RORC Transatlantic Race: "Good times!" - two Transat podium places for "Moana"?
Tatjana Pokorny
· 23.01.2024
Hanno Ziehm's modified Marten 49 "Moana" completed the RORC Transatlantic Race in 14 days, 13 hours, 49 minutes and 49 seconds. According to the calculated IRC time, "Moana" was already assured of second place in the IRC Zero class behind the overall winners on the PAC52 "Warrior Won" (USA). And it could go even further: "Moana" was initially in third place in the overall IRC rankings until midday on 23 January.
On the podium after a year of preparation
However, the JPK 11.80 "Dawn Treader" (Great Britain) was still underway at the time and still had around 180 nautical miles to sail according to the tracking on Tuesday morning. She could still challenge the well-sailed German competitor from the Kieler Yacht-Club for her podium place in the overall standings. Hanno Ziehm, Lorenz Pinck and their team therefore had to be patient despite the jubilation in the harbour. This did little to diminish their achievement.
On 7 January, the German boat started the 10th RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada with the anniversary fleet. After a good two weeks, the great adventure was over. 18 months earlier, Hanno Ziehm and his team had decided to take part in the Transat. Around a year's work went into planning and preparing for the RORC Transatlantic Race.
We are very proud to be second in IRC Zero" (Hanno Ziehm)
The boat was taken to Malta for the Rolex Middle Sea Race and then to Lanzarote for the start of the RORC Transatlantic Race. Here the starting signal was given for the challenging 3,000 nautical miles to Grenada. "The RORC Transatlantic Race was a great adventure," said an enthusiastic Hanno Ziehm in conversation with the organisers from the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
Ziehm continued: "I really can't say what the most important part was. Everything was new and amazing; everything worked well, with no real problems. The biggest decision was whether to go south or north. I think our decision in favour of the south was the right one. We are very proud to be second in IRC Zero. Now we have to wait for our overall result."
With music motivation from Kim Wilde and Eric Burdon
If there was one problem on board, it was the choice of music, Hanno Ziehm said with a smile in the first interview after the race. His team had opted for two accompanying tracks, Kim Wilde's "Cambodia" as the dock-off song and Eric Burdon's "Good times!" as the arrival anthem. In addition to Hanno Ziehm and Lorenz Pinck, the ten-strong crew consisted of sailors Christian Wildberg, Max Wentzel, Christopher Heyer, Michel Torre Groth, Paul Greiner, Sebastian Block, Thomas Bonnot and Tom Wehde.
His crew is a "Corinthian" team with a flat hierarchy, a democratic way of working and no egos on board. However, according to "Moana" owner Hanno Ziehm, skipper Lorenz Pinck makes the final decisions. Ziehm had modified his successful boat before the Transat. This applied above all to the bobstay on the bowsprit so that new sails could be used, explained skipper Lorenz Pinck.
'Moana' is a great cruiser-racer with a powerful rig and sail plan" (Lorenz Pinck)
Pinck continued: "One of our weapons in the sailing wardrobe is the Code Zero; a really well-designed sail that can run on all courses from 70 to 120 degrees. With the Code Zero we have gained a lot over the competition. The A4 was our main spinnaker for maybe 50 per cent of the time. In more swell we switched to the A6. It's a powerful sail that provides good control of the boat. With the A6 and one reef, we reached our top speed of 29 knots."
Lorenz Pinck's Transat review: "'Moana' is a great cruiser-racer with a powerful rig and sail plan." With the success in the race across the Atlantic behind them, the "Moana" crew is already looking ahead to future challenges. "Next up for 'Moana' is the RORC Nelson's Cup Series and the 15th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua. After that, 'Moana' will head to the east coast of the USA, where we will sail throughout the summer before returning to Europe for the 2025 Transatlantic Race."
