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NO MID-LIFE CRISIS FOR ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE
www.regattanews.com @ Tue Jul 29 11:36:00 +0100 2008
With three months to the start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2008, the fleet is shaping up to provide a cracking demonstration of offshore sailing. Thirty boats have entered to date, from the 100-foot Rapture (MAR), through the 65-foot Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, Rosebud (USA), to the Cookson 50 Lee Overlay Partners (IRL) (formerly Chieftain/winner of 2007 Rolex Fastnet), down to the current mighty minnows, the 10.5-foot JPK 9.6 Foggy Dew (FRA), of Noel Racine. The fleet is already a true cross-section of the distance-racing scene – professional crews, Corinthian crews, stripped out racers, fast cruisers, double-handers and adventurers.
“We’re at a good stage already in the entry list,” comments Georges Bonello DuPuis, Commodore of organizers the Royal Malta Yacht Club, continuing, “typically we are at around 25 yachts by end of July. But this is just the formal entries. We are aware of a number more that are in the wings. With Malta being such a small place, news travels fast and as soon as a boat books hotel rooms or marina space for October, the jungle drums beat loudly. We know exactly who is planning on participating before the entry form arrives.”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first ever race. Line Honours winner in 1968 (and 1969), Stormvogel, is making a welcome return although she will have her work cut out to repeat her first to finish performance with the likes of the 100-foot super-maxi Speedboat slated to compete. The game has moved on considerably since Stormvogel was considered cutting-edge.
Interestingly though, whilst the glamour boys at the front of the fleet will attract the headlines, it may well be amongst the 65-75 foot yachts that the real story of this year’s race is written. Aptly named pocket maxis, this new breed of boat is appearing in numbers at all the top events around the world this year. Roger Sturgeon’s STP65 Rosebud swept to victory at her maiden Rolex Sydney Hobart last Christmas despite a couple of tense hours in light winds at the mouth of the Derwent; an experience that may hold her in good stead for the Mediterranean’s answer to the Hobart Race, when light wind mastery is as important as heavy weather skills. Whilst Rosebud is the only STP65 on the official entry list, rumour suggests she will be head to head with Jim Swartz’s STP65 Moneypenny (USA), whom she bested on the water and handicap in this year’s Bermuda Race. Swartz, however, has prior experience of the Rolex Middle Sea Race having raced his Swan 601 around the course in 2006.
The 50 – 60 foot range often provides compelling competition too. Although recent editions have seen handicap winners from the front of the fleet – the 90-foot Rambler in 2007, the 86-foot Morning Glory in 2006 and the 70-foot Atalanta II in 2005 – one only needs to look to 2004 to find Greek 50-footer Optimum 3 on the podium. This year, fresh from his experience in a brutal Round Ireland Race, Irishman Adrian Lee will be on the historic start line beneath the walls of Valletta with his Cookson 50, Lee Overlay Partners. “I’m really focused on offshore racing. If I can’t get enough at home I’ll go find it!” says Lee, continuing “I’ve sailed all my life and the Rolex Middle Sea Race is spoken of very highly by those I respect. Lee Overlay is designed for tough offshores, which is why I bought her and my plan is to do all the major grand-prix races, so I’m really looking forward to it.” Given the yacht’s performance when the going gets tough, Lee could be forgiven for wishing for a repeat of last year’s conditions when the fleet encountered two days of gale-force winds and big seas, forcing three-quarters of those competing to retire.
In the throes of marvelling at yet another invasion of foreigners, something Malta has witnessed time and again in her colourful history, the local entrants should not be forgotten. The expansion in race entry numbers has not come without a price for this small, but proud sailing nation. The last Maltese boat to win the race was in 2002, when John Ripard Jr and Andrew Calascione, on the J-109 Market Wizard, took home the trophy. Optimism is a central core of the Maltese well being, but there is realism too. Five-time competitor Martin Scicluna will be participating again on his Beneteau 40.7 AirMalta Falcon. Scicluna harbours no illusions of winning. For him, especially after last year’s experience when his was one of the 15 boats to finish, participation is enough and completing the course a success. And, this is true for any number of competitors.
The Rolex Middle Sea Race commences on Saturday 18th October 2008 from Marsamxett Harbour, Malta.
Entries close on 11th October. The final prize giving is at noon on 25th October.
George David’s Rambler established the current Course Record of 47 hours 55 minutes and 3 seconds in 2007.
FORTY YEARS YOUNG - 2008 ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE OPEN FOR ENTRY
www.rolexmiddlesearace.com @ Wed Apr 30 09:01:00 +0100 2008
2008 is a significant milestone in the history of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, marking forty years since the Swan 36 Josian won the inaugural race. Already, this year’s fleet shows signs of being something special. Not only are two of the very latest and fastest supermaxis – Leopard 3 and Speedboat slated to participate, but also one of the original maxis and the line honours winner in that first ever race – the once formidable Stormvogel.
