Provisional results show Lee Overlay Partners, Adrian Lee's Cookson 50, fifth and Michael Cotter's Whisper sixth. Cathal Droan's Legally Brunette in class three is not listed as a finisher so far.
Andy Soriano's 68-foot Alegre (GBR) cruised over the line at 0720 yesterday morning to secure the prize for being first home. The Royal Malta Yacht Club greeted the arrival with its ritual cacophony of hooters, clapping and cries of congratulation.
Just after the frontrunners had tied up at Grand Harbour Marina and were sinking a well-earned beer, the news from the racecourse started to take a turn for the worse. The rotten hands dealt to the fleet north of Sicily, when they had no wind, were being dealt again. This time, though, the jokers in the pack included the sea state and a sudden, exceptionally violent, squall as a front generated by a tight low over Sardina passed over Pantelleria at lunchtime.
First boat on the radio to Race HQ was the short-handed Oxygene (ITA), whose crew could not start her engine to charge her batteries and consequently was sailing without instruments to Pantelleria to assess their options. At 0900 it was the turn of Sciara (ITA), reporting her retirement due a broken mast. Skipper, Filippo Lancellotti, explained that "we were about one mile past Pantelleria, having a great race with Vikesha, when the mast snapped high up. It was not too much wind, maybe 22 knots, but the sea was very harsh and we were pounding hard. It's a shame to retire, but everyone is OK and we'll be back." Lancellotti passed on his thanks to the crew of Vikesha (MLT), skippered by Timmy Camilleri, which stood by whilst the crew of Sciara got things under control.
Four hours later and the weather forecasts were predicting a fierce ball of wind in excess of forty knots due to pass through the area of the course around Pantelleria. And, at 1400, Sandro Musu the skipper of Aziza (MLT) duly confirmed its arrival, advising, "we were thirteen miles south of Pantelleria when we were caught in a massive squall that came from nowhere. It was pouring with rain already, but the wind went from twenty knots to over forty, maybe more, in an instant. I was on the wheel and it knocked us right over for several minutes until we could get the sails down. Everyone is OK and we'll get to port to assess the damage, but we are without our mainsail so we are going to retire." These conditions are in complete contrast to the previous 48 hours of calm, but are part of what makes the Rolex Middle Sea Race so challenging. Everyone says this area of the Med is unpredictable in October. Musu, who retired last year during the brutal first night, managed to find some humour in the situation, "the funniest point was when Matthew ‘Pizzel' Fiorini had to come on deck in his boxer shorts to help clear the sails." Gallows humour in the circumstances.
Shortly after, Richard Falk, skipper of Gyrate (GBR), confirmed the intensity of the thunderstorm that hit the fleet, when announcing their retirement, "at 1300 we were hit with winds in excess of 55 knots and struck by lightning. The winds came with virtually no warning and the damage to the mainsail is beyond our means to repair. We could continue, but have taken the difficult decision to retire." Ivan Mellia and Windriven (MLT), called in to describe similar conditions. Windriven has sort shelter at Pantelleria to assess the extent of the damage caused by the storm. And whilst the weather produced storm has retired for the moment, so too has the Italian yacht Storm.
