#RMSR - With less than three months to go, the Royal Malta Yacht Club is expecting another great fleet for the 36th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race this October.
Entries for the 606-nautical-mile offshore race are rapidly coming in with over 50 boats from 18 countries already on the list.
Prominent among these is one of the newest and arguably the fastest Maxi 100, Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark’s Comanche.
“Comanche was designed and built to push the boundaries of technology with the ultimate goal of winning prestigious yacht races, and they don’t come much better than the Rolex Middle Sea Race," said skipper Ken Read, president of North Sails Group.
"It is an honour to compete in the 36th edition of this European classic which will be the perfect culmination of a busy summer season of Rolex events as Comanche is due to race in both the Transatlantic and Fastnet Race.
"As ever, our crew will be pushing hard for line honours but we’re simply looking forward to racing Comanche in the Rolex Middle Sea race for the first time and enjoying everything that Malta has to offer.”
Read is no newcomer to the race, having been the skipper with George David on Rambler when they established the current course record of 47 hours 55 minutes and 3 seconds in 2007.
The race has been popular with the Maxi 72 class and counts for the Maxi 72 Med Trophy. The class is so far represented by Roberto Tomasini Grinover’s Robertissma III, which is making a welcome return after missing the race in 2014, and Dieter Schon’s Momo, which is new to the race.
The diverse fleet is continuously growing and includes many very competitive boats as well as some large multihulls. The race follows a long but varied course in which smaller boats can compete against the biggest and the best and sometimes even win.
Indeed, in 2014 it was Lee Satariano’s J122, Artie, from Malta that was the overall winner.
The 100-foot (30.5m) hull length limit has been lifted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Royal Malta Yacht Club for the 2015 editions of the Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Middle Sea Races.
This will allow super maxis to compete in these two races which, together with the Caribbean 600 and the Transatlantic Race, will make up the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series.
The Notice of Race for the 2015 Rolex Middle Sea Race has been published and can be accessed on the event’s official website at www.rolexmiddlesearace.com or collected from the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Racing begins on Saturday 17 October 2015, with the final prizegiving ceremony to be held on Saturday 24 October.
