The Tommy Hilfiger Ramla weekend regatta recently organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club came to a close with some amazing races whilst having the azzure waters of Comino and the Island of Gozo as a perfect backdrop to what was a very demanding weekend of races.

The passage race from Marsamxetto Harbour towards the Ramla Resort was very straight forward. The race started in a very light breeze but once the boats reached the Fairway Buoy, which was the first turning mark, the breeze filled in nicely which made for some spectacular sailing along the jaggered coast.

Tonton and Tango 34 made sure that they started the weekend on a good footing and both claimed class wins. In the cruiser class, Inspiration clearly won his class with a convincing sail over Aziza in the opening race.

The fresh Mistral came through as predicted for the rest of the weekend and with the race committee opting to have short windward leeward course within the South Comino Channel, the helmsmen and crew were all in for a beating and a tough day out at the office.

Three races were scheduled for the IRC racer class on Saturday while the cruiser class had a coastal race around Fessej Rock in Gozo, round Comino and finish at the Ramla Resort. Both racer divisions swapped positions in all the races throughout the day.

However, it was Juno who outshone the rest of the fleet in Class A whilst Moondance and Tango 34 outmanoeuvred their opponents in Class B. Many crews had foul ups whilst dousing their spinnakers but no serious damage was reported, except for their moral having a dent or two. In the cruiser class, Godwin Zammit sailed another great race to again beat Sandro Musu on board Aziza and Pierre Pisani on board Myona 3.

Sunday was the deciding day for both Juno and TonTon. Whoever won would be crowned overall winner. The battle was not to be as Juno made life much easier for his direct opponent and retired from the start of the race due to mechanical repairs that needed to be done to the boat. Without a doubt, much less pressure on TonTon, who sailed higher and faster than many other boats in its class throughout the whole weekend.

With a reduced fleet in Class B, the winner was Mondance with some great crew work and tactics during the whole weekend. Tango 34 sailed a great regatta too and finished in second place followed by Otra Vez in third place.

The cruiser fleet enjoyed the same course as their faster siblings with Charles Borg Barthet winning race 3 on board Excellance followed by Inspiration in second place, thus claiming the Cruiser Class.

The RMYC also organised a ranking dinghy event. The Laser 4.7 was dominated by Ella Fleri Soler, while her younger brother, Edward showed a clean pair of heels to his tough competitors in the Optimist Class. Katerina Esposito won the Optimist novices while Sean Miggiani won the Novices Cadets on board an Optimist Dinghy. Lawrence Vento and Nadya Maniscalco claimed the Miracle class.

Final prize giving was organised by the resort with the various winners being award prizes by Jonathan Shaw representing Tommy Hilfiger (Malta) and Ms Taziana Grech on behalf of the Resort.