Maserati-- 70' Ocean Racing Foiler

Team Maserati Pre-Race Update:
Three days until the start of the 39th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Maserati Multi 70 will face 5 other teams in the MOCRA category; among them the direct rival PowerPlay (former Concise 10), Peter Cunningham’s English MOD 70 skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield.

“We met PowerPlay’s crew, we are very happy that they came in the Mediterranean to participate in this regatta together” says skipper Giovanni Soldini. “After this race we agreed to continue with the same programme, with the RORC Transatlantic Race in November and the RORC Caribbean 600 in February, alongside other MOD 70s, making the regattas more competitive and fun”.

Maserati Multi 70’s Team is finishing up the last preparations for the race. During the delivery to Malta the solent’s hook – which secures the sail to the mast – got damaged. The substitute piece already got replaced in record time, so the Italian trimaran is ready to go out to train with the direct rival PowerPlay.

Maserati Multi 70 set the multihull category (MOCRA) record time for the Rolex Middle Sea Race when, in 2016, completed the regatta in first place in 49 hours, 25 minutes and 1 second.
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Along with the skipper, Giovanni Soldini on board of Maserati Multi 70 there will be a crew of 7 people:

• Guido Broggi (ITA), mainsail trimmer – boat captain of Maserati Multi 70, has thousands of miles of ocean sailing under his belt and collaborates with Giovanni Soldini for many years, since he was team leader in the construction and sportive preparation of 60’ Fila in 1998. In 2018, he was part of the crew of Maserati Multi 70 for the Tea Route record from Hong Kong to London.
• Vittorio Bissaro (ITA), tactician – participated in the Olympic games of Rio 2016 in the Narca 17 class and aboard Maserati Multi 70, he took part in the RORC 600 Carribean race and the Transpacific Yacht Race of 2017. In the last months, he has collaborated with the Maserati Multi 70 to optimize the trimaran under a dynamic and data analysis point of view.
• Carlos Hernandez Robayna (ESP), trimmer – he is a hugely experienced yachtsman, he sailed in different classes and joined Giovanni Soldini in many regattas and ocean crossings, among which the Transpacific Yacht Race and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
• Oliver Herrera Perez (ESP), bowman – in his career he sailed in Ims 500, Swan 45 and Rc44 races. Already part of the Maserati Vor70 crew, he continues to compete as bowman aboard Maserati Multi 70 and, in 2018, he was part of the crew of Maserati Multi 70 for the Tea Route record from Hong Kong to London.
• François Robert (FRA), pitman – he participated in numerous regattas, among which two editions of the Mini Transat and one edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, and was on the build team for Giovanni Soldini’s 60’ Fila and the Class 40 Telecom Italia.
• Matteo Soldini (ITA), grinder and trimmer – he is part of the Maserati Multi 70 project since the beginning and he participated in numerous offshore races, among which two editions of the Rolex Middle Sea Race.
• Nico Malingri (ITA), grinder and trimmer – he started sailing at a young age and he conquered two two-hander records with his father Vittorio Malingri aboard a 20 feet catamaran: the Marseilles-Carthage in 2016 and the Dakar-Guadalupe in 2017.

 

Race info from page 8:

 

Team Maserati today:
The 39th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race starts tomorrow, 20th October 2018 at 11.00 (9.00 UTC). The historical regatta organized by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, is celebrating this year its 50th anniversary since the first edition in 1968.

Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70’s crew will face 3 other teams in the MOCRA category; among them the direct rival PowerPlay(former Concise 10), Peter Cunningham’s English MOD 70 skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield. The Italian trimaran, unlike the English rival, is equipped with flying foils and rudders – hydrodynamic appendixes on which the hulls rise out of the water. The other entrants in the category are two catamarans: Swiss Allegra and Polish R-SIX.

In the past days Maserati Multi 70’s Team has been working in order to make the trimaran as light as possible and to optimize the manoeuvres’ procedures. Aboard this sort of boat the number of appendixes and variables is high, making the operations aboard very challenging.

Among the many preparations, the Italian Team is busy monitoring the developments of the weather conditions. At the moment the models show a light wind for the first 24 hours of the regatta: between 8 and 10 knots blowing from North-East in the first segment towards Sicily, that will decrease to 3-4 knots in the Strait of Messina. These conditions are not optimal for Maserati Multi 70, that reaches its full potential with winds of 15 knots and up, rising above the water. When the Italian trimaran sails with light winds, the presence of foils and rudders increases the wet surface, affecting the speed.