The Royal Malta Yacht Club is extremely proud of the heritage surrounding its classic 606 nautical-mile offshore race that began in relatively humble circumstances in 1968 when 11 yachts raced the course for the first time. The race has seen good times and bad. In early editions, entry levels rose quickly and featured some of the iconic yachts of the 70s and early 80s – Nirvana, Mistress Quickly, Helisara, Pen Duick III, Ondine, Orca. A period of decline led to the race not being held for a while, but since its rebirth in 1996, the Club has seen entry numbers rise with an increasingly large and significant international contingent. As Commodore Georges Bonello Dupuis comments, ” every year we see familiar faces return to take part, and more and more these familiar faces are from all around the world – the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Russia, Greece – not just the traditional countries such as Italy and the UK. We really appreciate this. It is important to us that people know of our race, how good it is as a challenge and an experience. It is even better if those that do it want to come back again – even if it is after an absence of almost 40 years!”
Stormvogel was, in her day, one of the fastest racing yachts around with plaques on her bulkhead to prove line honours in the Fastnet (1961), Buenos Aires-Rio (1962), Sydney-Hobart (1965), China Sea (1966), Transpac (1967) and, of course, the Middle Sea (1968 & 69). Current owner Ermanno Traverso has owned her for some 25 years and bought her for her ocean-going qualities rather than her history, “she was just a big, old maxi that nobody wanted. The era of the classic had not begun…. It is only recently that people have begun to race these boats again and take an interest in their history. I didn’t feel like I was buying a piece of history, not then.” Traverso first came across Stormvogel in Malta and is looking forward to revisiting a successful chapter in the yacht’s long life.
Speedboat could very well be the Stormvogel of today. Designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian for a US owner, the 98-foot canting-keeler is currently undergoing sea trials in New Zealand following her build at Cookson’s. Her programme includes the Newport Bermuda Race in June when her true pedigree potential will become apparent. Project Manager Bill Erkelens, exhibits an evident excitement when talking about Speedboat, “her primary design features include the canting-keel, twin rudders and twin dagger-boards together with water ballast and a tall-rig; she will be a very powerful boat offshore, especially with cracked sheets.” The rig is indeed tall, at 44.3 metres the deck-stepped mast is described by Southern Spars as `the tallest and most powerful maxi rig produced by the company yet. It is the ultimate collaboration of latest design thinking and innovation in rig technology.’ Her sailplan, according to North Sails, is the result of meticulous planning, ‘the design of almost every component started at the drawing board, resulting in major weight savings. Every aspect of sail design, down to the orientation and density of individual fibres within each aspect of every single one of the 11 sails – was carefully planned out.’
So who do you put in charge of what has been described as a ‘Volvo 70 on steroids’ – Mr V70 himself – Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson, who has recruited Stan Honey as his high-speed navigator along with a number of other highly experienced offshore sailors well-versed in the art of getting the best out of such a complicated steed. Speedboat’s first race outing in the Newport Bermuda this June is eagerly anticipated – even in Malta.
Leopard 3, on the other hand, has already begun her pedigree-building process in earnest. Mike Slade’s 98-foot Farr-designed, Ken Freivokh-styled canting-keeler already has one record under her belt. Whilst over half the 2007 Rolex Fastnet fleet retired in the face of some brutal conditions, Leopard 3 set about crushing the benchmark time by almost 9-hours whilst fighting off a sterling challenge from George David’s 90-foot Rambler – the 2007 winner and current record-holder of the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Pipped to the winning post by Wild Oats XI at the subsequent Rolex Sydney Hobart, Leopard 3’s crew will no doubt be setting their sights on redressing the situation and securing line honours in this race.
George David and Rambler are rumoured to be planning a return to Malta too. Last year, with Ken Read at the helm, David achieved the highly sought after treble – Line Honours, Overall Winner and Course Record. This year Read will be engaged elsewhere on the Volvo Ocean Race, but Rambler would be expected to be amongst the front-runners once again.
Further back from the headline grabbers, will be the usual mix of yachts between 35 and 70 feet, all with a real chance of overall victory if the wind gods do not favour the biggest yachts on handicap. From its earliest days, the Rolex Middle Sea Race has been a unique test in offshore racing. The course is roughly square-shaped: north from Malta to the Straits of Messina; westwards to the Egadi islands; south down to Lampedusa and (north) east back to Malta. There are plenty of tactical and strategic decisions to be made; plenty of passing lanes of which to take advantage; plenty of potential wind-holes to fall into and even the possibility of mythological sea-monsters such Scylla and Charybdis gobbling up the unsuspecting. This is perhaps the only race in the world where a copy of Homer’s Odyssey could sit usefully alongside a nautical almanac in the navigation station.
After last year’s battering encounter with Mother Nature, competitors will be hoping for an easier ride this time. But they will rest assured that race will serve up another adventure for the participants whilst writing a new and worthy chapter in the history of the event.
The Rolex Middle Sea Race commences on Saturday 18th October 2008 from Marsamxett Harbour, Malta.
Entries close on 11th October. The final prize giving is at noon on 25th October.
George David’s Rambler established the current Course Record of 47 hours, 55 minutes, and 3 seconds in 2007.
For further information about the race and to register please contact:
Royal Malta Yacht Club
T. +356 2133 3109
F. +356 2133 1131
E. info@rmyc.org
W. www.rolexmiddlesearace.com
Rambler Smashes Rolex Middle Sea Race Course Record
@ Mon Oct 22 11:41:00 +0100 2007
George David’s 90-foot super-maxi Rambler (USA) took line honours in the 28th Rolex Middle Sea Race at 11.45.03 this morning.
In doing so, Rambler, skippered by Ken Read has taken over16 hours off the previous course record set by Zephyrus IV in 2000.
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