Morning Glory has been confirmed as handicap winner of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, despite a late charge from some of the smallest yachts in the 68-boat fleet. As the breeze in Malta gathered in strength yesterday evening, it looked as though two yachts, the Maltese J/109 Artie and the British J/105 Slingshot were on the verge of stealing the German 86-foot Maxi’s thunder. But it wasn’t to be, and Morning Glory’s arrival 48 hours earlier proved fast enough to secure the race under the IRC corrected time system.

Bouwe Bekking, the round-the-world skipper who raced aboard Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory, was delighted to have won overall, “It was a beautiful race, I enjoyed it. The Rolex Middle Sea Race is a fantastic offshore event. You get the great hospitality of the Royal Malta Yacht Club, whose members do everything to make you feel welcome. The organisation was perfect.”

“Out on the race course, there are so many opportunities. You can be next to an island 1,000 metres high, but still you can find wind right next to the shore. There are lots of tactical options. But a lot of this racing is down to whether you get the luck of the gods. We felt we sailed pretty well, but having a tall rig in light winds, that’s one of the advantages. You find wind up high that the smaller yachts will never get. Also there is the efficiency of these Maxis. In 2 knots of wind you can be doing 5 knots boatspeed.”

Maltese skipper Lee Satariano far exceeded his expectations by bringing his J/109 Artie home in second place overall, with the youngest crew in the fleet – average age of 25 years. “For us we were a very inexperienced crew, but what we did well was keep our motivation all the way through the race. We didn’t sleep for the last two days. We kept working even when we were stuck in no wind. We went out and enjoyed the whole race. Everyone works well together, I really enjoy the team we brought together for this race.”

J/105 Slingshot was sailed by a team of two, Britons Shaun Murphy and Ric Searle. Murphy feels that fewer crew brings many advantages, although he conceded: “What would have worked out better is if we could have sailed the first part of the race double-handed and the last 36 hours fully crewed. We lacked the weight on the rail to be able to sail fast in the stronger breeze, and that might have been the difference between winning and losing.”

Finishing third overall with a double-handed crew remains a phenomenal achievement. It’s vital to have a good crew rapport with a team of two, but Murphy and Searle complement each other well, except where taste in music is concerned. “One of the biggest arguments was what we were going to play on the ipod,” said Searle. “We decided we’d play an album each through the boat’s speakers. We had a big debate about who has the worst taste in music. He likes Frank Sinatra – that’s pretty painful – and I like Van Morrison.”

With sixty-three boats finished and four retired, one yacht, Aquaranta, skippered by Massimo Frediani, was still racing.

Robert McNeill’s Zephyrus IV remains the current course record holder with a time of 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds established in 2000.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race final prize giving is at noon today in La Vallette Hall

at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.