During the trainings this week Maserati Multi 70 sailed alongside PowerPlay more than once. With a wind at around 22 knots, the Italian trimaran achieved great results. “We tested conditions with crossed sea that was quite steep,” explains Giovanni Soldini, “nevertheless we were able to fly very stably and to test the changes made on the rudders which seem to match our expectations.”

Soldini says: “In the past months the Team worked very hard. We made a great effort in order to fine tune the last changes and to arrive with the boat ready for this challenge, so I want to thank everyone for the dedication shown during these months”.

 

Problem! The Maserati guys mentioned that the wind may be light the first 24 hrs and because of that the foils may slow the boat down. Say what??!! Thats Foiler 101-- why not increase light air sail area to compensate?? I don't get it-they are not racing as a class legal anything-is it money? What could the reason be?
Look at the specs of the Ultims(below)- in that thread Banque Pop has loads more max sail area than any other Ultim-why do you suppose they have so much more sail area????
I'm tired of excuses being thrown out before a race-I'd like to know why they haven't increased the power for those times when foiling isn't possible like Banque Pop*. Maserati has had a disaster in every single race they've sailed so far -I hope this time the talk about being slow in light air was just jive talking-they need to win this and I hope they do!
*maybe they have!
ULTIM SPECS: Ultims 2018-2019 https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/ultims-2018-2019.60107/page-4 scroll down to post 51

 

From Team Maserati this morning:

THE ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE STARTED THIS MORNING, MASERATI MULTI 70 IS FLYING AT 15 KNOTS IN FIRST PLACE
October 20, 2018
The shot fired from the cannon in the fortress looking over the Grand Harbour in Malta announced the start of the 39th Rolex Middle Sea Race this morning 20th October 2018 at 11.00 (9.00 UTC). The starting line was crossed by 131 teams, instead of the 149 entrants in the historical Maltese regatta, which celebrates this year its 50th anniversary since the first edition in 1968.

On a cloudy grey morning, with a wind of 15 knots from North-East and rough sea, the first category to start was the multihulls one (MOCRA). Among them, other than Maserati Multi 70, there’s the English MOD 70 PowerPlay, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield, which crossed first the start line, closely followed by the Italian trimaran.

Outside the Harbour, Maserati Multi 70, with full mainsail and solent, overtook PowerPlay and is now sailing in first place at 15 knots. In third and fourth position are the catamarans Allegra and R-SIX.

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--Maserati in the lead as of 6:26am eastern !
--Still ahead as of 8:55am ....
--Power Play slightly ahead and to leeward as of 11:02am...Finally started showing speed on the tracker: Maserati 12.4 knots, Power Play 14.6 knots at 11:13.

tracker: Tracker http://rolexmiddlesearace.com/tracker/

 

Unbelievable! Following the past pattern of bad luck, Maserati has damaged her stb rudder. Thats after installing a "kick-up" system designed to prevent damage. Not clear how badly damaged or why just the stb rudder and not the stb foil? This same rudder was damaged in or before every race she has sailed in since the first one. Hope they can continue to race.
Both boats are doing a bit over 11 knots but Maserati is quite a ways behind-such a damn shame. It appears that their only luck is bad luck when it comes to the stb rudder!
UPDATE from Team Maserati:

DAMAGES ABOARD MASERATI MULTI 70 WHILE APPROACHING SICILY. SOLDINI: “WE KEEP GOING”

October 20, 2018
A few hours after the start (15:30 local, 13:30 UTC) Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70‘s team were busy in a tack race with their rival PowerPlay approaching Capo Passero, the extreme southeastern point of Sicily.

The Italian crew encountered a technical problem with the main sheet’s hydraulic piston. The oil that lubricates the system slowly dropped in the air chamber and the crew wasn’t able to haul in the mainsail. “We emptied the air chamber” explains Giovanni Soldini. “The downside is that the mainsheet is slower to ease and it can be more dangerous sometimes so we will have to be more careful.”

An hour later, the right-side rudder’s fitting broke. “We still don’t know how it happened, we don’t think it was because of an impact, we are now looking into the causes” commented the skipper.

In spite of the damage, Maserati Multi 70 is still slightly in advantage over PowerPlay. “Without the rudder we will surely have many problems sailing port tack, but we keep going and we will do our best!”

 

At 2pm eastern,boats relatively close-Maserati faster in very light air on stb tack.

 

At 3:38 eastern, Maserati At 6+ knots and Power Play at 12+........Probably due to the light ,fluky conditions.....
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At 4:46 pm eastern the boats appear close to neck and neck-Maserati at 5.5 knots, Power Play at 2.5 knots......

