A total of 17 fully crewed yachts took part in the Royal Malta Yacht Club’s final race of the year, an annual appointment that is kept by many returning crews for the Medcomms Round Malta Race.
The selected course was to take the yachts on a southerly route, leaving the Munxar Cardinal buoy to starboard then on around Malta via the South Comino channel to finish at Marsamxett.
Yachts started in two groups, heading into a moderate East South Easterly breeze with grey clouds looming.
Four yachts started at 08:31 in the cruiser class, with Inspiration getting their timing quite right and being first off the line.
However the much larger, and newest addition to the fold, Miame Too, soon overtook to windward and led the fleet out to the first mark.
The 12 IRC Class One and Two yachts started about nine minutes later with a couple of very close calls while tacking out of Marsamxett.
The fleet soon spread out and by Munxar, it was Xpedite, Elusive II, Unica and Xpresso that dominated the order.
The pace was above average with the wind keeping the yachts very much on a straight course close to the rhumb line.
The first IRC Class One yacht to cross the finish line was Xpedite at 13:59 followed by Elusive II at 14:00 with Xpresso close behind at 14:01.
Ratings came into play at the eventual order after time corrections.
Elusive II clinched first place followed by Unica and Xpresso in second and third respectively with just nine minutes separating the top three boats.
The first IRC Class Two yacht over the line was Seawolf of Southampton at 14:43 followed by Puddleduck at 14:50. Sailaway crossed at 15:00.
There was no change to this order after time corrections were applied.
The IRC Class Four had three boats competing with final placing going to Manana then Inspiration and Janissah.
The new Miame Too was in a class of its own in the RMYC Cruiser.
“The Medcomms Round Malta Race closes off a hectic racing calendar and we are pleased to see that racers had a great time on the water – we take this opportunity to thank Medcomms for their ongoing support as well as the volunteers who assisted in race management,” Godwin Zammit, the RMYC commodore, said.
“We will now have short break from racing but we are indeed looking forward to the annual Boxing Day Fun Race in aid of L-Istrina.
“We hope that, as always, quite a good amount of RMYC members turn up on the day to support this charitable cause”.
The RYMC’s 2017 racing schedule kicks off on January 21 with the start of the Malta Sailing League.
More information can be found on www.rmyc.org.
Results
IRC Class 1: 1.Elusive II (Aaron, Christoph & Maya Podesta); 2. Unica (Jamie Sammut); 3. Xpresso (Sean Borg)
IRC Class 2: 1. Seawolf (David Latham); 2. Puddleduck (Chris Selvagi); 3. Sailaway (Ray Schembri)
IRC Class 4: 1. Manana (Peter Ellul Vincenti); 2. Inspiration (Godwin Zammit).