Maserati Multi70 and Giovanni Soldini have reached the California coast ahead of the start of the Transpacific Yacht Race, also called Transpac. The 52nd edition of the now classic biennial ocean race, organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club and first held in 1906, will start in Los Angeles and finish in Honolulu, Hawaii, covering a distance of about 2225 miles.
The fleet of more than sixty boats, which will start on a staggered schedule over three days, will gather on the starting line off Point Fermin, where for the multihulls the signal will be given on July 1 at 11:55 a.m. local time (6:55 p.m. UTC; 8:55 p.m. Italian time). Direct rivals to Maserati Multi70 are the two American MOD 70s Argo, with skipper Jason Carroll and Brian Thompson as navigator, and Orion, with skipper Justin Shaffer.
On board together with Giovanni Soldini the professional team composed of Guido Broggi (ITA), Oliver Herrera Perez (ESP), Francesco Malingri (ITA), Francesco Pedol (ITA), Matteo Soldini (ITA) and Lucas Valenza-Troubat (FRA).
Along with the Bermuda Race on the East Coast of the United States, the Transpacific Yacht Race, also called “Transpac”, is one of the longest-running offshore races in the world, and since its first edition in 1906, it has grown in importance to become the most relevant competitive event in the Pacific. From the starting line in Pt. Fermin, Los Angeles, the course calls for the fleet to leave Catalina Island on the left and, with weather conditions typical of this time of year, sail with headwinds for much of the race to the finish line at Diamond Head, Honolulu, Hawaii. But there is no shortage of difficulties as the race course passes near the Pacific trash vortex, the so-called plastic island, which poses a greater risk of collisions.
Maserati Multi70, which is participating in this competition for the third time after the 2017 and 2019 editions, has firsthand experience of this, and in both cases it suffered damage caused by colliding with objects in the sea: the first time losing the right rudder, the second time destroying a meter of the bow of the left hull due to the impact at night with a very large object.
For Giovanni Soldini and the entire team, this is an important new sporting and technical test because Maserati Multi70 is the first racing multihull to be powered by a full electric system. In order to electrify the trimaran and allow it to travel in total autonomy without limiting its performance capabilities, solar panel surfaces have been upgraded and a special battery, particularly light and dense, has been developed.
