The 2012 Rolex Middle Sea Race sails off from Valletta today.
The Royal Malta Yacht Club announced this week that the 606-mile regatta will be a record in terms of boats taking part with 89 entered and 82 registered until yesterday.
That beats the previous best entry of 78 which occurred in 2008.
This year, there’s a variety of boats taking part, ranging from the impressive maxis to the smaller scale category where ambitions for the overall trophy will rank high, particularly if weather conditions are favourable.
Esimit Europa 2, which is based in Slovenia and flies the EU flag, will be vying for a third successive Line Honours as the Artie-RTFX crew leave the spectacular Grand Harbour with a tall order, that of becoming Malta’s first back-to-back Rolex MSR Trophy winners.
Blue skies and warm weather look likely for the 33rd edition of the race but best use of light winds could play a big part in deciding who wins the race according to weather expert Mike Broughton, a Rolex MSR veteran tactician.
A previous class winner, Broughton has also tasted success in the Rolex Fastnet, Rolex Sydney Hobart and several maxi yacht racing events.
“At the moment, the weather is being dominated by high pressure over central Italy,” Broughton said yesterday.
“This is slowly sliding south and should be over the centre of Sicily by the middle of Sunday (tomorrow), giving very light variable winds and tricky conditions for the first night and second day of racing.”
Broughton said the race start this morning should also be a spec-tacular event with decent pressure from the southeast to get the fleet out of the wind shadows off Grand Harbour.
“After that, it should be downwind sailing as boats head off into the open sea towards Sicily, perhaps experiencing 7-13 knots of south easterly wind,” he added.
The pressure should hold all the way to Capo Passero but it could be a difficult night with little wind.
“As the fleet gets near to Messina, the funnel effect will tend to produce breeze from the south but again we are looking at light winds,” Broughton explained.
“The stretch between Messina and Stromboli is always an area of variable wind speed and direction and this year will be no different.
“Once the yachts are through Messina, it is looking likely to be 3-10 knots from the northwest or northeast, along the northern coast of Sicily. The light winds look likely to hold through most of Monday when we are likely to see a change.”
Exactly when this change comes is questionable.
“Weather models are conflicting but I think we should see more wind from the northwest at some time on Monday,” Broughton said.
He added that the predictions would definitely favour the smaller boats in the race and is tipping Artie-RTFX to retain the trophy they won last year.
“I am going to go for my good friend Christian Ripard, co-skipper of Artie-RTFX, to win again for the second year running,” Broughton said.
“I don’t think there is any chance of a race record and the forecast weather is looking favourable to the smaller boats.”
Crew party
The crew party at the club’s headquarters in Ta’ Xbiex late Thursday was another success with over 1,500 members, competitors and guests present.
Godwin Zammit, Commodore of the club, said: “It is great to see such a variety of people all having a good time at our club and not just the Rolex MSR sailors but also a long list of new friends.
“I think that the race has become more popular because this year we’ve seen added interest from Eastern Europe.
“We have also received far more entries from Italy than in recent years, so it seems our race is catching on.
“More and more people want to come and do the race these days.”
Rolex MSR Trophy winners
2002 Market Wizard (J. Ripard/A. Calascione)Malta
2003 Nokia (C. Dunstone)Britain
2004 Optimum III (N. Lazos/P. Livas)Greece
2005 Atalanta II (C. Puri Negri)Italy
2006 Morning Glory (H. Plattner)Germany
2007 Rambler (G. David)USA
2008 Spirit of Ad Hoc (T. Bouchard)France
2009 Alegre A. (A. Soriano)Britain
2010 Lucky (B. Ehrhart)USA
2011 Artie (L. Satariano/C. Ripard)Malta
Rolex MSR Line Honours
2002 Nautor Challenge (S. Spangaro)Italy
2003 Alfa Romeo (N. Crichton)New Zealand
2004 Alfa Romeo (N. Crichton)New Zealand
2005 Atalanta II (C. Puri Negri)Italy
2006 Alfa Romeo II (N. Crichton)New Zealand
2007 Rambler (G. David)USA
2008 Alegre A. (A. Soriano)Britain
2009 ICAP Leopard (M. Slade)Britain
2010 Esimit Europa (I. Simcic)Slovenia
2011 Esimit Europa (I. Simcic)Slovenia