Dodging Icebergs in Thick Fog Near the Titanic

May 11, 2012 16:40:00 UTC

47°12.37 N

050°40.88 W

Heading: 46°

Speed: 20.4 knots

DTF: 1,784.9 nm

It is indeed an eerie feeling to be dodging icebergs in thick fog near where the Titanic sank about 100 years ago.  There is a distinct advantage we have with the new technology that exists. It is in the form of a very good B & G radar.  The fog is very dense and Maserati (our little carbon sailing rocket ship) seems highly unnatural in the vicinity of such difficult to detect chunks of hard water.  A growler the size of a refrigerator would definitely make for a bad day as we skim across the water doing 20 plus knots and unfortunately, the technology to see those is really not practical or readily available for our application.  We have roughly 150 nautical miles left of this nail biting experience but there was no way to avoid the need to play this game of Russian Roulette and keep our record attempt anything more than a delivery to England.

On that note, we are doing well and we are happy to be ahead of Mari Cha IV’s record time at the moment. However, it is very much in the balance and Mother Nature has our destiny in her hands.  The low we anticipated is no longer the key feature to our final push over the weekend, which was intended to launch us toward England for an arrival early next week. The weather models have changed significantly and now we must tangle with a high pressure area that will set up a large windless region very far north and along our route.  We are not only in a race with Mari Cha IV’s legacy but very much also in a race to see if we can position ourselves for the formation of the high pressure area.  A little luck and a kind eye from Mother Nature will be needed.

Ciao for now from a very frigid Maserati,

Brad and the Maserati boys

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Life On Board Maserati - Day 1

May 10, 2012 13:26:00 UTC

42° 24.60 N

061° 38.08 W

Heading: 67°

Speed: 19.8 Knots

We are chasing one of sailing’s most prestigious records and we are trying to beat a very fast pace set by Mari Cha IV.  Here is the current situation.  First, we have embraced a much different approach from a weather strategy point of view.  Mari Cha IV left New York behind a cold front on NW winds that carried them much of the way to England before they had to tack on a high pressure area for the last third of the attempt.  This meant they were on a fast port reach until tacking to starboard allowing the wind to free them back to a starboard reach for the final approach to England.  The opportunity that presented itself to us is the opposite.  We left New York ahead of an arriving cold front on Southerly winds that should carry us much of the way Across the Atlantic and then we will need to gybe to port and hook into a low pressure system to the north pushing us to the finish.  Both theories work well but we need the wind to stay steady and it has been a bit lighter than forecast for the several of hours of the voyage. 

The other point of significance is that we are doing our attempt in the spring instead of the fall which means spring icebergs south and east of Newfoundland.  I will talk more about icebergs in tomorrow’s blog as that will definitely be on the front of our brains for the following day.  Today is all about trying to stay in the best wind strength possible as the forecasted 22 knots has been elusive and we are currently in wonderful tight reaching conditions of 17 knots.  Normally lovely, but not the crazy record breaking conditions we need.  So our fingers are crossed for the big noisy show that Maserati is so gifted at.

Life on board is getting chilly and it is wet, but nothing like when we will sail through the North Atlantic cocktail in a couple days.  I can’t decide if that cocktail should be served with crushed or full size ice cubes but neither sounds very good to me at the moment, and I happen to know that a mixture is on order.

Ciao for now from Brad and the Maserati Boys!

Check out our tracking and Maserati route versus Mari Cha IV: http://maserati.soldini.it/cartografia/?lang=en

Here is the latest video we shot on board Maserati: http://maserati.soldini.it/qui-e-arrivato-il-vento/?lang=en

Racing Against Ourselves

21°28.40 N 

039°02.63 W 

Heading : 295 ° 

Speed : 19.6 knots 

Distance to finish : 1975.60 nm

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The whole notion of breaking records is interesting.   In our case aboard Maserati we are laying down a benchmark time for the old Columbus Discovery Route.  It is funny to feel so much pressure to perform, but we all want Maserati’s first monohull speed record to be long standing.  This is all more interesting than I would have thought before becoming involved.  The idea of racing yourself is different. In some ways it makes you push harder than you would racing against a fleet of other boats because you don’t really know how hard is hard enough.  There is a different combination of challenges when racing against other boats real time on the same course.  It comes with positives and negatives.  We are always reaching for high boat speeds. However, we are also pushing as hard as we dare in as much wind as possible (within reason of course). 

Yesterday I was at the helm of Maserati with a full main, the biggest kite we could find in the stack and a staysail. We were pushing hard downwind in 30 knots of breeze with boat speeds in the same neighborhood. We quickly found that maybe it was a bit too much, when the kite blew out from head to foot and went for a swim.  Just my luck, I had to be the one driving at the moment!  It is definitely an exciting challenge to say the least. In some ways the racing is even more intense because you are racing yourself. Therefore, no lead is big enough!

A great bi-product of this first record for us is discovering that Maserati (a modified Volvo 70) can do what we hoped if the weather gods treat us nicely.  In the 1900 or so miles that we have covered in four and a half days, we know we have the capacity in boat speed to beat Mari-Cha’s transatlantic record in a few months, if we can find the right weather window.  We have averaged about 18 knots and Mari-Cha’s tranatlantic record average was about 17.5 knots.  In some ways this makes me think we might not even need the big breezes we thought we did. A consistent 25 to 30 would do the trick.

For now the Maserati crew members are enjoying the feeling of the water and winds of the trade winds, as they begin to wash over us on our push to the Bahamas.  It is a rather awesome early February weather situation and a great place to be.  Although the waves of water that crash through the cockpit in just about all weather conditions would blow anyone away, not only literally but figuratively.

I wonder what Christopher Columbus would have thought of knocking off 400 plus mile days on the way to his destiny!

All the best from the crew of Maserati,

Brad

Off and Running Aboard Maserati

24°13.48 N 

032°52.40 W 

Heading : 241 ° 

Speed : 23.2 kts

Distance to finish : 2284.20 nm

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We departed Cadiz, Spain aboard Maserati with a great weather window for our first record.  I say first record because in this case we are setting a benchmark monohull record for what is known as the Discovery Route or more commonly understood as Columbus’s route to the Americas.  With the benchmark as our goal, we want to lay down a serious time to beat for a couple of reasons.  First, we want to set a mark for our abilities and that of the boat. Second, we need to push hard and train together as a crew aboard Maserati in preparation for the other records on the horizon.  An added bonus is that we want this record to stick for a while and hopefully stand up to the test as other boats and crews take a whack at it.  The good news is that we have knocked off roughly 1200 miles in three days which is a pretty good (and wet) clip.  The modifications made to the Volvo 70 (previously Ericsson III) to turn her into Maserati seem to be working out great and she is quite capable.

                                                                                                                                         

On a personal note, this has been a great change of pace for me. I not only get to train and sail with a crew of great professionals, but it is also wonderful to spend time with my old (don’t tell him I called him that) friend and mentor Giovanni.  Gio creates a respectful and hard working environment amongst the crew, and also a friendly demeanor, which can be challenging aboard a boat that takes a lot of work to sail. This is especially tough since we decided a crew of 8 would make this first run and serve as a test for what we can really do in some of the other records ahead. When this boat competed in the Volvo Ocean Race of 2005-6, it was raced with 10 crew members.  We really need to have an entire email just about stacking the sails and inventory going on with a mere 16 arms aboard!  Look for that in one of my next blogs! It is great to be offshore with an excellent team facing an ambitious program right now and in the future.  It will be an exciting adventure and we are off to a rip roaring start!

All the best from the crew of Maserati,

Brad