Bangor's Mikey Ferguson has come a long way since he learned to sail at a young age in Ballyholme on Belfast Lough.
Racing with the MOD70 experts, Brian Thompson and Peter Cummings on board the Riccardo Pavoncelli owned MOD70 Mana in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, Mikey said: "Everyone had to raise their game in our crew and I think we came away with a great result and account of ourselves for our first ever race on Mana". Before the start, he had predicted a battle for line honours, as Afloat.ie reported on 17th October.
He added that it was an epic match race within sight of Giovanni Soldini's Maserati for most of the 500 miles - about 200 meters apart. The lead changed hands about 18 times, and Mikey admits that they made a small tactical mistake not to go with Maserati at the last island of the course and it cost them 5 miles. But they chased them down again to finish about 13 minutes behind at the finish, to wind the MOCRA division.
Mikey was delighted with the result and is already looking forward to next year's racing calendar in the Med. "It was great to be competitive given how little time we have had the boat this year available to sail and train on. Brian and Pete are seasoned MOD70 sailors and it showed. Everyone had to raise their game to try to match their levels in our crew and I think we came away with a great result and account of ourselves for our first ever race on Mana. We have just left Malta and are on the trip back to Cagliari to pack the boat up for the winter".
Maserati Multi70 (ITA), skippered by Giovanni Soldini, crossed the finish line of the 2020 Rolex Middle Sea Race at the Royal Malta Yacht Club to take Multihull Line Honours at 20:41:31 CEST on Monday 19th October in an elapsed time of 2 days, 08 hours 31 minutes 31 seconds.
Mana (ITA), owned by Riccardo Pavoncelli, finished fifteen minutes behind after a closely fought battle around the course.
Ferguson & Brian Thompson (Lakota round Ireland record 1993) on Mana have won the Middle Sea Race Mocra Division on corrected time by 4 minutes 23 seconds.