The Royal Malta Yacht Club match racing regatta was held last weekend. This event was a pre-qualifier to select a team for the first International Etchells Regatta, in Cowes, England, in July.
Four teams took part with one made up of RMYC newcomer Marco Sartori, an Italian match race veteran, co-national Riccardo Morganti, Englishman Iain Muir and Otra Vez crew member Matthew Tabone.
But it was the experienced RMYC teams who showed their dominance from the start of the round robin on Saturday.
Held in testing conditions with wind speeds reaching 25 knots and a few rain showers thrown in for good measure, three teams tied in first place with the deadlock only being broken by RRS C11.1b, which effectively gives priority to the last race sailed between competitors.
Adrian Gauci Borda was placed on top with David Anastasi second and Kurt Camilleri Burlo third.
The ranking of the round robin determined the fixtures for the knock-out series on Sunday. Gauci Borda earned a direct place in the final.
Camilleri Burlo beat Sartori 2-0 in the best-of-three series to give him a chance to challenge Anastasi in the semi-finals.
The first race went to Anastasi’s team and the second to Camilleri Burlo’s as the best-of-five series got underway.
The third race was the most eventful with Camilleri Burlo winning the pre-start duel in the last ten seconds before the gun, leaving Anastasi behind with a penalty against.
A tacking duel up the last beat, however, gave Anastasi’s team the edge coming into the windward mark on starboard and forcing Camilleri Burlo to tack off and give away precious time.
That was enough for Anastasi’s team to extend their lead and take their penalty by tacking just before the finish line to win the race.
The momentum gained by that win proved too strong to overcome for Camilleri Burlo’s team and that resulted in 3-1 win for Anastasi’s team who then went on to beat Gauci Borda’s team 3-0 in the final.
The winning team was composed of Anastasi, Jan Rossi, Mark Vassallo and Michael Anastasi.
The newly-formed RMYC Race Management Team was led by Luca Lacitignola who made this event a success thanks to the sterling contribution of his team of helpers.