Hanno Ziehm’s Marten 49 Moana (GER) finished the RORC Transatlantic Race in an elapsed time of 14 Days 13 Hrs 49 Mins 49 Secs. After IRC time correction, Moana is assured of second in class for IRC Zero, behind the overall winner PAC52 Warrior Won (USA). Moana is currently ranked third overall after IRC time correction, but must wait until boats still at sea finish the race for their final overall standing. Boats that can still beat Moana’s corrected time include two JPK 1180s; Richard Fromentin’s Cocody (FRA) and Ed Bell’s Dawn Treader (GBR).

Hanno and the team decided on a big project 18 months ago and have spent about a year planning and preparing for the RORC Transatlantic Race. The boat was delivered to Malta for the Rolex Middle Sea Race, then sailed to Lanzarote for the RORC Transatlantic Race.

“The RORC Transatlantic Race has been such a great adventure,” commented Hanno Ziehm. “I really can’t say what was the most important part, but everything was new and amazing; everything worked out well with no real problems. The biggest decision was whether to go south or north and I think our decision to go south was the correct one. We are so proud to be second in IRC Zero and now we must wait for our overall finish, and that depends on Cocody and Dawn Treader.

“The main problem on Moana is the choice of music!” joked Ziehm, owner of Moana. “However, we do have a great dock-off song - Kim Wilde’s Cambodia, and the finish of a race we play Eric Burdon - Good times! Moana is a corinthian team with a flat management style; democratic with no egos on board. Skipper Lorenz Pinck makes the final decisions!”

“Moana has been modified, especially the bobstay on the bowsprit to allow us to fly new sails that were made for this project,” commented Lorenz Pinck. “One of our weapons from the sail plan is the Code Zero; a really well-designed sail which can run on anything from 70-120 degrees. We made many gains on our competition with the Code Zero. The A4 was our main spinnaker, maybe 50% of the time, and in a bigger sea state we changed to the A6, which is a powerful sail and maintained the control of the boat. With the A6 and one reef we hit our top speed of 29 knots. Moana is an awesome cruiser-racer with a powerful rig and sail plan.

“Next up for Moana will be the RORC Nelson’s Cup Series and the 15th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua. After that Moana will go to the Eastern Seaboard of the USA and we will be cruising for the summer before returning to Europe in the 2025 Transatlantic Race.”