Maserati-- 70' Ocean Racing Foiler

Team Maserati:
Maserati Multi70 – the Italian ocean-going foiling trimaran skippered by Giovanni Soldini – is back on the water in San Francisco after a two-month overhaul of the 70-foot multihull’s on-board systems.

The work included the boat being upgraded to full foiling mode in preparation for next month’s 2,225-mile Transpacific Yacht Race.

The ‘Transpac’, as the classic ocean race is most commonly known, starts from Los Angeles on July 6 and finishes in Honolulu, Hawaii.

It is the fourth major challenge for Maserati Multi70 in the last 10 months – following on from the Rolex Middle Sea Race and RORC Transatlantic Race in 2016 and the RORC Caribbean 600 Race earlier this year.

An international fleet of 55 boats will contest the 2017 Transpacific Yacht Race including the two 100-foot maxi monohull yachts Comanche and Rio100.

The multihull class will start on July 6, when Maserati Multi70 will line up against the ORMA60 trimaran Mighty Merloe, helmed by legendary French ocean racer Loïck Peyron, and arch-rival, Phaedo3 – Lloyd Thornburg’s American non-foiling MOD70 trimaran.

The official multihull record time during the race stands at 5 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds, set by Bruno Peyron’s French 86-foot catamaran Explorer back in 1997.

Soldini said his team was hoping for optimum weather conditions – winds around 17 knots and flat water – that could give them a shot at setting at breaking the course record.

 

Team Maserati:
Giovanni Soldini and his crew of Spanish and Italian sailors aboard MaseratiMulti70 – the first(since Hydroptere-DL) ocean-going flying multihull – are today primed and ready in Los Angeles, California to take on one of yacht racing’s classic open ocean races – the Transpacific Yacht Race to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Soldini’s team is scheduled to start the 2.225-mile race at 13.30 local time*
*16:30 Eastern(4:30PM)
(22.30 in Italy). MaseratiMulti70 will line up against four other multihull competitors – including its two closest rivals, the high-performance but non-foiling American trimarans, Phaedo3 and Mighty Merloe.

Unlike Phaedo3 and Mighty Merloe, MaseratiMulti70 uses L-shaped hydrofoil dagger boards to lift its three hulls completely out of the water in winds above 14 knots, enabling it to achieve breath taking speeds above the water. During training in San Francisco recently the crew touched 44.56 knots (51.2 miles per hour, 82.5 kilometres per hour).

“The forecast looks good, even though there will be light winds at the start” Soldini said. “The trade winds should be stable and in the range of 13-20 knots. We start to fly in winds above 14 knots and really get going fast in the range up to 20 knots. But the real challenge of the race will be to avoid the objects and debris floating in the water that could damage our foils or rudders. The infamous island of plastic is in the Pacific Ocean and we have seen a lot of debris in the water here when we have been training. “Apart from that, we are really excited: the boat is fine and really fast. We have had some tiring months in the boatyard and the Maserati’s team have worked hard to get us ready for this race. Now, we can’t wait to get started.”

The current multihull race record of five days, nine hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds, set by Bruno Peyron’s French 86-foot catamaran Explorer, has remained unbeaten for 20 years

Fans of MaseratiMulti70 can follow the boat’s progress on the team’s website here:
Cartography – Soldini http://maserati.soldini.it/cartography/

 

Shoot! The tracker has a four hour delay...... Go Maserati!

 

Multihull start video: Transpac 2017 http://2017.transpacyc.com/

 

Four hours ago just after the start in very light air Phaedo was 4th in Division 0 and Maserati was 5th........

 

At 9:05 Eastern this morning, Mighty Merloe was 1st(11miles ahead of Maserati), Phaedo was 2nd (3.2 miles ahead of Maserati)...........
This is a most recent update from Team Maserati:
The Maserati Multi70 trimaran is in second place in the multihull division after nine hours of racing in the Transpac Race.

Giovanni Soldini’s Italian and Spanish crew on the Italian foiling trimaran picked their way smartly through the light winds at the start of the race that significantly limited the foiling boat’s performance, to round Catalina Island in third place behind the non-foiling 60-foot Mighty Merloe and 70-foot Phaedo3.

Having passed Catalina with around a mile deficit to the two American boats, Maserati Multi70 began to come its own once the fleet encountered the stronger trade winds further offshore.
By 18.00 local time in California (03.00 in Italy) MaseratiMulti70 had used its potent foiling ability to claw its way past Phaedo3 and begin to reel in the multihull frontrunner, Mighty Merloe.

 

As of 1:27pm Eastern Maserati is 2 knots faster than Phaedo or Merloe......

UPDATE 1:30 PM Eastern:

Once into the new breeze, Maserati Multi70 was able to put its foiling capability to good use to overtake Phaedo3 and close up on Mighty Merloe at speeds up to 30 knots.
The Italian boat has strategically pushed further south – a move that the crew will be hoping will pay dividends as the race plays out over the next few days.

