Giovanni Soldini and Vittorio Malingri, the two Italian skippers on ORMA 60 trimaran TIM Progetto Italia, which capsized 450m west of Freetown at 0515 yesterday morning, were picked up around 2000hrs last night by the supertankerCapbari, alerted by theCROSSin Daker, which was en route to Mexico.

According to the TJV website there is no current information about a possible transfer of the two skippers before the tanker reaches Mexico. Giovanni spoke to the Race organisation around 2100hrs from on board the tanker about the chances of salvaging his trimaran.

“The cargo arrived to windward of us and performed a brilliant manoeuvre. They threw us a thick line and we inflated the survival raft so they could pull us around to the back of their ship. Getting on board was okay. Now we’re heading to the Gulf of Mexico, 10 or so days at sea. I don’t think we can salvage the boat. The starboard float was smashed by the mast, which broke into three pieces and was heavily damaged.”