The 100-foot (30.48-meter) Hong Kong Maxi Scallywag 100 was the first to cross the finish line and the German TP52 Red Bandit was proclaimed overall champion.
Ocean racing is the toughest discipline in sailing. It is difficult, unpredictable and puts immense pressure on the crews. But when you add conditions as tough as those presented by the 45th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, it also requires extra doses of perseverance, resilience, preparation and adaptability; It pushes each sailor as an individual and each crew as a collective to the limit.
Rolex has collaborated with the regatta and its organizer, the Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC), since 2002 as part of a commitment to the world of sailing that dates back almost seven decades, contributing to the gradual increase of the fleet in both quantity and quality. This year, 112 ships of 29 nationalities departed Valletta’s spectacular Grand Harbor to the deafening sound of the Salutting Battery cannons. The objective: complete the 606 nautical mile circuit around Sicily, a benchmark among the best ocean routes in the world.
Red Bandit, ocean quarry
The Rolex Middle Sea Race overall prize recognizes the best result in IRC compensated time. It is an honor that literally all participants aspire to but which is achieved by the team that has managed to complete the route at its maximum performance. In the 45th edition it corresponded to the Red Bandit, a TP52 flying the German flag. Led by skipper Carl-Peter Forster, it consists of a crew made up of two professionals and 11 young dinghy sailors who participate in the program designed by the owner to train the ocean sailors of tomorrow.
For Forster, success was the reward for the commitment that this initiative has entailed: «Winning the Rolex Middle Sea Race is a dream. It’s a little unreal and will be for a while. When the crew began this project they had very little knowledge of ocean navigation or large ships. We have come a long way in the last three years and everyone has learned to navigate this delicate machine. A TP52 is very difficult to handle in both strong winds and light breezes. “You can’t take your eyes off the instruments for even a second.”
The crew had to face a brutal first night at sea. On the stretch along the east coast of Sicily, from Capo Passero to the Strait of Messina, and with the imposing Etna volcano illuminating the night sky, the fleet was besieged by violent storms that caused the withdrawal of around thirty vessels. . Twelve months earlier, the Red Bandit had to retire after suffering damage in a similar situation. On this occasion, the boat proved to be more robust and the crew gave a seamanship lesson to achieve the best compensated time of the entire fleet, win the Rolex Middle Sea Race Trophy and receive the Rolex commemorative of their feat.
The magic of Juan Vila
Victory in real time rewards pure speed. It is an honor for which the fastest and most powerful monohulls in the fleet bid. At the front on this occasion were two imposing 100-foot (30.48-meter) Maxis, the Scallywag 100 and the Black Jack 100, along with the 88-foot (27-meter) Lucky, which under its previous name, Rambler 88, he won the regatta five times.
The epic battle for victory in real time saw an exciting battle between Scallywag 100 and Black Jack 100, who alternated leading the charge in a grueling match-race throughout the entire course. The key moment came around Lampedusa, one of the last crossroads of the race, when the Spanish navigator of the Scallywag 100, Juan Vila, suggested heading towards a cloud to gain a better angle. A calculated risk that allowed them to surpass their rival, lead the final approach to Malta and achieve the long-awaited victory with a time of two days, 21 hours, 33 minutes and 29 seconds.
Vila relativized the merit of his decision: “If we had been alone, we would surely have done what Black Jack did, although obviously going from behind is easier.” But the crew pointed to the Barcelonan as the hero of this feat, as Pete Cumming highlighted: «Before going around the island, Juan went up on deck and said: ‘There is a cloud to the south, on the other shore. Let’s go through it before turning.’ You never navigate between clouds. We did it, we got really wet, but it worked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”. David Witt, boss of the Hong Kong giant, summarized: “When Juan Vila says something like that, you do what he says.”
The title brought immense satisfaction to the team after the devastation of abandoning last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after their bowsprit broke. Witt acknowledged the joint merit: «It is one of the toughest races I have done in a 100-footer. It has been a huge team effort. “I am very proud of the entire crew, we have not made a single mistake.”
Other heroes
But success in the Rolex Middle Sea Race is not defined solely by victory. Completing its tour is a challenge in itself, with most participants facing a minimum of five nights at sea with the constant threat of damage to the boat. Crews make do with limited resources and resort to on-call shifts to try to ensure rest in a grueling environment. For no one is it more enormous than for two-man crews, like the Czechs Milan Kolacek and Milan Tomek, who won their category aboard the Marina 21, only 36 feet (10.97 m) long. After considering retirement, they persevered to win their first ocean race as a duo. His mental strength sums up the spirit of non-professional competitors: «The regatta was exhausting. At one point we thought about retiring, we were tired and we had broken the main. We value returning to Valletta. But we made the decision to continue, first to reach Sicily, repair the mainsail and then see where we were in the standings. “We don’t like to give up.”
That overcoming adversity as a team is the defining feature of the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2024. It encapsulates the intrepid human spirit common to other ocean races in the Rolex sailing portfolio, such as the Rolex Fastnet Race (which will turn one hundred years old in July 2025 ) or the Rolex Sydney Hobart (whose 79th edition will leave Sydney Harbor on December 26).
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