Howth Yacht Club Middle Sea Race entry BAM has been drifting/running past Lampedusa towards the general direction of Malta/Turkey hoping for a forecasted swing and an increase in the breeze reports Anthony Doyle onboard the Dublin-based Jeanneau 3600.
The last 48 hours have been frustrating in that we made up a lot of ground across the northern coast of Sicily only to sail into another wind hole at Capo San Vito, the other side of which 2 miles away had 25ktns waiting for us.
Once we did make it through 3 hours later the lead boats in our class had disappeared again, we quickly stuck a reef in and changed down to the number 4 head sail as the breeze built from 3 Ktns to 30 Ktns in a matter of minutes. We spotted Otra Vez on the AIS heading back to Sicily and assumed that she had suffered gear failure, at least we were still in the race - there is always a positive.
Wrapped another lobster pot around the keel last night, sails down for 45 mins again to remove it.
Some highlights of the race so far
- seeing Stromboli erupting at night
- pot noodles, the "Bombay Bad Boy" went down well, "Mac and Cheese" not so much
- freeze dried dinners, chicken in black bean was especially good
- hot dogs
- being warm on the rail even when wet, makes a bit of a difference to ISORA racing
Downsides
- 1st and 2nd lobster pots on the keel resulting in dropping all sails and one of the young lads having to dive down to cut them off. Never seems to happen during the day....
- wind holes
- more wind holes
- even more wind holes
Crew are in good form, boat has been going well once we get some breeze, unfortunately the weather gods have been kinder to others this time around.
Thought for the day, "Sheep tails go down and Goat tails go up"....
Now for the final push...
Meanwhile, the Royal Malta Yacht Club announced that Vincenzo Onorato's Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino is the overall winner of the 37th Rolex Middle Sea Race. Whilst a number of yachts are still racing, none of them have the possibility of beating Mascalzone Latino's corrected time. The Mascalzone Latino team will be awarded the Rolex Middle Sea Race Trophy and Rolex timepiece on Saturday 29 October at the prize giving ceremony to held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.
Middle Sea Race winner – Mascalzone Latino Photo Rolex/Kurt Arrigo
This race crew was a mix of Italians and British sailors who have raced all over the world under the Mascalzone Latino banner and with great success. Last year they came agonizingly close to adding the Rolex Middle Sea Race to the honour role. In the absence of owner, Vincenzo Onorato, the boat was skippered this year by Matteo Savelli. The afterguard included Adrian Stead, Lorenzo Bressani and Branko Brcin. Ian Moore was the navigator. The sail trimmers were Leonardo Chiaruigi, Pierluigi De Felice, Stefano Ciampalini and Andrea Ballico. Daniele Fiaschi and Davide Scarpa shared the bowman duties.
Matteo Savelli: “Twelve months ago we cherished the possibility of victory but it was not to be by a nine seconds gap. But our belief in success at this event was simply delayed until this year. And now, we can say we couldn’t expect more. Everything has worked properly and the job went off without a hitch. The crew commitment was remarkable; the only regret was the lack of Vincenzo Onorato onboard."
The 2016 Rolex Middle Sea Race will be marked in the ever growing race legend as a tactically demanding one, with huge pressure on the tacticians and navigators to keep the yachts moving in the face of changing conditions. “It felt like unfinished business after coming so close to winning last year,” commented Ian Moore, continuing, “but past performance is no guarantee of future success! We knew if we wanted a chance to win this race that we would have to sail really well and get a little bit lucky with the weather. In the end, our luck held, and the guys sailed really well despite tough conditions.”
Vincenzo Onorato of Mascalzone Latino: “I am really very happy for this victory. We have quite the same crew for many many years. We won together six Worlds titles, I can’t remember how many Europeans and many of the most important major regattas in the world. The Rolex Middle Sea Race is the pinnacle of offshore racing in the Med. We were looking to win for a long time and finally we have proudly succeeded”.
