Maserati team and Giovanni Soldini lead fleet as Cape to Rio Race starts
by Imagina 4 Jan 2014 19:40 GMT
4 January 2014
The Cape to Rio yacht race gets underway © Imagina
The Maserati team and Giovanni Soldini lead the fleet at the Cape2Rio Yacht Race start
50-knot winds with gusts of over 60 forecast for tonight
The 14th Cape2Rio Yacht Race started at 14.00 hours local time today (13.00 hours Italian time). At 3,300 nautical miles, it is the longest race between two southerly hemispheres, taking contestants all the way from Table Bay in Cape Town (South Africa) to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
The 36 boats taking part in the race lined out under a clear sky in Table Bay which is dominated by the eponymous mountain, one of the seven wonders of the world.
The fleet includes Maserati (the only 70 footer participating in this edition), which is skippered by Giovanni Soldini and manned by a highly experienced, tightknit international crew: Italians Guido Broggi, Corrado Rossignoli and Michele Sighel; German Boris Herrmann; Spaniard Carlos Hernandez; French sailors Jacques Vincent and Gwen Riou; Dane MartinKirketerp Ibsen; and, for the first time, Pierre Casiraghi of Monaco.
The start took place in a light 6 to 8 knot north-westerly wind. Organisers the Royal Cape Yacht Club placed the first mark just in front of the port and then two others further out in thebay. Once these were rounded the fleet made for open sea.
Maserati led at the start but the Australian 52' Scarlet Runner (R/P 52) was first to round the second buoy as she is a force to be reckoned with in light breezes. However, Maserati was nipping at her heels all the while, quickly bridging the gap to round the third mark 10 minutes ahead of the Australian monohull.
The situation will take a dramatic turn tonight when the fleet meets a cold front with steady 50-knot southerly winds gusting at over 60, conditions that will test both boats and crews to the limit.
"We'll have to be very careful indeed," explained Soldini just before casting off. "We'll be getting a lot of wind on the first night. We will have to make a huge effort to avoid making any mistakes and pick our way out of it without any damage. But both crew and both are really primed for the race and we can't wait to get going."
Now on its 14th outing, the Cape2Rio Yacht Race was launched in 1971 in the wake of South African sailor BruceDalling's impressive second place overall and first place in adjusted time finish in the 1968 South Atlantic Single-handed Yacht Race. Dalling became in an instant national hero and ocean sailing quickly gained huge popularity amongst sailors and enthusiasts in South Africa.
The first Cape2Rio attracted 59 boats and was won by Robin Knox-Johnston and Ocean Spirit in a time of 23 days and 42 minutes. Pen Duick III, skippered by Eric Tabarly, finished in fourth position.
The third edition in 1976 saw a massive 126 boats from 19 different nations lined out at the start. These included two from Italy: Carlo di Mottola Balestra's Chica Tica II, which won in adjusted time, and Giorgio Falck's Guia III. Italian yachtswoman Ida Castiglioni, who had crewed aboard Edo Guzzetti's Namar IV in the 1973 edition, also raced aboard Kialoa with an all-woman crew.
In 1979, the finish line was moved to Punta del Este in Uruguay, 4,500 miles from Cape Town. However, in 1993, itreturned to Rio once again. The race's name changed to the Cape to Bahia in 2006 to reflect its new finish line at Salvador de Bahia before being reinstated as the Cape2Rio once again in 2011.
The current race record (Cape Town-Rio de Janeiro) is held by Zephyrus IV, a 74' American maxi which completed the dash in 12 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes in 2000, after particularly favourable conditions (a very southerly anticyclone in the South Atlantic) allowed her to take a very direct course.
Updates with video footage and still photographs from the boat and a chart showing Maserati's position can be found at www.maseratisoldini.it and on the following social networks; Facebook and Twitter where the crew will tweet and post images from aboard.
The challenge is sponsored by our main partner, Maserati, after which the yacht is named, and by co-sponsors Swiss bank BSI (Generali Group) and Generali itself.
To follow the race visit www.cape2rio2014.com