Offshore racing is sailing’s gruelling discipline. It is arduous, unpredictable and places immense strain on competing crews. Throughout a gripping 45th edition of the 606-nautical-mile Rolex Middle Sea Race, the qualities of perseverance, adaptability and dedication came to the fore as the 112-strong fleet confronted the vagaries of the both the weather and the contest itself.
Success at one of the world’s foremost 600-nautical-mile races demands the maximum from each individual and every crew as a collective. Rolex has partnered the Rolex Middle Sea Race and its organiser Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC) since 2002.
Hong Kong’s Scallywag 100 and the German-flagged TP52 Red Bandit secured line honours and overall victory on handicap respectively, and the stories behind the winners of the race’s main prizes are of crews working together to overcome adversity.
Scallywag 100 was joined at the front of the monohull fleet by another imperious 100ft maxi, the Monaco-flagged Black Jack 100, together with the American 88-footer Lucky, which under its previous guise as Rambler 88 claimed line honours at the race on five occasions.
The predicted tight contest played out. Throughout the race, Scallywag 100 and Black Jack 100 frequently exchanged leadership of the race. The key moment came when Scallywag 100’s decorated Spanish navigator Juan Vila made an inspired tactical call when rounding Lampedusa, one of the last main junctures in the race.
The decision was not to tack but head into a cloud to gain a better angle, a calculated risk that allowed her to pull away from her rival. Scallywag 100 arrived back in Malta to post a winning elapsed time of two days, 21 hours, 33 minutes and 29 seconds.
Scallywag 100 owner Lee Seng Huang has committed significant time and energy to the team’s campaign, with the crew fully focused on delivering success and sailing the boat to its maximum potential.
Line honours victory provided immense satisfaction for skipper David Witt and the crew after the devastation of retiring from last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race following a broken bowsprit.
“This is a really prestigious Rolex race and a test to see if we did the right thing,” Witt said. “That’s one of the toughest races I’ve done in a 100-footer. It was a massive team effort. I am really proud of the team – we never made a mistake. Starting and finishing in Malta is fantastic and something we’d like to do it again.”
Red Bandit’s crew, led by skipper Carl-Peter Forster, is made up of two professionals and 11 talented young sailors who have assiduously followed Forster’s charitable pathway programme designed to develop the offshore sailors of tomorrow. For the skipper, success was reward for the commitment which has gone into the initiative.
“It is a dream to win the Rolex Middle Sea Race. It is a bit unreal and will be for a while. When the crew started this project, they had very little knowledge of offshore or big boat sailing,” said Forster, whose team also won last year’s 70th Rolex Giraglia.
“We’ve come a long way over the last three years, and everyone has learnt to sail this delicate machine. A TP52 is very difficult to handle both in the breeze and in the light winds. You can’t take your eyes off the instruments for a second.”
The crew had to contend with a brutal first night at sea. On the stretch along the east coast of Sicily from Capo Passero to the Messina Strait, and with the mighty volcano of Etna illuminating the night sky, the fleet were besieged by a violent thunderstorm.
Twelve months earlier, Red Bandit faced misfortune when forced to retire from the race at a similar stage because of equipment damage. This year the boat proved more robust, and the race proved a relentless experience.
Joshua Weber, Red Bandit’s navigator said: “There are lots of decisions to take and things to figure out. The race has many individual segments and longer stretches in between that you have to get right. It comes down to the whole team not just putting the boat in the right place but getting it there and going as fast as possible. It requires a huge, combined effort.”
Overcoming adversity and achieving it as a collective defines all the 600-nautical-mile offshore classics supported by Rolex. The 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race has ably demonstrated that an intrepid human spirit is a hallmark characteristic of offshore racing and Rolex’s longstanding support for this eternally appealing discipline of yachting.
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