The RoyalMalta Yacht Club’s race sailing calendar was officially opened last weekendwith the Sport Boat Class – Grand Harbour Marina – Act 1
The SportBoat Class was recently set up by a group of sailing enthusiasts who have eyeda void in the sailing circuit. Boats measuring between 20 and to 30 ft. areeligible to form part of the Sport Boatscategory.
Theseason opener was sponsored by The Grand Harbour Marina and saw a total of six participatingboats. Although initial plans were to have races spread over Saturday andSunday, the inclement weather conditions forecasted for Sunday saw the Classmake the most of Saturday’s favourable conditions and the race committeemanaged to conclude five races on the day.
The event welcomed three sportboats representing the Grand Harbour Marina and their crews included twelvesuperyacht captains and their crews. Six pontoon berth holders also sailed on afree course to Munxar.
Outrightwinner of the weekend was Paul Borg Cardona’s “Farr Out”. Borg Cardona and hiscrew had five out of five wins on corrected time, though they battled someserious competition from Robert Ciantar’s “Seriously Bonkers” crew and Adrian Gauci Borda’s “Maltese Musketeers” who gave a consistent performancethroughout to claim second and third place respectively.
"Theweekend gave us a fantastic set of challenging races for Act 1of the Sport BoatSeries! It was great seeing new faces on the water too. Many thanks to the RMYCand Grand Harbour Marina for supporting the Sports Boat Class event”, enthusedPaul Borg Cardona.
“The aimof the Sport Boat Class is to provide opportunities for these owners to meet upand race together. Last year we had two very well attended initial test events,and this year’s first event was another success with six boats starting off theweekend races”, commented Robert Ciantar, one of the Sport Boat Class Officials.“This year we already have a full calendar scheduled, with a weekend racingevent planned practically every month. We hope that the enthusiasm with whichcrews were left with after this event, will spill over onto other crews as welland we will see more boats joining our races. We take this opportunity to thankthe event Race Committee, volunteers, the RMYC for their logistical support andof course The Grand Harbour Marina for sponsoring and hosting this event”.
The GrandHarbour Marina treated crews and friends to beers and champagne, compliments ofBradbury Yacht Concierge and No12 Fine Wines. Local band BNBees livened up theproceedings with a selection of popular and classic tunes to close off asuccessful weekend in style.
The SportBoat Class’ next event is scheduled to take place on the weekend of the 24thFebruary 2018. More information can be found on www.rmyc.org. or on the Royal Malta Yacht Club and SportBoat Class – Malta’s Facebook pages
Sport Boat Class – Grand HarbourMarina – Act 1 RESULTS
1st Place- Farr Out (Paul Borg Cardona, NickyVassallo, Isaac Saliba, Alan Tabone Ferrante)
2nd Place- Seriously Bonkers (Robert Ciantar, JanRossi, Duncan Camilleri, Ray Gerada)
3rd Place- Maltese Musketeers (Adrian Gauci Borda, Nicolai Portelli, Pierre Mifsud,Simon Posjak)