Transpac: Another broken rudder apparently from ocean debris, this one on MASERATI; some cool onboar

PACIFIC OCEAN – MaseratiMulti70, the Italian high performance offshore flying multihull yacht skippered by Giovanni Soldini, has broken one of its rudders in a high-speed collision with an unidentified floating object, while in second place in the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The crew have been able to retrieve the shattered rudder on the back of the starboard (right hand) hull of the trimaran. The other rudders on the port (left hand) and the central hulls are undamaged and the crew are continuing to race towards the finish in Honolulu.“We were sailing fast at 28 – 30 knots when we heard a big bang,” Soldini reported today. “We immediately stopped the boat and managed to retrieve the rudder blade that was still attached by a retaining line. That was quite a difficult procedure because it was during the night, with lots of wind and waves”. –MASERATI skipper Giovanni Soldini writing on their team website, via a story on the Transpac website Sunday afternoon. Full story, including some great onboard video (helps if you speak Italian; where's Meg Ehman when we need her?), here.