Artie ‘proud’ after positive race

The Artie crew... excellent performance at the 2012 Giraglia Rolex Cup. Photo: Rolex/Kurt Arrigo

Artie produced a spirited performance in their first venture away from home waters at the Giraglia Rolex Cup held recently.

A fleet of 170 boats from 18 countries participated in this historic Mediterranean classic which runs some 242 nautical miles from Saint Tropez, France, to Sanremo, Italy, via the Giraglia rock located off the northern tip of Corsica.

The Maltese boat was again backed by sponsors RTFX Ltd following the successful partnership and first placing of the 2011 Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Co-skippers Lee Satariano and Christian Ripard, together with the Artie crew of young but dynamic and seasoned sailors, are fast achieving increased recognition both locally and internationally for holding their own in highly-competitive and challenging races against the cream of professional sailing talent.

Satariano said: ‘This was a great race in extreme and exhausting conditions but the team’s preparation and determination saw us producing an excellent performance that we should rightly be proud of.

“Having positioned ninth in our class, which also included the larger mini-maxi boats, is a great achievement.”

Artie’s positive race at the Giraglia Rolex Cup was also lauded by their sponsors.

“The terrific team spirit displayed by Artie, coupled with the crew’s winning attitude and determination to compete and perform exceptionally well, makes this boat an obvious partner for RTFX,” Andrew Zarb Mizzi, Executive Director at RTFX Ltd, said in a statement.

“At RTFX, we also share and endorse these very same values as Artie.”

The 60th edition of the Giraglia Rolex Cup saw Esimit Europa 2, skippered by three-time Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schumann, breaking the race’s record by more than three hours after clocking 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds to claim race’s line honours for a second successive year.

The previous record had stood since 2008 and belonged to Alfa Romeo 2.

It was only the sixth time in the last 50 years that the record was broken.

Esimit Europa 2 sails under the flag of the European Union. The boat is registered in Cyprus and competes for the Slovenian Sailing Federation.

Franck Noel’s Near Miss (France) was confirmed as the 2012 Giraglia Rolex Cup winner on corrected time.