 

Maserati seems to be slightly ahead and doing 7.1 knots. Power Play doing 1.7....
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As of 8pm eastern both boats doing 7.6 knots but Maserati is clear ahead...UPDATE-Maserati is up to 8.8 knots...

 

From Team Maserati:
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MASERATI MULTI 70 ON THE LEAD OFF ARCIREALE

October 20, 2018
At 20.30 local time (18.30 UTC) Maserati Multi 70 was sailing off Augusta starboard tack. Giovanni Soldini and his crew decided to follow a more eastern route, in order to avoid the risk of finding light winds near the coast of Sicily.

A few hours later, at 01.00 on Sunday October 21st (23.00 of Saturday October 20th UTC), Maserati Multi 70 is back in the lead and is sailing at 8 knots off Arcireale.

The causes of the rudder’s damage are still uncertain. “We really don’t think we had an impact” explains Giovanni Soldini, “we will have to conduct an accurate analysis with the designer Guillaume Verdier in order to understand the reason behind this damage.”

The crew is very happy about the trimaran’s performance sailing close-hauled, even with a lighter wind at around 12 knots.

“Now we have to quickly pass Messina and Stromboli” comments the skipper, “we will have a bit of a hard time for the beam reach board with strong winds between Lampedusa and Malta, but we still have a long way to go.”

 

Maserati has the biggest lead she has had so far in this race as she approaches Messina. Her speed is 11.6 knots while Power Play is doing 9.3.

 

From Team Maserati this morning:
MASERATI MULTI 70 REACHES STROMBOLI. WITH LIGHT WINDS THE DAMAGED RUDDER DOESN’T PENALIZE THE TEAM TOO MUCH.

October 21, 2018
During the night Maserati Multi 70 enters the Strait of Messina and the Team decides to follow an Eastern route, in order to avoid slowing down too much with the light winds near the coasts of Sicily. This strategy works and at 05.50 this morning October 21st (03.50 UTC) the Italian trimaran doubles Capo Peloro, out of the Strait of Messina sailing at 7 knots with 5 miles of advantage over the English MOD 70 PowerPlay.

From that point Maserati Multi 70 starts sailing towards Stromboli with a speed between 8 and 10 knots, reaching the island at around 10.30 (08.30 UTC) with an advantage of 19 miles over PowerPlay.

“The passage of the Strait of Messina went really well, we made a good choice by sailing more at East” says Giovanni Soldini. “With light winds the missing rudder doesn’t penalize us too much, it will become more challenging when we will have to sail port tack with strong winds: we will have to slow down and be very careful”.

Following the damage, the Italian trimaran’s crew unhooked the fuse system of the right-side rudder, rising it above the water: this way, while sailing port tack, only the central rudder is in use. This solution is effective with light winds, but the central hull needs to stay in the water or there will be no rudder in use.

Maserati Multi 70‘s Team started working right away to find the causes of the damage with designer Guillaume Verdier: “It’s hard to understand why the rudder’s fitting broke while sailing close-hauled, and not while flying downwind. It’s unlucky that this happened in this moment, during this summer we sailed about 2.000 miles and we never had this kind of problems”.

The new rudders’ fitting are made with a rigid carbon fiber and they have proved to be lighter in the section that transfers the torsion between the two bearings.

Go Maserati!

 

At 9am eastern Maserati still has a substantial lead but Power Play is going faster....
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9:56am- Maserati still has a big lead but PP is .2 knot faster.....
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11:44am Power Play still behind and doing 8.5 knots, Maserati 9knots...

 

From Team Maserati:
MASERATI MULTI 70 STILL IN THE LEAD OFF THE ISLAND OF ALICUDI

October 21, 2018
At 17.00 local time (15.00 UTC), the tracker shows Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70 still in the lead, off the island of Alicudi.

After passing Stromboli this morning at 10.30 (08.30 UTC), the Italian trimaran is now proceeding at 10 knots, keeping an advantage of around 20 miles over the English rival PowerPlay, which is sailing at 8 knots North of Salina.

Maserati Multi 70 is sailing towards the Western cape of Sicily with a wind of 8-10 knots, which should remain stable before getting stronger near the island of Favignana.
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UPDATE: At 1:07 pm Maserati is doing 6.9 knots and PP 8.4.

 

At 2:21 pm Maserati is still leading by a big margin and doing 8.2knots. Power Play is faster at 9.8 knots.