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The 49° edition of the Transpac for multihulls

The 49° edition of the 2,225-mile long Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles, California to Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Italian trimaran faces stiff competition in the race, particularly from two American boats – Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 Phaedo3 and Howard Enloe’s 60-foot Mighty Merloe.

Relive the race!

Maserati Multi70 finishes the Transpac Race in Honolulu in third place

Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati Multi70 crossed the Transpac Finish finish line off Honolulu under a full moon at 11.18 and 55 seconds Italian time, July 11 (23.18 and 55 seconds, on July 10 in Hawaii).

Although they did not get the result they were looking for, the Maserati Multi70 crew sailed a total of 2,636 miles on the four-and-a-half day crossing and were able to gather lots of valuable performance data that will help with their quest to fully master the art of offshore foiling.

It was our first time sailing the boat when we could fly on both sides,Soldini explained. “We learned a lot of new things about how to sail the boat and now we have a ton of data to analyse on the computer. Our goal is to build an accurate table that will help us better determine when are the best times to fly and when it is better not to."

We are committed to the concept of an ocean-going flying boat and more than ever convinced that this is where the future of ocean racing lies. We need to put some thought into how we deal with the risk of ocean debris damaging the rudders and we have some innovative ideas to consider.

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Maserati Multi70 narrows the gap to leaders in final stage of Transpac Race

Maserati Multi70 has closed the gap significantly on the two leading multihulls in the Transpac Race – Phaedo3 and Mighty Merloe – despite being handicapped by breaking a rudder.

The crew of five Italian and two Spanish sailors have been pushing the boat and themselves to the limit in an effort claw back the ground they lost to their two American flagged rivals.

Although constantly at risk of losing control on port gybe, Maserati Multi70 has reached speeds up to 30 knots as it approaches the finish of 2,225-mile race across the Pacific from Los Angles to Hawaii.

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Maserati Multi70 slowed by broken right rudder after collision with an unidentified floating object

The crew have been able to retrieve the shattered rudder on the back of the starboard (right hand) hull of the trimaran. The other rudders on the port (left hand) and the central hulls are undamaged and the crew are continuing to race towards the finish in Honolulu.

“We were sailing fast at 28 – 30 knots when we heard a big bang,” Soldini reported today. “We immediately stopped the boat and managed to retrieve the rudder blade that was still attached by a retaining line. That was quite a difficult procedure because it was during the night, with lots of wind and waves”.

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Maserati Multi70 takes overall Transpac race line honours lead in high speed dash to Hawaii

The Italian trimaran Maserati Multi70 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.

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.

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.

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Maserati Multi70 crossed the start line off the Point Fermin headland of the 2017 Transpacific Race

The light winds at the start penalised Maserati Multi70 and handed the advantage to their closest rivals, the two high-performance American trimarans, Phaedo3 and Mighty Merloe – neither of which are set up for foiling.

Immediately after the start gun, Soldini’s men found themselves in the wind shadow of the two American boats but managed to tack into clear wind of around 8 – 10 knots and on a layline to the western tip of Catalina Island, some 35 miles away. Once around that point, the crew will look to turn their bows towards Hawaii.

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Transpacific Yacht Race kicks off today

Maserati Multi70 will race for the first time in full flying mode – with both flying dagger boards lifting the boat out of the water -  making it the first flying ocean-going trimaran.

Soldini and his crew have fitted a new advanced rudder system one side of the boat and during the race to Hawaii will be testing its functionality.

“As a foiling, flying boat, we need 14 knots of wind or more to get properly up and going” Soldini explained. “We will have to be smart and fight hard at the start not to let the others get away if the winds are light. In multihull racing boats can stretch out leads of 50 miles or more in just a few hours.”

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