Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70’s Team will set sail from San Francisco for the first edition of the CA 500 tomorrow at 13.00 local time (20.00 UTC and 22.00 Italian time). The CA 500 is the last event of the California Offshore Race Week, a series of races organized by the Encinal Yacht Club, the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and the San Diego Yacht Club.
The CA 500 course is approximately 500 miles long, from San Francisco to San Diego: after crossing the starting line, off St. Francis Yacht Club, the fleet will leave Farallon Island Light to port before heading towards the finish line off San Diego.
During the first 12 hours of the race, weather forecasts show 25 knots of NW wind, with gusts up to 30 knots, and rough sea: it will be difficult for Maserati Multi 70 to fly steadily. Closer to the finish line, in the last 100 miles, the wind will drop abruptly, but at the moment the forecasts vary: the European models indicate a wind between 3 and 4 knots, whereas the American models are more optimistic.
Maserati Multi 70 will compete against 3 boats: in the multihull category the American MOD 70 Argo, skippered by Jason Carroll, and the English MOD 70 PowerPlay, skippered by Peter Cunningham; in the monohull category the Swan 461 Free.
Maserati Multi 70 will sail in flying mode, unlike her direct rivals, who will sail in classic MOD mode. Through continuous research and tests to improve the trimaran’s flying performance, the Italian Team has developed new settings for the flying foils and T-shaped rudders. The two rudders, on starboard and port side, will be set to different compensation and foil area parameters, so the Team will be able to test these new configurations during the race.
Giovanni Soldini explains: «We’re very happy to participate in the CA 500, which is a great training for the Transpac (Transpacific Yacht Race, ed) and a perfect opportunity to race against our competitors. During this race we will carry out many tests, we can’t wait to try out the new configurations and settings both of the foils and rudders, and of the sails. Our attitude for this race will be different: we will be more focused on optimizing Maserati Multi 70’s flying performance and less concerned about what our competitors are doing».
Aboard Maserati Multi 70, skipper Giovanni Soldini will be joined by a crew of 6 sailors, of different ages and nationalities: the Italians Guido Broggi (mainsail trimmer, born in 1971), Nico Malingri (grinder and trimmer, born in 1991) and Matteo Soldini (grinder and trimmer, born in 1993); the Spanish Willy Altadill (trimmer, born in 1992) and Oliver Herrera Perez (bowman, born in 1987); the French François Robert (pitman, born in 1967).
