1st Place in Middle Sea Race 2023 - Mana Mod70
What an amazing line up of MOD70'sfor this race. 5 MOD 70's on the same. race has not been done for years. With a few of the boats having pimped systems and foils we were the old school boat on the course but with some seasoned multi sailors onboard we stood a chance. Did not lead out of the box but after the the first light upwind battle we managed to get legs on the other boats up Messina as the breeze built. First around Stromboli was a big one for us and we continued to lead in the light stuff by making some goos tactical decisions until the breeze built to upwind hull flying to Lampadusa. With the others on a tail and not giving up its was a tight fight all the way to the finish where Zouloo appeared out of the darkness 2 boat lengths behind us in a nice lucky gust of breeze! We held the lead and kept them 1 boat length behind on the finish line to get a 1st place and a happy crew. The finish buzzer did not go on the line so this kept us racing just incase all the way up to the docks almost! Relief to get confirmation on radio.
Snippet from MSR website:
"OCTOBER 25, 2022
NEWSFLASH - Multihull Line Honours
Riccardo Pavoncelli's MOD70 Mana (ITA) crossed the finish line of the 2022 Rolex Middle Sea Race at 00:32:38 CEST on Tuesday 25 October to take Multihull Line Honours in an elapsed time of 61 hours 32 minutes 38 seconds. Mana crew: Riccardo Pavoncelli, Alexia Barrier, Paul Larsen, Jeff Mearing, Tom Dawson, Jonny Malbon, Kai Weeks, Evan Walker. In an electrifying finish Mana crossed the line less than one minute ahead of Zoulou (FRA), skippered by Erik Maris, after two and a half days of racing and 606 nautical miles. Giovanni Soldini's Maserati Multi 70 (ITA) finished third, ten minutes after Zoulou. "
