Fleet hits windless patch

The 29th Rolex Middle Sea Race is taking on a life of its own, as have all the previous editions. Yesterday, the fleet spent most of the time stuck together by a windless glue making painful progress along the northern coast of Sicily.

At 18.00 CET, Alegre (GBR), Moneypenny (US) and Rosebud (US), the leaders, were moving at 7-knots, approaching Capo Gallo after a long, slow and tiring day.

Sunday night and yesterday morning conditions were good for the smaller, slower boats. As they left the Strait, they encountered a solid southeasterly breeze that carried them northwards to Stromboli. This gave them an advantage over the bigger boats which promptly sailed into a hole shortly after rounding the northernmost island of the course.

The fleet compression was almost absolute. The leaders were back into some breeze yesterday evening and stretching away again. The question is how long would it last this time.

In one of the clumps towards the back, Ivan Mellia on Windriven (MLT) called in as he left the Strait late on Sunday to report "10-knots of wind from the south-east, spinnaker up and it couldn't be better".

Yesterday was much harder. Little wind to speak of and little progress. Windriven is in a group comprising Ricomincio da tre (ITA), Escape (MLT), Stormvogel (ITA), Elusive Medbank (MLT), Solair (GER), Lazy Duck (MLT), AirMalta Falcon (MLT) and Nisida (GBR).

Hilary Cook, of Nisida, took advantage of the relaxed conditions yesterday afternoon to call in and advise that "we're stuck off Filicudi, west of Stromboli. We've seen up to 22 boats around us at times."

It is not much better towards the front. The 56-foot VeoliaOceans, Bostik (FRA) is in close company with Adrian Lee's Cookson 50, Lee Overlay Partners (IRL), north of the dormant volcano of Alicudi - the westernmost island in the Aeolian chain.

Charles Caudrelier confirmed worst fears about the state of the conditions, "there is not a single wrinkle on the water. The sea is smooth. The wind is insignificant and the day is tough."

Caudrelier had more reason to be cheerful late on night, as he explained, "we sailed for an hour after exiting the Strait in a breeze between 18 to 20 knots and we passed a lot of boats doing more than 15 knots. It was great."

Also up with Bostik is the first of the Maltese boats, David Franks' Strait Dealer.

Like many others they took a direct course west after Stromboli, but have since dived south towards the Sicilian coast in the search for some if not better wind.

Benji Borg is one of two crew on the boat who learnt their skills with the Malta Young Sailors Club, the other being Yann Rossi. The club started 12 years ago and it turns out a string of budding sailors each year.

Other members taking part in the 2008 Middle Sea Race include Sebastian Ripard and Daniel Calascione on Lazy Duck, Maya and Christophe Podesta on Elusive Medbank, and Matthew Scicluna the principal helm on AirMalta Falcon.

At the front, the game of cat and mouse continues between Jim Swartz's Moneypenny, Andres Soriano's Alegre and Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud. The latter two separated from Moneypenny after she took a more northerly course during the night.

At 1800 yesterday, all three were finally enjoying some breeze and fairly trucking along (by comparison with earlier standards) at 7-8 knots. Of no comfort is that they still have yet to get level with Palermo and will have gone no more than 100nm nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

At midday the crew on Alegre reported in that "after a busy couple of days racing neck and neck with Rosebud and Moneypenny, we have had another morning of everyone just lying still and doing our best to keep the boat creeping forward in the forecast light airs."

The attitude of perseverance prevails throughout the fleet.

On GYR Caspian Services (GBR), skipper Andy Middleton said: "The crew are coping well and pushing the boat and themselves as much as they can."

Middleton did the race last year and described this one as being different for every reason imaginable, laughing that on the bright side, "at least we got to see Stromboli doing its stuff instead of hanging for dear life as we rounded.

"This time we're having to be careful with large patches of nothing that need to be sailed around or risk being stopped dead."

One imagines more of the same today. At least, George David may breathe a sigh of relief. The record he set with Rambler last year will stand another 12 months at least.

Seventy-seven yachts started the race on Saturday. Two have so far retired.