8th RORC Transatlantic Race 2022: Soldini's transatlantic coup with "Maserati"

A real 3476.5 nautical miles in 6 days, 18 hours, 51 minutes and 41 seconds at an average speed of 21.4 knots - that is the formidable time in which Italy's sailing star Giovanni Soldini and his crew of Vittorio Bissaro, Oliver Herrera-Perez, Thomas Jeffrin, Francesco Pedel and Matteo Soldini took the "Line Honours" in the 8th RORC Transatlantic Race. The victory came as a surprise for the first boat to cross the finish line after just under a week at sea, as Peter Cunningham's "PowerPlay" with double Olympic champion Giles Scott had predominantly been in the lead in the three-way battle of the fast multihulls. Two days before the showdown, Jason Carroll's third rival "Argo" had initially taken the lead.

But, as we all know, the final score is settled at the finish line: overnight, Soldini's men managed to overtake both rivals in a last-minute tour de force and reach the finish line in front of Grenada in first place - 55 minutes ahead of "Argo" was enough for "Maserati" to triumph under the Italian flag. The fans were overflowing with enthusiasm on social media. Within the first early hours of the morning, there were already thousands of congratulations and exuberant comments. Like this one: "Finally! What great guys! Thank you Giovanni for sharing these emotions with us."

The 100-foot maxi "Comanche" is expected to be the next boat to reach its Caribbean destination. The fast VPLP/Verdier design continues to sail towards a new monohull record around 400 nautical miles before the end of the leap across the pond. The racy high-tech bullet with skipper Mitch Booth was also well in second place in the overall IRC standings on Saturday morning. Mark Emerson's "Phosphorus II" remains the current favourite in the overall handicap ranking.

However, the decision in the battle for overall IRC victory will be a long time coming, as the JPK 10.10 "Jangada", the smallest boat in the fleet, was in fourth place behind the Volvo Ocean 70 "L4 Trifork" with skipper Jens Dolmer, which was in third place at the start of the weekend. However, her double-handed crew still has more than half of the course to complete in the battle with the top teams with over 1600 nautical miles to the finish, while the fastest have already arrived. Click here for the tracker and the intermediate results in all categories (please click!).

Accompanied by thunder and lightning

The British-German trio on the 20-year-old Imoca "Rosalba", on the other hand, have already rung in their second transatlantic half-time with 1489 nautical miles to the finish line on Saturday morning. Skipper Richard Tokien, Neal Brewer and Frank Sturm from Berlin sent a short report from the sea for YACHT-online readers. Richard Tolkien reports on a few "tough days at sea" after the initial problem with the main halyard swivel, which has long since been resolved, and rough sailing conditions. "We experienced up to 33 knots of wind, two big fronts with heavy rain and radical wind shifts of up to 90 degrees," writes the team. "We reefed the mainsail and then experienced light wind zones again, sometimes accompanied by thunder and lightning. At the worst times, we were sailing in the grey-bearded sea under J3 or staysail with two reefs in the main while the sea came over the cockpit. Our manoeuvres often took place at night under cloudy black skies."

In the meantime, the trio is once again blessed with a clear starry sky on course for Grenada. The crew also reported other minor setbacks: "We had a fish line around the keel once and nets got caught in the hydrogenerator twice. In the case of a one and a half metre long tear in the jib top, we had to take the sail down, lay it out lengthways on the deck and repair it with Sicaflex and adhesive patches. So far, the repair is holding." The further weather prospects promise a more pleasant progress: "The crew is doing well. We are in a good mood."