Transatlantic Race line honors for Argo

Jason Carroll’s MOD70 Argo (USA) crossed the finish line on January 13 to take Multihull Line Honors in the 10th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race. After the start on January 7 from Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Argo completed the 3,000 mile course to Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada in 6 days, 10 hours, 34 mins and 30 secs.

Their pace fell short of the Multihull elapsed record of 5 days 5 hours 46 mins 26 secs set in 2023 by Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati Multi70.

“Two years ago we chose a northern route; it was very windy for the first half and pretty light for the second half,” said Carroll. “This year we went south, but we still did about the same amount of miles as in 2022. The difference was we had pretty consistent wind this year and that made the difference.”

Argo was over 10 hours quicker than in the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race.

“Sailing a MOD70 is very difficult to replicate in any other setting,” noted Carroll. “It is a really exhilarating experience to travel that fast across the water, so getting to do that for 3,000 miles across the Atlantic is a thrill the whole time. When you get up on the foils, we call it sixth gear, you are humming along and the challenge is how long can you stay in that sixth gear.

“It is very important to have a close rapport among the crew; we have a lot of dependency on each other for our own personal safety. To finish the race, everyone has to perform at 100%. Racing a MOD70 is very close quarters for six days and you have got to work together and see through the tough times. During off-watch time, we have a lot of fun together, catching up and cracking jokes. The close friendship we share is very important.”

The Argo crew has Carroll, Chad Corning, Pete Cumming, Charlie Ogletree, Alister Richardson, and Brian Thompson.

Argo Project Manager Corning added, “It was tough mentally and physically at times; we had some sickness on board and the last two days were really hard in conditions we had not seen before, so we had to learn how to mode the boat and keep things safe on board.”

Argo has been developed with T-Foil rudders and C-Foil daggerboards. “When we flipped the boat over in Antigua, the first motivation for the foils was safety, not necessarily speed,” explained Corning. “Argo now sails a lot flatter with more stability, which means we have better control over the boat through sea state. This means we can sail Argo harder and faster with safety.”

Erik Maris’ MOD70 Zoulou (FRA), which was previously owned by Peter Cunningham as PowerPlay and Tony Lawson as Concise 10, finished second on January 14. Alexia Barrier’s MOD70 Limosa – The Famous Project (FRA) finished third on January 15.

Race details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

The 10th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race will start January 7 from the Spanish island of Lanzarote of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, with 22 teams competing on the 3,000 nm course to Grenada. France has the most entrants with eight boats with other teams representing Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States of America.

The Multihull elapsed record is 5 days 5 hours 46 mins 26 secs set in 2023 by Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati Multi70.

The Monohull elapsed record is 7 days, 22 hrs, 01 mins, 04 secs set in 2022 by the 100ft VPLP Design/Verdier Comanche, skippered by Mitch Booth.

Source: RORC