Maserati-- 70' Ocean Racing Foiler

From Scuttlebutt:---I read somewhere this morning that there is a large storm with hurricane force winds in the mid-atlantic headed east-I hope Maserati can stay clear....
Maserati’s record race at Cape Finisterre

(February 20, 2018; Day 33) - Giovanni Soldini and the crew on the trimaran Maserati Multi 70 are nearing the northwestern tip of Spain at Cape Finisterre in their attempt to break the 13000 nm record from Hong Kong to London. After Finisterre, the team will continue upwind across the Bay of Biscay for another 350 nm to reach the tip of Brittany before making the easterly turn toward London. The team is 743.7 nm from the finish and is 1476 nm ahead of the record pace (as of 20:54 UTC)
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More on the storm:
Heavy Seas Alert: North Atlantic Storm Producing 19-Meter Significant Waves Near Main Shipping Lanes – gCaptain http://gcaptain.com/intense-north-atlantic-storm-producing-19-meter-significant-waves-near-main-shipping-lanes/

 

Team Maserati should finish by the 23rd, well ahead of the existing record.

 

from Team Maserati:
HONG KONG-LONDON / GIOVANNI SOLDINI AND HIS TEAM HAS BEATEN THE TEA ROUTE CHALLENGE IN 36 DAYS, 2 HOURS AND 37 MINUTES
February 23, 2018
They have done it. At 13h20’26” UTC, Maserati Multi 70 crossed the Tea Route arrival line between Hong Kong and London passing under the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Giovanni Soldini and trimaran’s crew composed of Guido Broggi, Sébastien Audigane, Oliver Herrera Perez and Alex Pella took 36 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes and 2 seconds to cover the 13.000 nautical miles of the theoretical route between the Chinese port and the capital of the United Kingdom. They have improved the record by almost a week (5 days and 19 hours) that previously belonged to Gitana 13, the 100-foot maxi catamaran that completed the route in 41 days in 2008. On the ground, the Italian trimaran travelled 15.083 nautical miles at an average speed of 17,4 knots.

Just after the finish line, the skipper Giovanni Soldini comments: ”We are super happy but also very tired. The last 48 hours have been very tough. Sailing in the Channel upwind with a lot of breeze, a lot of sea and a terrible cold. The record went very well, we are very happy with our route. The most difficult part was the last one: with more favorable weather conditions in the Atlantic we could have gained another 3 or 4 days, but that’s okay. Indeed it could not have been better, technically the boat is perfect. From the last time we put Maserati Multi 70 in a yard, we have sailed more than 19,000 miles and everything is fine onboard, surely there is the work of preparation by Guido and the whote team. An excellent crew”.

We are currently waiting for the ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, the organization that validates the ocean records.

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Congratulations to Team Maserati! Now, please put the foils back on and race!

 

from Team Maserati:
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GOODBYE LONDON
February 25, 2018
Just a weekend in London and it’s already time to leave for Maserati Multi 70. The departure is scheduled for Monday February 26th in the evening for a circumnavigation of Brittany before the arrival of bad weather, as Giovanni Soldini explains: ”We have identified a weather window to get out of here and go to the Trinité-sur-Mer. So we’ll leave on Monday evening for a navigation that will have to be very fast to try to arrive before the wind reinforcement scheduled for February 28th. If we do not leave tomorrow, we would be forced to stay there at least for a week. After February 28th in fact the forecasts are quite infernal, with a storm coming on the English Channel and the whole Brittany”.

 

from Team Maserati:
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ARRIVED IN LA TRINITÉ-SUR-MER. MASERATI MULTI 70 IN THE YARD
February 28, 2018
Maserati Multi 70 arrived in La Trinité-sur-Mer, in Brittany, this morning before dawn. One last navigation before returning in a yard, as Giovanni Soldini explains: ”We arrived here with an awful weather, it’s been a very hard delivery but everything turned out all right. We passed Ouessant last evening at around 8.30 pm, then the Raz de Sein and then once again we had to tack upwind at night to reach our destination. This morning the boat and the gear were still covered with ice. After 20.000 miles of sailing Maserati Multi 70 will enter a yard for two months here, we will do maintenance work and some planned modifications”.

 

From Team Maserati:
TWO MONTHS IN THE BOATYARD TO BRING BACK MASERATI MULTI 70 IN FLYING ASSET
March 6, 2018
The trimaran Maserati Multi 70 has been pulled out of the water this morning at La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany. After 20.000 miles of navigation, a two-month period under a hangar begins to work on all the necessary maintenance and to bring back the boat in its flying asset. Giovanni Soldini explains: ”The main objective is to launch the trimaran in May, again in flying mode. We will put into practice the modifications conceived in Honolulu with the designer Guillaume Verdier. That means the installation of new rudders with anti-shock kick off system and the restoration of daggerboards with L shaped foils.”

