Five boats brave the conditions

Strong winds continue to battle Malta prior to the Rolex Middle Sea Race

Malta has been famed for demonstrable acts of bravery over the centuries and none more so than when she is under siege. While the aggressor today was only the wind, gusting up to 45 knots, there was a definite sense on the bridge of the Royal Malta Yacht Club this morning that the competitors in today's coastal race forerunner to the Rolex Middle Sea Race were under assault. In keeping with the bravery exhibited by this island in the past, five yachts chose not to be put off by the conditions and to take on the sea and wind.

Principal Race Officer David Farrugia made it clear at the beginning of the week that, despite the prevailing strong winds, if the situation permitted he would hold the scheduled coastal races for anyone keen enough to test themselves and their boat. No race was held yesterday, because of a standing wave blockading the entrance to Marsamxett Harbour. Today was still windy, but without the potentially treacherous wave. The course took the yachts from the start line off the RMYC westwards along the northern coast of Malta around Comino, the small island that lies between the ‘mainland' and Gozo, and then back to finish off the Royal Malta Yacht Club.

The five brave knights of the sea were Amindzhanov Temur's Nord Star and Oleg Evdokimenko‘s Vikesha both from Russia, local Maltese legend Arthur Podesta with Elusive Medbank, Felix Scheder-Biechin's Vineta from Germany and Sven Niklaus' Tai Shan from Switzerland. Vineta was first home while Elusive won on handicap - first blood to the local boats in advance of the Rolex Middle Sea Race which starts on Saturday.

The start was gripping, with the wind funnelling into Marsamxett Harbour between Tigné Point and Fort St Elmo and sending long rollers down between the walls of Valletta and the foreshore of Manoel Island. The start sequence is managed from the ravelin in front of the main gate to Fort Manoel built in 1726 and the current home to the RMYC. Considered a marvel of 18th century engineering, the original plans for the Fort are attributed to René Jacob de Tigné and are believed to have been modified by his friend and colleague Charles Francois de Mondion, the then resident military engineer to the Knights and who is buried in a crypt beneath the Fort.

The view across to Valletta is spectacular enough. Throw in five yachts jousting for position while battling a gusting wind and waves, and it becomes truly memorable. For many first-timers the line is intimidating with the steep-sided bastions of Valletta at one end and lumps of stone beneath the ravelin at the other.

For Marcus Ziltener, the tactician on Tai Shan, it proved challenging: "It was my first time on this start line. We were a little bit early and we had to restart but it was very nice to race out of this historic harbour with the wind from the front and the waves. It was very special. With a lot of boats it could be more dangerous to do that in this wind situation, but with five boats on the line it was okay. It was a good practice for the long distance race."

Not quite as challenging as it was for the Russian yacht Nord Star, which at one point looked as though it was going to pile out of control into Valletta. A crewmember explained what happened: "right at the start we had a problem with the autopilot which came on and fixed the rudder. Luckily we quickly realised what had happened and put on the engine to avoid a real problem. Then we had a situation with the jib, which tore. This was enough for us to retire!" It looked far more alarming from the shore.

Vineta enjoyed a wet, but fast race around the course, spoiled only by a big tear to the number 4 headsail. Even under a storm jib, the Marten 49 had the legs to beat the rest of the fleet home.

Tai Shan meanwhile was undergoing a real shakedown sail. Skipper Sven Niklaus is an experienced sailor with many miles under his belt. His ‘other yacht' is a Figaro class and with tactician Ziltener he has undertaken a number of short-handed races including the 500-mile Roma per Due and the Roma-Giraglia. Today's conditions were nothing special according to Niklaus, certainly no worse than he and his crew has experienced elsewhere. What made the race special was the fact that it was the first race for Tai Shan. Niklaus explained: " Tai Shan is named after the most important of the five sacred mountains of the Taoist religion. Today was the first start and race for this brand new boat. It was not an exceptional sail, but it was a special situation for us. It's not the first time we were sailing in these kinds of conditions and there was never any danger and we have nothing broken on the boat. Everything is okay. So it was absolutely not a problem."

Niklaus was certainly confident throughout, but was surprised by the winds encountered: "we did our own weather work this morning, so we expected very rough sea up to 4m waves and 20-30 knots of wind, but in fact we had between 35 and 45 knots, with the majority being 37/38 knots. But the decision to go today was a good one for us and we were happy for the race committee to give the green light."

The course also had its interesting moments for Niklaus: "it was a beat to the first mark and then down and round Comino was a reach. Going back it was hard on the wind and that was a little bit tougher because the waves were really big. Conditions at Comino were fine, but we had expected more waves in the channel. The fish farms took us by surprise and we were very glad to meet them in daylight. We were hard on the wind and could not see the lines or buoy. It could have been very difficult!"

The view from the winning boat was slightly different. No playing it down for Arthur Podesta, who has seen it all before and more in this part of the sailing world: "It was a pasting!" he exclaimed. "The waves were far greater than I expected although interestingly the biggest were around the harbour entrance. We got a good start and were first out which was nice. Vineta eventually passed us, but she is faster and newer. It was good to beat her on handicap."

Podesta was very pleased with the decision to go ahead with the race and was disappointed a few more boats had not taken up the challenge - although he understood why they had not. "My argument for going is simple. I'm going to be out on a 600-mile race for four or five days with the possibility of these conditions. So a three hour pasting is nothing! We have some work to do before the start but we'll be ready."

Overall Results
1. ELUSIVE MEDBANK, Arthur Podesta, MLT
2. VIKESHA Oleg Evdokimenko RUS
3. TAI SHAN Sven Niklaus SUI
4. VINETA Felix Scheder-Biechin GER
The Rolex Middle Sea Race 2007 starts from Marsamxett Harbour, Malta, on Saturday 20th October 2007 at 1100.

More photos on page two...