Time has now run out for the remaining competitors in the Rolex Middle Sea Race to beat Atalanta II’s corrected time. Thus Carlo Puri Negri’s Farr 70 has won the 26th Rolex Middle Sea Race not only for line honours, but also overall under IRC handicap.

With the wind continuing to be light across the Rolex Middle Sea Race course, so at present 11 boats are still racing, just eight have completed the course, while an unprecedented 39 boats have now retired, most due to the impossibly light conditions that have dogged progress in this race for the last five days.

While numerous boats have been returning under power, David Franks’ J/125 Strait Dealer is the next boat due to finish and this afternoon was finally tackling the Comino Channel between Malta and it's small neighbouring island in nine knots of wind.

Meanwhile Strait Dealer’s match race partners of the last 48 hours on the Swan 62RS Constanter yesterday morning threw the towel in. She arrived back into Marsamxett Harbour early yesterday afternoon under power.

Among those still racing are the two Russian yachts Kirill Lebedev’s Beneteau 40.7 Veronica and Synergy, the new Grand Soleil 40 of Alexey Nikolaev. The boats were one third of the way between Lampedusa and Malta with Synergy ahead.

Behind the Russians and in the race still is former the IOR 2 tonner Comanche Raider.

As to the prospects of making it in before today morning's deadline, Diamantino was hesitant. “Looking at the forecast, our prospects are low. If you are optimistic - then high!”

In five years of competing in the Rolex Middle Sea Race this is the lightest one he has known. "We usually have 2.5 days of heavy stuff and 2.5 days of light. This is abnormal, although it was expected, it was forecast and they were right." Diamantino says they have been finding way of maintaining their sanity in the light conditions.

Race veteran Arthur Podesta on the Beneteau 45F5 Elusive arrived back in port at breakfast time yesterday, one of the retirees. Having competed in every Rolex Middle Sea Race Podesta says the first in 1968 and the race in 1996 were equally slow as this one. However never before have there been so many retirements from the race due to light conditions.

“It was unbelievable,” said Podesta. “At Messina we were in the top three or four in the classification and were doing extremely well. And then we just parked and everyone caught up. It was such a difficult race to keep an older boat going. We would stop and get going, stop and get going again.

At one point we put the sails down as it was going to damage the sails and the boat if they continued flapping.” Elusive turned her bow towards Malta around six miles after passing Pantelleria.

Bringing up the rear in the fleet are two-handed sailors Anthony Camillieri and Kevin Gauci Maistre on the Bavaria 46 Flying Colours.

What remains unsolved is who will win Class 2. At present there are no finishers and the race is on to see if the two Russian boats, currently leading class 2 on the water will reach the finish by am this morning.

The final prize giving is today at noon in La Valette Hall at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.