2016 Rolex Middle Sea Race - Coastal warm up
by Rolex Middle Sea Race media 20 Oct 2016 14:44 BST
19 October 2016
Rolex Middle Sea Race coastal warm up © Sam Scicluna
Action at the 2016 Rolex Middle Sea Race got underway yesterday, Wednesday 19th October, with a 21-mile coastal race. Organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club as a warm-up opportunity to put in some practice ahead of the main event which starts on Saturday, some 33 teams entered. Principal Race Officer Peter Dimech set a course offering various sailing angles and the race was sailed in decent breeze building from 8 to 15 knots during the race. Starting from Marsamxett Harbour, the first leg was downwind under spinnaker to the Valletta Fairway Buoy, followed by a reach to the Munxar Cardinal Buoy and a beat to Benghisa Cardinal Buoy off the south east corner of Malta. The fleet then returned on a reciprocal course back to Marsamxett. The First 45 Elusive 2 sailed by Podesta family from Malta came out on top as overall winners.
The westerly breeze coming off Malta meant there were plenty of puffs and shifts all along the east and south east coast of the island for crews to take advantage of. Going offshore in search of stable breeze or looking for lifting pressure inshore proved the main tactical puzzle. With opportunities to sail different angles and play shifts caused by the land effects during the three to four hours of racing, the Coastal Race was a great rehearsal for the 608-mile offshore classic.
Elusive 2, jointly skippered by siblings Aaron, Christoph and Maya Podesta, all members of the Royal Malta Yacht Club, completed the course in the quickest elapsed time as well as the best corrected time under IRC. Yves Grosjean's French J/133 Jivaro was second overall and Nils Lindemann's X-p 44 Xpedite took third. Class winners were: Vasily Shumarin's Raketa 1200 Belka 2 from Russia, Hartl & Wolf's double-handed Austrian entry the J/109 2Hard, Vadim Sklyarov's Ukrainian Dufour 45 Du4 and, of course, Elusive 2. Prizes were awarded last night in front of some 300 guests at the Rolex Middle Sea Race Owners' Reception & Coastal Race Prize Giving held at the historic Fort St. Angelo, overlooking Valletta's Grand Harbour.
Fort St. Angelo was originally built in the medieval period and named the Castello al Mare. Soon after their arrival in 1530, the Knights of the Order St. John set about repairing and strengthening the fort's substantial defences. The repairs proved their worth 35 years later when Fort St. Angelo played a heroic role in the Great Siege of 1565. The epic resistance of the Knights during the three-month siege gave the Fort its legendary status as protector of the Maltese nation. In recognition of its importance, the fort was recently subject to a €14 million restoration project under the management of Heritage Malta.
The next racing action at the 37th Rolex Middle Sea Race will be the offshore race start at 11.00 CEST on Saturday, 22 October. Social activities continue this evening with the Royal Malta Yacht Club's Crew Party. Catering for the hundreds of competitors in Malta for the race, along with race officials, volunteers and VIPs, the crew party is a great send-off for the crews with live band and DJ-driven music adding to the festive atmosphere.
www.rolexmiddlesearace.com
How to follow the race
Organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, the 2016 Rolex Middle Sea Race will start at 11:00hrs (CET) on the 22nd October in the spectacular Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta.
The 608-mile yacht race takes place in the heart of the Mediterranean and covers one of the most beautiful courses in the world. Starting and finishing in Malta, the route includes the deep azure waters around Sicily including the Aeolian and Egadi Islands, as well as Pantelleria and Lampedusa. One of the most stunning vistas is Stromboli, the active volcano which is a course mark.
Challenging, enchanting and historic, the annual Rolex Middle Sea Race is one of Europe's most popular and respected offshore races. Supported by Rolex since 2002, the event's fascination is largely drawn from its alluring, 608-nautical-mile race course – a rigorous and scenic anti-clockwise loop around Sicily, which introduces numerous 'corners' that present changing and complex meteorological shifts.