The pontoons at the Royal Malta Yacht Club were full yesterday with crews from the Rolex Middle Sea Race fleet busily reloading gear and fresh supplies onboard -- and heading off for deliveries back to home ports throughout Europe. Malta’s location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean enables the race to draw from a diverse fleet which this year comprised 70 boats from 16 countries.
As of midday yesterday, 65 boats in the Rolex Middle Sea Race had finished, four had retired, and one boat, Skipperclub was still racing. At 4pm the Russian boat was off Lampedusa on a somewhat lonely last 100-nautical mile leg to the finish.
The race has always drawn an interesting mix of the top maxi racing boats. This year’s crop included the 100-foot maxi Esimit Europa 2 (SLO), J/V 72 Rán (GBR), and the Mills 68, Alegre (GBR) – as well as well-sailed racers and racer-cruisers, often with family and friends as crew. This year’s conditions favoured the smaller boats for a change. In fact, in the top ten overall, all of the boats are under 45 feet, the sole exception the 72-foot Rán. The local Maltese fleet, though smaller than in recent years, did well with four out of the top five overall from Malta – including the overall Rolex Middle Sea Race winner, the J/122 Artie, co-skippered by Lee Satariano and Christian Ripard.
The race start in Grand Harbour was dramatic as ever with four class starts, and a line from the Saluting Battery beneath Upper Barrakka Gardens across the harbour to a buoy off the historic Fort St. Angelo. The jockeying to get out of the harbour cleanly was as competitive as ever.
The 50-nautical mile reach across to Sicily and the leg up to the Messina Strait is where many of the competitors later reported making gains – or losing ground – to the rest of the fleet. This year many of the boats that sailed a course further east, off the Calabrian coast had the best luck, while others struggled off Catania in the shadow of the active Mt. Etna, which only a day later would erupt angrily enough to close temporarily Catania airport.
Most boats gave Stromboli the usual wide berth, especially this year as the breeze went light.
Once past the eastern tip at San Vito lo Capo, there was breeze again, this time a strong southeasterly meeting the yachts at Favignana. Esimit Europa 2, followed nine hours later by Rán stuck their bows around the corner and took off.
For the smaller boats, their slower progress meant they were often sailing in a completely different weather system than the big boats. By the time the middle of the fleet arrived off Favignana, 12 hours after Rán, conditions were rapidly changing, with some boats experiencing local squalls and thunderstorms that quickly backed the wind direction from southerly to northerly. The Maltese boat, Comanche Raider II was the first retiree, out with rudder problems, while Otra Vez, also from Malta, broke their
Otra Vez would go on to finish the race third overall, which was an achievement given that the boat was brand new to the crew, having only been purchased and shipped from America less than two months before, but was able to carry on.
The 75-nautical mile leg to Pantelleria would bring the most wind of the race: 20-25 knots and a big, lumpy sea to give all competitors a proper offshore bout. Once around the rocky island, it was a beat to Lampedusa, 80 nautical miles away. Esimit Europa 2 encountered rough seas on this leg, breaking a running backstay, but they were one of the few fortunate enough to carry the breeze through to the finish in Marsamxett Harbour.
On Wednesday, several competitors ran into wind holes on the leg from Lampedusa and approaching Gozo and Comino. For some, such as Chris Opielok’s, AOC Rockall, it would be a make or break point. The Corby 36 had, until then, been in strong contention with Artie, for the overall win. But a park-up ten miles from the finish line would squelch those chances. When AOC Rockall finally crossed the line that evening, it missed overhauling Artie by less than 30 minutes on corrected time. Still it was a great showing for the German boat’s first The leg from the South Comino Channel to Marsamxett Harbour, featured mostly light conditions, for the later arrivals. After racing 600 plus miles, this last ten-nautical mile stretch was one of the most tactically challenging parts of the race for many, relieved only by the welcoming sight of the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the finish line.foray at the Rolex Middle Sea Race.
By yesterday morning, all of the fleet, save one, had managed to get themselves across the line. Among those tied up at the pontoon was Ko Labeij’ 55-foot Andrea (NED). The Dutchman, who lives in Istanbul, is owner and co-skipper of the sloop, built by Camper & Nicholson in the early 1970s. The yacht has its homeport in Bodrum, Turkey. Despite Labeij having sailed the 700-odd miles to Malta, he and his crew of friends are new to offshore racing. Labeij said with a wry smile, “We thought, ‘let’s go for it’. We were determined to do this race and we thought maybe we could contribute to this high-tech race in a different sort of way.”
The final prize giving is at noon today at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.