Stormy, Gear-buster Rolex Middle Sea Race

(Gzira, Malta)- The 50th Anniversary Rolex Middle Sea Race will go down in history as yet another stormy, challenging race.  While not nearly as strong as last year’s mistral that clobbered the fleet with up to 45 kt winds and enormous 10-15 ft seas, this year’s 606nm blast around Sicily and the islands was no picnic.  The fifty-five boat fleet started off Malta last Saturday and most of the fleet was finished in five days. 

Countries represented in the 2018 Rolex Middle Sea Race included Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States. Amongst the fleet of nine J/Teams, eight countries were represented!

The J/109 Jarhead Young Sailors Malta rounded Favignana on the fourth day of the race, with 250 miles to go, the crew of teenagers backed by the Jarhead Young Sailors Foundation- a Maltese non-profit organization with the principal purpose of educating youth in the sport of sailing- was making the most of their testing experience. “Happy to be round Favignana.... And heading for home!” blogged Jarhead. “It has been a tough 36 hours, but the young guys are doing well and in high spirits, now we are blast reaching south!” 

Yves Grosjean’s J/133 JIVARO called in while passing the island, 185 miles from the finish: “We are tired, but our spirit is good. Every year we do this race, it is never the same. We love coming back because it is a well-organized, magnificent race, with a beautiful course, which is always mysterious.”

Then, George David on the Maxi RAMBLER 88 reports, “this was a challenging race. There were a couple of notable points including a big squall north-west of Trapani, about 40 knots for us, and a bunch of park ups when we were ahead of everybody. The summary for the race is zero knots to 40 knots and winds from east, west and north, but no south! South was the one direction we didn’t see on the compass rose this time!”

In the ORC 4 Division, Yves Grosjean’s J/133 JIVARO finished 4th on handicap scoring, followed by Matt Stokes’ Canadian team on the J/133 BLUE JAY III in 6th position, and then Andrew Hall’s British team on the J/121 JACKHAMMER took 7th.

In the ORC 5 Division, Nicolas Ibanez Scott’s J/122E ANITA took 3rd on the podium, followed by Cascino Giuseppe’s Italian team on the J/122 JOY RC YACHTING in 5th place. 

In the IRC 5 division, Ibanez-Scott’s J/122E ANITA took 5th place, while Grosjean’s J/133 JIVARO placed 7th.

Then, in the IRC Doublehanded Division, the J/109 2HARD took the silver, sailed by the Austrian pair of Hartl & Wolf.  For more Rolex Middle Sea Race sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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