Dunstone seeks to complete season on a high

Charles Dunstone is looking to add to his Rolex watch collection in the forthcoming Rolex Middle Sea Race. Having finished second overall in the Rolex Giraglia Race and first overall in the Rolex Fastnet Race, Dunstone now hopes his Reichel-Pugh Sled Nokia Connecting People can finish the season with a win in Malta.

The Middle Sea Race was co-founded by the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club in 1968. The 2003 event will be the 24th edition.

Starting and finishing in Malta the race course is 607 nautical miles and is effectively an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Sicily and off lying islands.

The course is well known as a vigorous mental and physical challenge for boats and crews, often seeing both gale force winds and flat calms as the boats claw their way around the scenic course.

In recognition of this, Dunstone has further strengthened his Fastnet winning team, which already boasts considerable Volvo, America's Cup and Maxi experience.

Dunstone's regular crew, which includes Jules Salter, James Stagg, Neal and Lisa McDonald, will be joined by "Quick Tim" Powell and Simon Fry to beef up the offshore driving and trimming departments further when the event starts later this month.

"During the Rolex Fastnet Race the crew work was exceptional with the guys working the boat relentlessly from start to finish. The Middle Sea Race is likely to be longer and with more varied conditions. To account for this we wanted to take an extra specialist driver and trimmer to help repeat our Fastnet performance," explained Dunstone.

In Malta, Nokia Connecting People will come up once more against super Maxis Shockwave and Leopard, of London, both of whom she beat in the Fastnet Race.

Unlike her larger rivals, Nokia does not carry water ballast and it is known that Dunstone is looking to set a course record for a non water-ballasted yacht.

After coming so close to overall victory in the Rolex Giraglia race in June, Dunstone challenged his crew that should he win a Rolex watch in the Fastnet Race, he would buy them all one, too!

The crew subsequently went out and won the event by a considerable margin and Dunstone honoured his pledge. It is felt he won't be so rash ahead of the Middle Sea Race!