The 2008 GlobalCapital Gozo Regatta ended with a picture perfect day and wonderful sailing conditions – bright sunny sky, flat water and a steady South-westerly breeze ranging from 10 to 17 knots.

The first passage race up to Gozo was sailed in a moderate North Westerly wind.

Boats started from the waters opposite the Royal Malta Yacht Club on Manoel Island, sailed outside the tuna farms at St’ Paul’s Bay, through the North Comino Channel and finishing at Mgarr Harbour.

The results of the first race were proof of who was going to be competitive over the weekend. Kerisma finished second in his class whilst Mischief took his first bullet (of three) in the weekend.

The corrected times in both classes showed that the weekend was going to produce a very close battle among the leading boats. David Cremona on board Breezer won the 473 class whilst Elusive won the first race. Blue Fin finished a good second in class.

The second race was a twice round Comino race and included the Fessej Rock in Gozo. A steady westerly breeze saw the fleet beat up towards Fessej Rock with a few daring moves close to the shore.

Once round the rock, skippers hoisted their spinnakers and headed towards the South Comino. This leg didn’t allow much overtaking due to the light winds which were in the region of 8 to 10 knots of true wind speed.

Once round Comino, sailors had a pleasant beat towards the Mgarr Harbour breakwater and back up to Fessej Rock. In IRC A, Artie Go had a better race than the previous day and was always vying for a very good position during the race.

In IRC B, Mischief and Sailaway were always very close to each other and both sailed a really good race while Blue Fin and Maarial, with identical ratings, raced boat for boat all the way to the finish line, with just some 20 seconds separating them with Maarial just ahead.

After another spinnaker hoist, a fresher breeze accompanied the fleet all the way back round Comino and up towards Mgarr Harbour. Kerisma really gained on this leg and won in IRC A whilst Martin Meachen was really burning rubber in IRC B and got his second bullet of the weekend.

Both boats won their classes with Breezer winning the 473 class again over Misty Blue.

The third and final day offered very few surprises. The southerly wind, blowing at an average of 15 knots offered the whole fleet a perfect beat from the start line laid off Mgarr Harbour to the finish line opposite Couvre Porte. The 10am start caught two early birds over the line. “ArtieGo” of Lee Satariano and “Mischief” of Martin Meachen were both called over the line and had to re start. This did very little to dampen their spirits as both recorded very good results in the final race. ArtieGo finished third in class whilst Mischief took his third bullet to make this his best result ever in a regatta claiming three first places out of three races.

David Pizzuto on board Geisha sailed a great race to just beat Kerisma by a mere three seconds on corrected time. With this second place, Sonke Stein, on Kerisma, claimed the overall in this regatta. Elusive finished the race in fourth place followed by AirMalta Falcon in fifth.

With “Mischief” in first place again, “Sailaway” of Ray Schembri sailed another good final race and claimed second in class again and second overall in IRC B. James Grech on board Maarial finished in third place and third overall too.

John DeGiorgio’s “Flyers Dream” finished in fourth position while “Spirit of the Winds” finished in fifth and the Gatt Floridia brothers on board “Blue Fin” in sixth. Gordon Craig, on board “Harry”, finished in seventh place.

In the 473 Class, David Cremona on “Breezer” again managed to pip “Misty Blue” at the finish line to claim three wins out of three races.

During the prize giving ceremony, Mr. Nicholas Portelli, Chief Executive Officer of GlobalCapital, thanked the RMYC’s Organising Committee and said that the second edition of the GlobalCapital Gozo Weekend regatta, organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club was considered by all as a resounding success and looked forward to next year’s event. The Commodore, Georges Bonello DuPuis thanked Global Capital for their continued support for the support of all the event organisers.