The 28th Rolex Middle Sea Race looked to be mirroring almost exactly its British cousin, the Rolex Fastnet, as retirement after retirement is phoned into the Royal Malta Yacht Club Race Control, whilst the front-runner makes record-breaking progress towards the finish. After a relatively benign start Saturday, the trouble began as yachts began to reach to the Sicilian coast. At 4pm yesterday some twenty-two yachts had retired including four of the big ones – Titan 12 (USA), Valkyrie (CAN), Whisper (IRL) and Ourdream (GBR) – leaving thirty-five still racing.

Race leader Rambler has been eating up the miles over the 24-hours since reaching Capo Passero shortly after 5pm on Saturday evening. George David’s 90-foot supermaxi with Ken Read as skipper belied her name and strode up the eastern seaboard of Sicily, springing out of the Strait of Messina at 1am yesterday morning. Rounding Stromboli at 4.35am, she has made reasonable progress across the top of Sicily and was just north of Favignana at 4pm, making 19-knots. The forecast frontal system looks set to blow the big white supermaxi home at speed with winds from the northwest topping out at 40-45-knots. There is the probability of a confused sea state that may slow her up a little, but short of gear failure or breakage she could reach the finish at around 9am today. If so she would have smashed the existing course record. But she needs to finish before such predictions become meaningful.

Behind Rambler lie Atalanta II and Loki. Shortly after rounding Stromboli yesterday morning, Skipper Cameron Miles and Navigator David Sampson called in to report on the previous night’s entertainment. Apart from a wipe out, which Miles admitted was his fault the concern last night seemingly centred on the Rugby World Cup final result.

Miles was also feeling positive about the situation ahead and was enjoying the racing with Atalanta, “I’m surrounded by happy faces about to tuck into toast and sandwiches. We got very wet last night in the rain and spray, but we’re smoking along now in good reaching conditions. We expect to reach the corner (western tip of Sicily) this evening and may meet the front head-on at that point. It’ll be bumpy around Favignana, but should be fast down home from there.”

This rosy picture of last night’s proceedings was not echoed further back in the fleet where the retirements started coming in thick and fast at about 6pm on Saturday night. The smaller, slower yachts encountered very difficult conditions as they made their way up Sicily towards the Strait of Messina. Sonke Stein, owner of the Ker 11.3 Kerisma, packed it in at around 3am on yesterday morning. Kerisma did not encounter really tough winds, but found the sea state and visibility the biggest problem, Stein was quite sure their decision was one of prudent seamanship.

Andrew Calascione, co-skipper of Jammin, was in accord with Stein, about the sense of prudent seamanship. Calascione and John Ripard decided enough was enough some twenty miles south of Reggio Calabria at about 7am yesterday. Interestingly, Jammin was one of a number of yachts to encounter localised, but extreme conditions with a series of sharp rain squalls bringing violent winds that even led to them running at times under bare poles.

Jammin is currently in Riposto with Geisha (MLT) and Bordeaux 3 (MLT). The crew hope to duck down to Syracuse on Monday and join the party developing there. Along with Kerisma, a gaggle of Maltese have sort shelter there including Georges Bonello DuPuis’ Primadonna, Sandro Musu’s Aziza, Alfie Manduca’s Garmin Allegra, Lee Satariano’s Artie Go and Jost Merten’s Escape.