Irish offshore sailor Shane Hughes has described Black Jack 100 as an “absolute weapon” after helping the maxi take monohull line honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race for the second successive year.
As Afloat reported following the finish, the 100-footer, owned by Remon Vos and skippered by Tristan Le Brun, completed the 606-nautical-mile course on Monday, 19 October 2026, in two days, three hours and 51 minutes. The result was the yacht's fastest passage in the event in its 21-year history.
Speaking to Afloat, Hughes said the race was faster than many had anticipated. “All the talk in the lead-up was about how light and slow the race could be, but our modelling wasn't really suggesting that,” he said.
“In the end, we had more wind and made better progress than our routing and, as opposed to 2025, we never parked up.” The crew sailed close to the rhumb line for much of the course, which made for a fast passage.
Boat Speed Rather Than Tactical Gambles
Hughes said the crew made a strong start, leading their class out of Grand Harbour. “That allowed us to put the hammer down straight away,” he said. The conditions offered relatively little opportunity for major tactical gambles, making it principally a boat-speed race.
After Stromboli, navigator Max Deckers guided Black Jack 100 offshore to avoid the lightest winds. Hughes said the rival 72-footers Django and Balthasar had been able to gybe earlier, but reviewing the tracker suggested the decision worked out well later in the leg.
According to the race organisers, Black Jack 100 was only 12 minutes ahead of her nearest rivals at Capo Passero, but had extended that margin to more than 90 minutes at Messina and almost three and a half hours by Favignana.
Harbour Power – Black Jack 100 sails off Valletta during the 2026 Rolex Middle Sea Race, in which the maxi secured monohull line honours for the second successive year. Photo: RMYC/Andrea Azzopardi
A Roller-Coaster Ride Home
Hughes is part of the trimming team. During offshore racing, four sailors rotate through the forward-sail trimming duties, two on each watch cycle. “We have quite a lot of forward sail configuration options on Black Jack so we are always busy either trimming or cleaning up sheets and setting up the next sail or sheet lead,” he explained. “There is very little downtime but I prefer that, to be honest!”
The closing legs from Pantelleria to Lampedusa and back to Malta were particularly demanding, with steep seas and winds reported by the organisers to have reached 28 knots.
“My bunk is right at the back of the boat and with the bigger sea state it was like trying to sleep on a roller coaster — literally hanging onto the pipe cot!” Hughes said. He had little sleep during the final 24 hours.
An Irish Record of Offshore Success
The latest line honours result follows a series of major offshore sailing performances by Hughes aboard Black Jack 100. In July 2025, he was part of the crew that set a Gotland Runt course record in Sweden, followed by monohull line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race. The yacht also took monohull line honours in the 2025 Middle Sea Race and the RORC Caribbean 600 in February 2026.
The 2026 result was a monohull line honours victory, not the overall race win under handicap. Hughes said the crew had pushed hard for a competitive corrected-time result as well.
Team First – Shane Hughes, identified in the front row, second from left, wearing sunglasses, with the Black Jack 100 crew in Malta. Hughes credits the team's work ethic and calm approach for their offshore success. Photo: Kurt Arrigo
No Prima Donnas
Hughes said the atmosphere aboard remained calm throughout the race, even when things went wrong. “At the finish, we didn't get too excited, just pretty content with how we sailed the race,” he said. “Overall, I guess a mix of relief and satisfaction.”
He credited Vos and Le Brun with giving the crew everything needed to succeed and fostering a hard-working, team-first culture extending to the shore crew and support staff.
“We don't have any prima donnas on the team,” he said. “We have some very talented sailors but I would say our work ethic and commitment to being team-first oriented is one of our biggest assets.”
Yet when asked about the secret to the team's success, Hughes pointed to the yacht herself.
“She is an absolute weapon,” he said. “I always finish races on this boat feeling that we did not do her justice — or to put it another way, the boat never lets us down. It's an absolute privilege to get to sail on her.”
Full Flight – Black Jack 100 heads out past Malta's historic waterfront, illustrating the speed that helped deliver another Middle Sea Race monohull line honours result. Photo: Kurt Arrigo
