Rolex Middle Sea Race start
by Rolex Media Centre 21 Oct 2006 19:14 BST
Slingshot towards Sicily
The only doublehanded team in the Rolex Middle Sea Race led the 68-strong fleet out of Marsamxett Harbour on a beautiful sunny morning in Malta. The 34-foot J/105 Slingshot, raced by British duo Shaun Murphy and Ric Searle, shot out of the first of six staggered starts and led her division comfortably around the Rolex turning mark at Tigne Point, just under a mile out of the start.
The start line in the Harbour is arguably the most spectacular of any yacht race in the world, but it is narrow and so the race committee phased the fleet into six divisions, starting with the smallest and graduating up to the Maxis who started 50 minutes after the likes of Slingshot.
The Maxi start was one of the closest, with Paul Cayard steering Thuraya Maximus into pole position, crossing the line less than two seconds after the 25-pound field guns, operated by the Armed Forces of Malta, sent the last of the fleet on its way. Alfa Romeo is regarded as the most potent SuperMaxi in the world and despite a slightly more conservative start, Neville Crichton's boat had already drawn level with Thuraya Maximus by the Rolex buoy. An hour after starting Alfa Romeo had eked out a half-mile lead on the other SuperMaxi. Indeed the sleek 100-footer had overhauled every other yacht in the fleet, even those that started 50 minutes earlier, some 6 miles after the St Paul's Bay turning mark.
As the boats headed away from Malta, the wind built up to 20 knots and propelled the fleet along at high speed on a broad reach towards Sicily. So far the wind has been far better than the weather forecast was predicting, although how long it will last is another matter. Mike Sanderson, skipper of the Volvo Open 70 ABN AMRO ONE, commented before the start: "It's not looking good for an ABN AMRO victory. The Rolex Middle Sea Race was never in our design brief for this boat, and VO70s really aren't special in 7 knots of breeze. We need breeze. On this course Alfa Romeo is the undisputed favourite. Neville has done a fantastic job with his campaign. The boat is very narrow, with a big rig. She's a rocketship in light airs." Cayard admitted much the same, saying that Thuraya Maximus would need strong winds to stand a hope of beating Alfa Romeo around the 608-mile course. So far the race is running perfectly for Slingshot, with Shaun Murphy and Ric Searle enjoying their downhill sleigh ride towards Sicily, and one of the few teams to welcome the light winds forecast for the majority of the race. Far from regretting the lack of a full crew, skipper Murphy sees it as an advantage. "I don't think it is that hard sailing doublehanded, it's much easier to work out the crew rota," he laughed. He and Searle operate on a 'two-hours on, two-hours off' watch system. "The boat is very light, and I don't think it would help weighing it down with another four or five crew and extra food and equipment. Every kilo you can take out of a boat will count if it's a light forecast."
A fascinating match race is in store for the two Swan 601s, Sir Peter Ogden's Spirit of Jethou and Jim Swartz's Moneypenny. On paper the Moneypenny team should win this contest, as the boat is packed with some of the best professionals in the world, sailors such as Dee Smith and Mark Rudiger. But the British sailors on Jethou are very accomplished too, and include former Rolex Sydney Hobart winner Jeremy Robinson. Spirit of Jethou won the race to the first turning mark and were holding a slim lead over Moneypenny. Navigator Nat Ives commented: "So far everything is going swimmingly. The crew have been enjoying fresh rolls for lunch and the sailing is going well. At the crew briefing this morning I warned them that the breeze would ease off as we came away from the Maltese coast. It has moderated slightly but is now steady at about 12.5 knots from the west-south-west, and so we are still making great progress towards the tip of Sicily.
"The start was pretty intense and the noise of the field guns still managed to shock the crew despite remembering it from last year. We timed our hoist well at the start and had the pleasure of repeating our great start from last year to once again lead our class out of the harbour. Moneypenny closed up to us in the lighter patch and snuck through to leeward, but we are now back on level terms and for the last hour we have been literally only 30 metres from their transom. We expect a close match race all the way round but since they will owe us a little bit of time under IRC we are happy to stay close so long as we are both going in the right direction."
The 45-footer Pasaya has already pulled out of the race due to engine problems which the crew has been trying to solve for the past three days. Schle Wood, the first owner from Thailand ever to enter the race, was very upset not to be able to race the full course but we has determined to cross the start line before retiring. "We don't have the engine, so to continue would be too risky. It's very sad, very sad, we could have made it this year. I have wanted to do this race for many, many years. But these things happen in sailing, sometimes this is what sport is like. We'll be back next year, and we want to finish this race."
By 1700 Central European Time the front-runners had passed Capo Passero on the southern tip of Sicily and were starting the long haul up the eastern coast towards the Straits of Messina.
The final prize giving is at noon on 28th October.
Zephyrus IV established the current Course Record of 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds in 2000.
For more information about the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2006 including the entry list, position reports and results please visit www.rolexmiddlesearace.com