 

Maserati has less distance to the finish, is almost 5 knots faster(at the time this was written) than Phaedo or Merlow and its icon on the tracker is shown in front BUT the info when you click on the icon still shows her in third place!!!!
Go Maserati!!

 

The tracking site must be factoring in handicap info because Maserati is now 13 miles ahead of Mighty Merlow and something close to 27 miles ahead of Phaedo and way, way ahead of the other two boats in Division 0. She is consistently faster in the conditions they're going through now.....

 

Maserati continues to pull away!

 

At 9:14 Eastern(may actually be four hours earlier)--
--Phaedo-speed 23.1knots, DTF=1709.7 NM
--Mighty Merloe-speed 25.3 knots, DTF=1693.5NM
--Maserati- speed 27.4 knots, DTF 1671.5NM

Go Maserati!
==========================
There is a scoring method being used called "Fleet Multi Line" which I've not ever heard of before. I think it may be just elapsed time?
At any rate it shows Maserati well in the lead of all multihulls as best I can tell.

 

This morning Maserati is first in Line Honors and first in "Fleet Multi Line".........
UPDATE: unfortunately, according to "predict wind", the closer they get to Hawaii the less wind they'll have. It's already right at the foiling threshold for Maserati-any less and she won't foil....


From Team Maserati:
The Italian trimaran MaseratiMulti70 continues to lead the multihull division and has moved into overall line honours first place at the head of the 55-boat Transpac fleet racing from California to Hawaii.

Skipper Giovanni Soldini and his mixed Italian and Spanish crew have been pushing their 70-foot flying boat hard since leaving Los Angles on Thursday afternoon. Winds in the 14 – 16 knot range have enabled the sailors to keep the boat predominantly in flying mode and travelling at speeds up to 30 knots.

Despite the multihull fleet being the last of the staggered starts to begin the race from Los Angles, today MaseratiMulti70 had overtaken the race’s entire – mainly monohull – fleet. At 08.00 Italian time this morning (July 8) (20.00 July 7 in Hawaii) MaseratiMulti70 was travelling west (263 degrees) at 23 knots with 1432.9 miles to go to the finish in Honolulu.

The team’s closest rivals – the two American non-foiling trimarans, Mighty Merloe and Phaedo3 – were respectively 27.4 miles and 54.6 miles behind.

 

Maserati has made a sharp turn south-apparently to find more wind- and that has cost her the Line Honors lead. She is now behind Merloe and still ahead of Phaedo....
UPDATE- Maserati has just gybed back to stb but is about 30 miles behind Merloe and 13 miles ahead of Phaedo. She is about the same speed as Merloe and much faster than Phaedo....

 

Maserati may have a problem: they're in an area where they should be able to foil but their speed has dropped to 18.9 knots-slowest since before Catalina Island. Both other boats are doing around 23....
UPDATE, 5:45pm Eastern: Maserati down to 17 knots-the other two in about the same wind about 22knots......

From Team Maserati-before their speed dropped:

There has been no let-up in the relentless pace being set by Giovanni Soldini and his crew aboard the Italian offshore foiling trimaran MaseratiMulti70 on the way from Los Angeles to Honolulu in the 2017 Transpac Race.

Yesterday (July 7) Italian and Spanish crew overtook the 60-foot American tri, Mighty Merloe, to take the lead on the water in the five-boat multihull division. Today the two boats are locked in a head-to-head scrap for the overall line honours lead in the 55-boat fleet.

Westerly trade winds blowing across the Pacific at 13 – 16 knots have enabled the MaseratiMulti70 crew to put the 70-foot boat’s hydrofoil dagger boards to good use. With the boat in flying mode, the three hulls are lifted completely clear of the water, resulting in speeds up to 30 knots at times.

The intense tactical battle between MaseratiMulti70 and the smaller and lighter Mighty Merloe looks set to rage all the way to the finish line at the Diamond Head buoy off Hawaii. The pair have been trading the lead between them since the Italian boat opted to be the first to gybe to the south to stay in the strongest winds.

The Mighty Merloe crew – which includes legendary French ocean racers Loïck Peyron, Jacques Vincent and Franck Proffit – opted to hold their westerly track which gave them the race lead, at least in terms of distance to finish.

At 17.00 Italian time this afternoon (Saturday July 8), 05.00 in Hawaii, MaseratiMulti70 had gybed back towards Hawaii and was sailing north west (288 degrees) at 23 knots, with 1346,9 miles to go. Further north and yet to gybe, Mighty Merloe was sailing at 24 knots on a parallel course, 1341.9 miles from the finish. Meanwhile, third placed Phaedo3 was sailing at 22 knots and had 1370.9 miles to go to the finish