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.
