Maserati Multi 70’s Team and Giovanni Soldini are in Los Angeles, ready for the 50th edition of the Transpacific Yacht Race (commonly known as Transpac), which starts tomorrow, Saturday July 13th at 12.30 local time (19.30 UTC, 21.30 Italian time).
This edition of the Transpac attracted 90 entrants, among which there are six multihulls. Alongside Maserati Multi 70 there will be the American MOD 70 Argo, the English MOD 70 PowerPlay and the American 63’ trimaran Paradox. In the multihull category there will also be American catamarans Celestra and Kastor Pollux, respectively 40’ and 42’.
In addition to beating the multihull record, set in 2017 by the American ORMA 60 Mighty Merloe (4 days, 6 hours, 32 mi nutes and 30 seconds), the Italian trimaran and its competitors will race for the Rudy Choi Perpetual Trophy, awarded for the fastest multihull elapsed time.
Maserati Multi 70’s Team, who already participated in the Transpac in 2017, will compete again with the two MOD 70s, which they already challenged many times: American Argo, skippered by Jason Carroll, and English PowerPlay, skippered by Peter Cunningham. The two rival trimarans will sail in classic mode, even though Argo is working to develop a flying system and will race with flying rudders.
Since its first edition, raced in 1906 with only 3 entrants, the Transpac has become more and more important and today it is one of the most awaited and followed racing events.
The historical regatta starts from Pt. Fermin, Los Angeles leaving Catalina Island to port; the finish line, around 2225 miles away, is off Diamond Head, Honolulu, Hawaii.
The weather forecast shows typical conditions for this time of the year: «The first hours after the start will be the hardest» Giovanni Soldini explains, «there will be a wind hole but we will try to make our stand. Later, for around twelve hours, we will sail broad reach with a nice 20-25 wind. After that the wind will start to get lighter and turn to tailwind.
We will have to try to stay in the best wind possible and, at the same time, sail around the high pressure».
Maserati Multi 70’s Team is continuing its research and testing in order to optimize the trimaran’s flying performance. Giovanni Soldini explains: «During the last race, the CA 500, we carried out some tests that helped us further improve the rudders’ system. We already tried it out on the water and it seems to work really well. Maserati Multi 70 is in good shape and we’re excited!».
