Thursday 24 October 11:00 CEST AM report
During the night of Wednesday, 23 October and this morning more and more competing teams have been finishing the race. All have been enjoying the hospitality of the Royal Malta Yacht Club once back ashore and well they might. After the calm conditions for the first half the course, increasingly rough weather in the second half of the course has posed enormous challenges to those still racing.
The Podesta family racing First 45 Elusive 2 (MLT) had meticulously prepared themselves and their boat for the race. Once around Favignana, they entered the area of stronger winds and, more significantly, very steep seas.
“The last 24 hours were hell,” commented Elusive 2 co-skipper Aaron Podesta. “We were soaking wet with water coming in everywhere.” As they rounded Lampedusa, and turned their bow towards Malta, the crew realised their efforts to push through the conditions were bearing fruit.
“At Lampedusa, Maya (Podesta) got some updates from the weather and the tracker,” explained Aaron. “We knew we were in with a chance of being first overall, but also that the result would be decided at the finish.” The news was a real incentive for the crew to push on despite the severity of the sea state. “No matter how good a sailor you are, in those conditions you were miserable and cold,” Aaron continued. “That boost was amazing. We pushed on, pedal to the metal all the way. We threw out the watch system and everybody was on the rail.” Once ashore, all the misery was soon forgotten. “Coming in to the finish all our families shouting out was an amazing reception. You forget the hell you have been through!”
Elusive had done enough to take the lead in IRC 4 from BeWild, and the overall lead. It was just a matter of waiting to see what happened next.
And, next, it was the arrival of Géry Trentesaux’s JPK 11.80 Courrier Recommandé, the 2018 Rolex Middle Sea Race winner and first finisher in IRC 5 this year. Finishing an hour after Elusive 2 on the water, the lower-rated, Courrier Recommandé took the lead of IRC 5. The French crew were also on top of the overall podium too, by 16 minutes. It is now their turn to wait to see if they can be overhauled.
“The course was the contrary of last year, with downwind to Messina and then upwind from Trapani to the finish,” explained Trentesaux. “This race was more difficult, especially the second half. At Stromboli, we were about 2.5 hours behind our main competition, Sunrise, and worked really hard to catch them. The J/111 Blur was also sailed really well too.” Trentesaux has raised with the majority of his crew for 20 years. “We have a couple of young ones in the crew and I asked them to push us,” continued Trentesaux. The request clearly worked.
By 11:15 CEST this morning, some 54 boats had completed the race, almost half the original fleet. With 16 official retirements to date, some 43 boats are still racing. Some are actively pushing through the strong south-easterly and increasingly big sea towards the finish. Others, according to the tracker, appear to be seeking shelter before continuing their venture. The cut-off for completing the course is 08:00 CEST on Saturday, 26 October. Prudence appears to be a sensible approach, given the description of the conditions prevalent on the course.
“I have never seen conditions like that in this race,” commented Frank Gerber, taking part in his sixth race on Sean Borg’s Xp-44 Xpresso (MLT). “The wind was strong, often over 25 knots and more in the gusts, but it was the sea state that made it horrendous. On the leg from Pantelleria to Lampedusa we were upwind smashing into breaking waves. The boat and the crew took a pounding, and all the time we were within metres of our competition. It was some of the toughest racing I have experienced both in terms of the conditions and the competition.”
The crew of the DK46 Hydra, skippered by Mikhail Tsarev, which finished last night, reported sailing the last 150nm without proper instrumentation. “It was so rough, we think we got water into the engine or into the diesel, and the engine stopped working,” they said. “The situation was so bad it was impossible to sort out the problem. We could not charge our batteries, and so reduced ourselves to emergency and navigation lights only.” In the absence of proper weather forecasting and other data, they reduced sail to avoid being caught unaware by any increase in wind.
With the wind in the area between Pantelleria and Lampedusa currently gusting well over 30 knots, the yachts still with this part of the course to complete are in for a very difficult finish.