The Grand Harbour is the place for avid sailing enthusiasts to be today as an impressive RC44 fleet will be engaged in the final leg of the 2016 Championship Tour – the Valletta Cup.

Team CEEREF during training. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Eleven teams, boasting some of the world’s finest sailors, start the final round of the match racing championship this morning at Grand Harbour as local organisers Yachting Events have managed to get Grand Harbour closed for the day so competition can take place.

Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika and Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis Racing jointly lead the way in the provisional standings as a further three teams follow, all three points behind the two pacesetters.

From tomorrow, focus shifts to fleet racing with three races each day along the Tigne-Dragonara coastline until the final day of racing on Sunday when the fleet racing champion will emerge.

Despite the RC44 Valletta Cup being the fifth and final event of the 2016 RC44 Championship, the scoreboard remains impressively close.

At present, Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF hold a slender two-point lead over Chris Bake’s Team Aqua in the fleet racing table but just seven points separate the top seven, leaving  them all still in a position to claim the title in this category.

“We are bracing ourselves for five days of spectacular racing,” Peter Valentino, representing Yachting Events, told reporters at the Excelsior Hotel yesterday.

“Having a fleet of identical boats manned by a crew of world class sailors will ensure tight competition over the next five days.

“The match racing competition on Wednesday (today) will entertain spectators along the day.

“On the other hand, the fleet racing championship will be equally interesting as the gap between the leading boats in the standings is so minimal… it will be difficult to predict a winner.”

Cameron Appleton, Team Acqua tactician, said the Valletta Cup is by far one of the most challenging legs in the RC44 Championship Tour and he is not surprised that all crews are increasingly keen to race here.

“Each place we’ve been to for racing provides a different challenge,” Appleton told Times of Malta, yesterday.

“But being a small island, Malta has very changeable weather conditions and that makes racing here very open.

“This year we have been to different countries and we had venues like Lake Garda where sailing is only one-way and therefore one-dimensional.

“Here, it’s different and extremely open. The Valletta Cup rewards the best teams and sailors as they have to read different scenarios... that’s what makes this particular leg so enjoyable. You simply cannot pre-plan for the race.”

Appleton, a former Team New Zealand helmsman, said the teams in match racing and fleet racing will have to be alert as the weather conditions are forecast to provide a bit of everything.

“We should start competition with light breezes but as the week progresses the wind is expected to get heavier which will make racing even more testing,” he said.

“On Sunday, we’re also expecting some big waves meaning an even bigger challenge. However, I can assure that each and every sailor here thrives on such conditions making this year’s leg in Malta a memorable one for us in terms of sailing experience.”

Appleton’s Team Aqua could end up with both titles this week.

“In match-racing we are one of five teams vying for victory but it looks like our best chance is in fleet racing where we are just two points behind the leaders,” Appleton said.

“Team CEEREF are in a strong position at the moment but we are raring to go and try to beat them.”

For making the RC44 Valletta Cup happen, Valentino and Niki Travers Tauss, of Yachting Events, yesterday thanked the Maltese authorities along with sponsors Valletta Superyachts and ARQ Group.

The protagonists’ views...

■ Nico Poons and his Charisma team are looking for big improvements this week. They won the RC44 Valletta Cup when it opened the 2015 season.

“Last time, we had lots of wind and we were quite strong and had a good team,” Poons said.

“This time we have a new team and have made lots of changes – we’ll see what it brings. We need to stabilise the team more, but I am feeling a bit more comfortable compared to Cascais.”

As to the prospects of defending his title, Poons added: “It is unbelievably close, which is what makes it challenging. All the owners and crews are competitive and have the mentality to win. But there is also a great atmosphere between crews and owners.”

■ Team CEEREF’s Igor Lah is pleased to be back in Malta. Here, in 2015, his Slovenian team rejoined the RC44 class. Eighteen months on and now they are leading.

“Malta is awesome – I am looking forward to it,” said Lah.

“It is nice to be out in front, but the other guys are really good. All the fleet do extremely well so we’ll have to do our best to maintain our position. The set-up with the hotel above the boats is also brilliant.”