The Elusive family and friends

Although Arthur Podesta has taken part in all Middle Sea Race editions held so far, with a number of trophies and records to his name, his enthusiasm and flair for the race have not been dented the slightest.

A former Commodore of the Royal Malta Yacht Club this is the first time he will be skippering his own yacht.

Arthur had previously won the race when sailing with another stalwart, John Ripard (Snr). He beat the course record twice in 1979 and 2000. In 1998 he was on Wiva, crossing the line in second place but still inside the previous course record.

What keeps Arthur going is his sheer love of the sea, the wind and the natural elements that make sailing such a wonderful sport, and obviously his passion for boats, especially his Beneteau, which he will skipper this year.

Forming part of his ten-'man' crew on board the Elusive will be his three children. Thirteen-year-old Christoph, probably the youngest sailor to have ever competed in the race, his meticulous daughter Maya (19), and his hard-working son Aaron (16).

Accompanying the Podesta family will be another six members, sailing together for the first time including another teenager with sailing at heart, 15-year-old Yasmine Degiorgio, who came over to Malta for the race.

Denis Gatt, Andre Borg, James Grech, Chris Saliba (who owns an identical boat to Elusive) and Andrew Sullivan form the rest of the team.

They have been training for the past month. Being invited on board last Tuesday to observe them on one of their training sessions, I was amazed to see how the team works together with clock-work precision with only a flapping sail and Arthur's timely commands to break the silence out at sea.

Each member of the team is assigned a specific job, together forming a perfect harmony, working together at a punishing pace to match the requests of the Mediterranean's most gruelling race.

The Middle Sea Race has become renowned to present participants with a rugged time from frustrating still days to galeforce winds. Life on board the Elusive over the coming days could get pretty complicated and strained. There will be stacks of work to be done on board night and day as headsails are raised and spinnakers dropped, leaving plenty of scope for drama.

They were out training this week to find different settings and sail combinations for different conditions to get optimal performance which could win them the race. They were also meant to try a new headsail but had not arrived in time much to Arthur's frustrations.

But things seem to be looking good for Elusive.

In midweek they took part in two coastal races as a warm-up for today's big event and placed third twice. Conditions were not very favourable for the boat with very light winds. Elusive needs over 12 knots of wind to move well.

At the MSR, the Elusive crew will be divided in two watches as the boat must sail to maximum speed. The race is 607 nautical miles on chart, but participants usually log some 750.

The yacht has also been brought up to ship-shape condition. The hundreds of metres of different-coloured ropes have been meticulously washed and cleaned. The sails have been checked and with the larder well stocked up.

"Ultimately, it is the team committing the least mistakes that will cross the finishing line first," Arthur said.

"But winning a race is not the ultimate priority. The safety of my crew is of utmost importance as well."