After a stop-start 48 hours, the Rolex Middle Sea Race sprang into life overnight, as the leading part of the fleet picked up the fresh southerly blowing from Malta up towards the Strait of Sicily.
The net result for those boats that had passed or were passing Favignana yesterday afternoon was some solid stable breeze at long last.
For Seng Huang Lee’s Scallywag 100 from Hong Kong, it was just what the doctor ordered to propel the 100 foot / 30.48 metre Maxi to a hard-fought Line Honours victory.
Crossing the finish line of the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race at 09:43:29 CEST on Tuesday morning, the crew’s elapsed time was two days, 21 hours, 33 minutes and 29 seconds. If only it was so easy.
So far, four yachts have finished the race. Black Jack 100 crossed the line second on the water, 18 minutes behind. After a superhuman tussle, Remon Vos’ 100ft entry was finally and decisively outmuscled on the penultimate leg from Lampedusa to the South Comino Channel.
Bryon Ehrhart’s 88ft/27m Lucky screamed across the finish 30 minutes later, some redemption for the retirement last year.
Balthasar was fourth home, the Maxi72’s waterline length disadvantage was highlighted once her larger rivals hit the open water legs, able to straight-line. Balthasar has the consolation of the provisional lead in IRC 1, after time correction, and overall, for the moment.
The next group of finishers are expected after midnight, and the race is well and truly on for those with aspirations of victory.
“First of all, I am really proud of the team. That’s one the toughest races I’ve done in a 100 footer,” said a clearly relieved David Witt, shortly after docking in Marsamxett Harbour home to the Royal Malta Yacht Club. “We had 40 knot rain squalls, trying to keep the boat in one piece and not tip it over. 90 degree wind shifts and glass outs. More sail changes than anyone else and the boys never made a mistake.”
Tristan Le Brun, racing skipper of Black Jack was clearly disappointed, but philosophical in defeat. He was quick to congratulate the opposition.
“Congratulations to Scallywag, this time it is in their favour,” he said. “Scallywag have been very competitive. We were very impressed. They came into the race very well prepared, the boat was functioning very well, they sailed well, their sail changes were fast, good navigation, all of which made life very difficult for us.”
The two boats were locked together for much of the race, as the splits around the course show:
Capo Passero: Black Jack by 14 minutes; Messina: Black Jack by 58 mins; Stromboli: Black Jack by 15mins; Favignana: Scallywag by 14 mins; Pantelleria: Black Jack by 22 mins; Lampedusa: Black Jack by 16 mins; Finish: Scallywag by 18 mins.
In a race with so many stops and starts, twists and turns, Scallywag’s hallelujah moment came with 110nm left to run.
David Witt continues: “In terms of key decisions, plenty could have lost us the race, but the critical point was rounding Lampedusa. I thought we were going to take a tack, but Juan (Vila) pointed to a cloud and said: ‘we are going over to it’.
He said: ‘we are going into the cloud, it will look like it is terrible, but we will come out on the other tack, we’ll be 30 degrees higher, and we will have a shot’. When Juan Vila says something like that, you do what he says.”
Vila, a former round the world race winner, suggested the decision was more a throw of the dice. “It is usual for the Rolex Middle Sea Race to be a difficult race. It is always very tricky,” he advised.
“We constantly had to figure out what the wind was going to do next. It was a very intense race. The last opportunity at Lampedusa to split against Black Jack was one of the biggest moments. We had to try our luck, and it worked out well for us.”
His crew mates would disagree it had anything to do with luck. “Before we had rounded the island, Juan came up on deck and said: ‘there is a cloud to the south on the other side. We are going to sail through that before we tack’. You never sail into clouds. We did, we got very wet, but it worked. I’ve never seen anything like it.” said Pete Cumming, who was on the MOD70 Argo, when it set the outright race record in 2021.
At the halfway mark, Black Jack were already keenly aware they needed to do something special, but it was in the lap of the gods. Wind was due fill the remaining course area. The angle would be good for a muscular reaching Maxi like Scallywag. “Going south, it was really calculated and fully in control,” explained Le Brun.
“In an ideal world we would have pulled away further, because we were very aware that towards the end, reaching upwind in 20 knots is a strength of Scallywag. They are just faster. It was a smart tactical decision at Lampedusa. We thought what they did was the best. We did not have the gap we needed, tried to take a different route and tried to play with the luck. It did not work out.”
For Witt, the opportunity spotted by Vila was all Scallywag needed. “Scallywags never give up and we really needed this result,” he said. “As soon as we realised we had a sniff of a chance everyone gave it everything. The Black Jack sailed their boat fantastically well. I thought they did an outstanding job. We are just lucky we never gave up.”
The faces of the Scallywag team showed this was more than just a race. The yacht had undergone an extensive refit in 2023, and on its first real outing at the Rolex Sydney Hobart last December had to retire after breaking the bowsprit.
This was an opportunity to prove the original and subsequent effort was worthwhile.
“This result is justification for everything,” said Witt. “We thought we had the package right, but until you get a result you don’t know. This is a really prestigious race. I think it is a fantastic race, and we would love to come back and do it again.”
Balthasar, with Louis Balcaen at the helm, finished the Rolex Middle Sea Race in an elapsed time of three days, one hour, 30 minutes and 25 seconds, and currently sits atop the provisional leaderboard after IRC time correction.
There is plenty left in this race, but the crew were understandably satisfied with their performance.
“Balthasar is a family project, the whole idea is to combine my friends who are amateurs with professional sailors such as Bouwe Bekking,” explained Louis Balcaen. “This was the first big test, and the boat performed amazingly.”
Watch Captain Stu Bannatyne has competed in eight round the world races, winning four.
“This was a classic Rolex Middle Sea Race in respect of the fact that there were occasions when you could win or lose a lot,” he commented.
More yachts are expected to finish overnight, and by tomorrow evening we should have a clearer idea of who has a chance of overall victory. Today, though, is Scallywag’s day.
