Rolex Middle Sea Race – Overall winner announced

by RMYC on 26 Oct 2016 The Royal Malta Yacht Club announced that Vincenzo Onorato's Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino is the overall winner of the 37th Rolex Middle Sea Race. Whilst a number of yachts are still racing, none of them have the possibility of beating Mascalzone Latino's corrected time.

The Mascalzone Latino team will be awarded the Rolex Middle Sea Race Trophy and Rolex timepiece on Saturday 29 October at the prize giving ceremony to held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

This race crew was a mix of Italians and British sailors who have raced all over the world under the Mascalzone Latino banner and with great success. Last year they came agonizingly close to adding the Rolex Middle Sea Race to the honour role. In the absence of owner, Vincenzo Onorato, the boat was skippered this year by Matteo Savelli. The afterguard included Adrian Stead, Lorenzo Bressani and Branko Brcin. Ian Moore was the navigator. The sail trimmers were Leonardo Chiaruigi, Pierluigi De Felice, Stefano Ciampalini and Andrea Ballico. Daniele Fiaschi and Davide Scarpa shared the bowman duties.

Matteo Savelli: “Twelve months ago we cherished the possibility of victory but it was not to be by a nine seconds gap. But our belief in success at this event was simply delayed until this year. And now, we can say we couldn’t expect more. Everything has worked properly and the job went off without a hitch. The crew commitment was remarkable; the only regret was the lack of Vincenzo Onorato onboard.'

The 2016 Rolex Middle Sea Race will be marked in the ever growing race legend as a tactically demanding one, with huge pressure on the tacticians and navigators to keep the yachts moving in the face of changing conditions. “It felt like unfinished business after coming so close to winning last year,” commented Ian Moore, continuing, “but past performance is no guarantee of future success! We knew if we wanted a chance to win this race that we would have to sail really well and get a little bit lucky with the weather. In the end, our luck held, and the guys sailed really well despite tough conditions.”

Vincenzo Onorato of Mascalzone Latino: “I am really very happy for this victory. We have quite the same crew for many many years. We won together six Worlds titles, I can’t remember how many Europeans and many of the most important major regattas in the world. The Rolex Middle Sea Race is the pinnacle of offshore racing in the Med. We were looking to win for a long time and finally we have proudly succeeded”.