After the record set by Giovanni Soldini in 2014 aboard the monohull VOR70 Maserati (10 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds), the Italian Team is back to sail the 3.600 miles from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro aboard the trimaran Maserati Multi 70. Their direct competitor is the maxi 80-feet trimaran LoveWater, skippered by Craig Sutherland.

There are three different starts for the 25 boats entering the race: thirteen smaller boats started on January 4th, the bigger monohulls will start tomorrow at 14.00 local time and the two faster multihulls at 14.30 local time.The competing boats will head North West towards the island of De Trindade, from where they will then set course towards Rio de Janeiro. The only other Italian entrant is Federico Borromeo’s Southern Wind 102 Almagores II, skippered by Andrea Henriquet.

Soldini explains: «LoveWater is a super trimaran of the ULTIM class, the giants of the sea: it’s 10 feet longer than Maserati Multi 70, so it’s potentially faster. Our strong point are the foils, that allow us to fly over the water, waves and wind conditions permitting. It will be quite a battle, we will do our best!»



Aboard LoveWater sails an experienced crew, including the English Brian Thompson, great sailor and expert of ocean multihulls. Among his significant results, worthy of note are the victories in the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race aboard Mike Sanderson’s ABN AMRO ONE and in the 2012 Jules Verne Trophy aboard Loick Peyron’s Banque Populaire V. Thompson is also former skipper of MOD70 Phaedo3 and crewman of the trimaran Argo, both of which have been challenged many times by Maserati Multi 70.

Born in 1971, organized by the Royal Cape Yacht Club and held every two or three years, the Cape2Rio is the Southern Hemisphere’s longest intercontinental yacht race and has always been a legendary event for every experienced sailor. The race historically attracted many Italian participants: the only other Italian winners besides Maserati are Giorgio Falck’s Guia III and Carlo di Mottola Balestra’s Chica Tica, respectively winners of handicap honours and handicap Trophy in the 1976 edition. The same year also the great sailor Ida Castiglioni participated aboard Kiaola II with an all-female crew.

The original course starts in Cape Town and arrives in Rio de Janeiro, but for some editions the finish line has been moved to other destinations: in the years of protests against the Apartheid the race finished in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and, in 2006 and 2009, in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.