 2018. Now skirting the Portuguese coast, the trimaran will have to sail upwind against headwinds. The trimaran is now just 1,000 miles from the finish, which is set to take place this Friday 23rd February... This is a record that has been broken with a crossing from Hong Kong to London in 36 days!
"We're only 1,000 nautical miles from the finish. Under normal conditions, downwind, we could reach London in less than 48 hours. But Neptune has decided otherwise and for several days now we've been sailing upwind, first along the African coast, now along the European coast. After the latitude of Cape Saint Vincent, we will soon be over Lisbon and we will continue tacking until Calais, with an E'ly wind that will strengthen to 25/30 knots from the East when we enter the English Channel.
We have to try to go as fast as possible, because the later we enter the English Channel, the stronger the wind will be; but at the same time we have to take care of the equipment and the boat, which suffer more when sailing upwind like this. The strategy is to sail close to the coast so that we have less swell and current. Then, we're going to have to manage the currents in the English Channel well. In the coming days, the tidal coefficients are high and so strong currents are expected. Paradoxically, the worst thing is to have the current with you and the headwind with you because that raises a very steep and dangerous sea. We'll have to be very careful." explains skipper Giovanni Soldini.
After 32 days of sailing, the crew of the Maserati Multi 70 recorded a lead of 1,375 miles on the morning of 19th February. The crew now has 1,136 miles to go (out of the 13,000 miles at the start) before crossing the finish line in London.
