Entries set for another record

Seventy entries and counting. The Rolex Middle Sea Race is on the cusp of another record fleet for the sixth consecutive time.

Last year, 68 boats set off on the 607-nautical mile race from Malta around Sicily, Pantelleria and Lampedusa, and back. This year the race starts on October 20 and, as usual, from its famous line between 18th century Fort Manoel and the 16th century bastions of Valletta.

With entries open until next Sunday, the Royal Malta Yacht Club remain hopeful that they will attract a few more boats and this time breach the barrier of 70.

In 2006, 70 yachts filed entries but two dropped out just before the start.

Chairman of the Race Committee, Godwin Zammit, is staying positive.

"We know of a couple of Maltese boats that could still file entries and we often find that there are last-minute entries from Italian yachts, like the one over the weekend from Obelix and, then, Intrigue," he said.

"We received an unexpected entry from the United Kingdom this week, so even further afield is possible."

"Whatever the eventual outcome, we have a great fleet that ranges from just over 30-feet up to 90-feet," added Zammit.

"If someone had told us a few years ago, when we had only 25 boats on the line, that we would be where we are today we would have laughed. I am sure it reflects a marked interest in offshore racing.

"The Rolex Middle Sea Race is definitely thought of as a classic and is once again a must-do event."

The current fleet has George David's 90-foot Rambler (US) at its head.

Another yacht with course record potential is Tom and Dottie Hill's 76-foot Titan XII (US). Further down the fleet there are a number of returning boats, led as always by the ever-present Arthur Podesta.

Willie Carbonaro is another skipper who struggles to say no to the allure of the race.

"I started sailing in 1985, but at that time the race was not being held, so the first time I did the race was in 1996 and I've only missed one since," he said.

"It was the gloomiest time ever knowing everyone was out there," added Carbonaro who sails with a core group of friends often supplemented by an international contingent.

"Every year when something is going wrong I think this is the last time. Then I remember the one I missed and I remember of all the good times."

Carbonaro will be racing his 43-foot Bordeaux 3 for the seventh time this year.

Sonke Stein, a German resident in Dubai, is another who has caught the bug.

Stein is on his sixth race and this time on an all out racer, the Ker 11.3, which he keeps in Malta. Stein had previously done the race in a J-105 and an Elan 37.

"My best result was in my first race in 2002 when we came second by a few minutes on corrected time and won our class," Stein said.

"I think it is a great challenge to race 600-plus miles offshore, in an 'inshore mode'. It is a race where the smaller sized boats have a fair shot at the overall title."

Stein has sailed each race with the same group, adding one or two new faces and friends to the team.

Robert McNeill's Zephyrus IV established the current course record of 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds in 2000.

The Malta Rolex Cup, a two-race inshore series, on October 16 and 17, will precede the main race.