Three from three for Mischief and Breezer

The favourable weather during the weekend Global Capital Gozo Regatta, held recently, helped to make the competition an all-round success.

The outcome of the first passage race from the Royal Malta Yacht Club up to Mgarr Harbour gave a clear indication of who were to be the protagonists of the series.

Mischief took the honours for the day as Kerisma finished second in its class. Corrected times saw David Cremona, on board Breezer, winning the 473 Class as Elusive won the first race. Blue Fin was second.

The second race took the boats around Comino twice. A steady westerly wind saw the fleet beat up towards Fessej Rock with a few daring moves close to the shore.

After a spinnaker hoist, a fresher breeze accompanied the fleet all the way round Comino and back towards Mgarr Harbour.

Kerisma made significant gains in this leg and won in IRC A. In IRC B Martin Meachen, on board Mischief, got his second first place of the weekend. Both boats won their classes with Breezer again winning the 473 Class.

The southerly wind, blowing at an average of 15 knots on the third and final day, offered the fleet a perfect beat from Mgarr to Marsamxett.

At the start, ArtieGo, of Lee Satariano, and Meachen's Mischief were both called over the line and had to restart. This did very little to dampen their spirits though as both recorded remarkable times in the leg for home.

ArtieGo finished third in class and Mischief made it a remarkable three firsts in a row to make this their best result ever in a regatta.

David Pizzuto, on board Geisha, just beat Kerisma by a mere three seconds on corrected time but Sonke Stein's boat claimed the overall honours. Elusive was fourth followed by AirMalta Falcon in fifth.

Mischief was listed first in class ahead of Sailaway, Maarial, Flyers Dream, Spirit of the Winds, Blue Fin and Harry.

In the 473 Class, Breezer again managed to pip Misty Blue at the finish line to claim three wins out of three races in the series.

During the prize-giving ceremony, Nicholas Portelli, Chief Executive Officer at GlobalCapital, said that the second edition of the regatta was considered by all as a resounding success.

He said he was looking forward to next year's regatta.