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.
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.