This video was posted with the above comments but is in French and/or Italian. I think I remember when this was originally done and there may have been an English translation of Guillaume's remarks.I'll try to find it:



Here is the translation of Guillaume's remarks by forum member Dolfiman:

"We are here to test the rudders that tends to stall, we have the phenomenon since the boat exists, and so we try to make rudders that are stronger and stiffer, and of course we try to understand why. And it is a complex situation because there is an interference between the main hull rudder and the leeward ama one and so we have made revised drawings for the next season so that the boat can be more controllable and the helm more enjoyable to steer. It is a bit intrinsic to all flying boats as the configurations are quite different for the various flight heights, it would be necessary to change the setting for each condition. If we have more control, we can go faster and it is less dangerous. One of the big works we will do is to make sure the rudder gets up, and that at least when it hits a floating object we do not completely lose the structure of the boat and the control and all that. We will improve anyway."

 

From Team Maserati:
THE WSSRC HAS RATIFIED THE SAILING RECORD BETWEEN HONG KONG AND LONDON
March 9, 2018
The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified the sailing record from Hong Kong to London established between January 18th and February 23rd 2018 by the trimaran Maserati Multi 70. The skipper Giovanni Soldini and his crew (Guido Broggi, Sébastien Audigane, Oliver Herrera Perez and Alex Pella) took 36 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes and 12 seconds to complete the 12,948 miles of the theoretical course of the Tea Route, maintaining an average speed of 14.94 knots. According to the cartography, Maserati Multi 70 sailed 15,083 miles on the ground, at an average speed of 17.4 knots.

Giovanni Soldini comments: ”We are very satisfied with the result. Even if at the end of the route in the North Atlantic he played some jokes on us, Neptune was on our side, Maserati Multi 70 and the crew delivered a good performance. Our record will not be easy to beat. ”

The previous record of 41 days, 21 hours and 26 minutes had been established between August and September 2008 by Lionel Lemonchois and a crew of nine people aboard the 100-foot maxi catamaran, Gitana 13, which had crossed the finish line after 15,312 miles sailed on the ground at an average speed of 15.23 knots.

 

36 days is fast, 15 knot average.
Did they deliver any tea though?

It would be cool if someone would make an attempt to race with the same load as for example Taeping or Ariel in "The Great Tea Race of 1866".
Great Tea Race of 1866 - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Tea_Race_of_1866

What kind of boat would be the most suitable, and how fast would it sail?
Taeping could carry about 2200 m³ of tea.

In that age it took 99 days (6 knot average) on fully loaded boats. Considering that they were fully loaded, and didn't use modern technology to find the ideal conditions for the race (sometimes they had to heave to during hours of strong headwinds for example) I think 6 knots average is quite fast even by today's standards.

 

I see that Maserati have put up a photo on facebook showing their revised kick up rudder mount which is now being fitted to the boat: Giovanni Soldini Pagina Ufficiale https://www.facebook.com/giovannisoldini/photos/a.10150908219844943.1073741854.23888074942/10150937975839943/?type=3&theater&ifg=1

 

Thanks for that Corley-I've checked the website in the first post almost every day and no changes. Didn't occur to me to check facebook!

Kick up rudder assembly-look at the size of that pivot bolt:


Main Foil-big difference between this foil and Gitana 17(and Banque Pop) is that their main foils have adjustable flaps whereas Maserati has to rake the whole daggerboard to change from vertical lift to downforce:



And again:

 

The Maserati team have posted a video on their FB page showing the rudder cassette in more detail: Giovanni Soldini Pagina Ufficiale https://www.facebook.com/giovannisoldini/videos/10150940306794943/

 

Maserati launched! I don't understand why she was launched w/o her foils?

 

Maserati-still working on port rudder:
--Foils in place.....

 

Maserati UptiP Ama "L" foil: This has befuddled many an observer. An "uptip" foil is used on a trimaran(Maserati and all ULTIMS) ama because of its automatic "designed -in" altitude control requiring little to no adjustment. But when Maserati first described their ama foil they said it was an "L" foil, but an "L" foil doesn't have intrinsic, automatic altitude control. Any observation of her flying videos shows very controlled ama flight altitude. How can this be?
Well, this picture shows it better than any so far. The blue circle encompasses the whole foil which is installed at a substantial angle so that the "L" foil works like an UptiP foil when moving thru the water. The red circle shows the "up tip"! So an "L" foil can work like an uptip foil if it is installed at an angle..........