At 00.51 52” on Saturday June 1st local time (7.51 52” UTC and 9.51 52” Italian time) Maserati Multi 70 crossed the finish line of the 1st edition of the CA 500. The course of the regatta is around 500 miles long, from San Francisco to San Diego. Maserati Multi 70 completed the race with an elapsed time of 1 day, 11 hours, 41 minutes and 52 seconds.
The English MOD 70 PowerPlay crossed the finish line first, at 18.12 24” on May 31st local time (1.12 24” UTC and 3.12 24” Italian time on June 1st), finishing with an elapsed time of 1 day, 5 hours, 2 minutes and 24 seconds. The American trimaran Argo followed shortly after, at 19.49 52” local time (2.49 52” UTC and 4.49 52” on June 1st), concluding the race with an elapsed time of 1 day, 6 hours, 39 minutes and 52 seconds.
Aboard Maserati Multi 70, skipper Giovanni Soldini sailed with 6 professional sailors: the Italians Guido Broggi, Nico Malingri and Matteo Soldini; the Spanish Willy Altadill and Oliver Herrera Perez; the French François Robert.
Maserati Multi 70, Argo and PowerPlay set sail from San Francisco on Thursday May 30th at 13.10 local time (20.10 UTC and 22.10 Italian time).
Not too long after the start, a collision between Maserati Multi 70 and an unidentified floating object damaged the right side rudder. «The rudders’ anti-impact system worked very well,» said Giovanni Soldini, «without it we would’ve lost the rudder completely. The only damaged piece is the pivot attached to the steering rod, which is a small detail. Because of this we couldn’t operate the rudder anymore during the race, but it will be a very easy thing to fix».
The Italian Team was delayed by the damaged rudder and by other impacts with algae and floating objects, so Giovanni Soldini and his Team tried a different route. «We tried a course closer to the coast to compensate the disadvantage we had because of the rudder: in those conditions, if we had set the same course as our competitors, we would’ve only followed them from behind without regaining miles. We were hoping to find a better gybing angle shown in the weather forecasts, which unfortunately turned out to be inaccurate».
Despite the damages, the Team is pleased overall in view of the next challenge. Soldini added: «This has been an uphill race for us, but we’re happy nonetheless. We wanted to test new settings and we were able to draw conclusions and validate different solutions regarding the rudders, the gennaker and Maserati Multi 70’s flying performance in general. Before the damages occurred, we were able to reach high average speeds and we’re satisfied with the tests we conducted. We’re happy that PowerPlay did such a beautiful race and we can’t wait to race together again during the Transpac!»
The 50th edition of the Transpac (Transpacific Yacht Race), from Point Fermin, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, will start on July 13th.
