Supermaxi breakout in Rolex Middle Sea Race

by Rolex Event Media on 24 Oct 2006 The big three SuperMaxis may not be going very fast, but they're still going a lot faster than the rest of the fleet in the Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Alfa Romeo led Morning Glory and Thuraya Maximus around the growling volcano Stromboli in a trickle of wind yesterday afternoon. At least they had enjoyed a trickle of wind. When ABN AMRO ONE reached Stromboli just before midnight, there was no breeze, not a sniff of it.

'It has been a bad 24 hours,' said skipper of ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson. 'We could still see Morning Glory and Thuraya Maximus as we passed through the Strait of Messina, and even at 10 o'clock yesterday morning we were still less than three miles from Maximus.' However it was the stretch between Messina and Stromboli where the breakaway began, when the big SuperMaxis kept on rolling to a 100nm lead, while the Volvo Open 70 rumbled to a halt. 'We reached Stromboli and we sat there and parked. There wasn't a lot we could do about it. We got caught up by half the fleet, and passed by four or five boats.'

One of those boats was Moneypenny, the American Swan 601 owned by Jim Swartz. Despite overtaking the VO70, Moneypenny was also hurt by the lack of wind at Stromboli as navigator Mark Rudiger explained. 'We're back into our head-to-head battle with our buddies on Spirit of Jethou [a British Swan 601 owned by Sir Peter Ogden]. We had a big lead coming in towards Stromboli, and then we hit a big hole. ABN AMRO ONE got the worst of it, we actually passed them if you can believe that. It was great watching all the volcanic activity on Stromboli, although we were getting a bit tired of looking at it after six hours!'

Sanderson, too, was grateful for the change of scenery, although Stromboli was putting in quite a fireworks display - perhaps in answer to the lava spewing from Mount Etna the night before. 'We saw some mini-eruptions during the night, it was pretty incredible watching hot lava being thrown into the air,' said the New Zealander, 'but we're glad to moving on now.' At one point it seemed as though the whole fleet had re-gathered at Stromboli ready for a restart. Certainly the smallest boats - just half the length of the Volvo 70 - had moved to within just a few miles of ABN AMRO ONE before Sanderson and his crew finally got moving again this morning.

'Now we're sailing in 8 knots of breeze, so it's still light airs but we're back out in 4th place on the course,' commented Sanderson this afternoon. As to whether he can make up a deficit of more than 100 miles to 2nd and 3rd placed Morning Glory and Thuraya Maximus is another matter. 'We'll have to hope the leaders fall into a hole so we can catch them up. Tonight the wind might get up to a whopping 13 or 14 knots. It's amazing what you can get excited about.

'We've got to remind ourselves that ABN AMRO ONE was designed for the Southern Ocean, not the South Mediterranean. The thing is we do enjoy sailing the boat and in any case, the weather is beautiful. We really haven't got anything to complain about.'

At the head of the fleet, Alfa Romeo has been largely untroubled although the prospect of breaking the course record is looking increasingly remote. With just over 220 miles to go at 1330 hours today, Neville Crichton's 100-foot canting-keeler would have to average 15 knots for the final third of the course. There is no immediate prospect of the high-pressure system releasing its grip on the weather, so Crichton might well be thwarted once again in his chase for a record that has seen two previous unsuccessful attempts. Behind him a close battle rages between Thuraya-Maximus and the slightly smaller Morning Glory. Paul Cayard took Maximus into the lead a couple of times during the early hours of the morning as they approached the Egadi Islands off Sicily's north-western tip, but Hasso Plattner and Bouwe Bekking were back in the lead by just a mile this afternoon, trailing Alfa Romeo by about 30 miles.

Further back in the pack, the Stromboli effect has closed up the fleet and brought rivals back into sight of each other. For example the two Ker 11.3s, the Czech Republic crewed Moonraker and the German crewed Kerisma, are neck and neck as they edge along the northern side of Sicily, and the Maltese yachts are now all within 20 miles of each other, with Strait Dealer currently holding honours in this hard-fought race-within-a-race.

Despite the excruciatingly slow progress, spirits remain high among the 68 teams racing. Aziza's skipper Sandro Musu from Malta enjoyed another night in a windless but balmy Mediterranean. 'Again it was a magical clear night with lots of shooting stars. Stromboli was very active at night spurting lava at us and rumbling continuously. At least nature kept us smiling a bit, as at times the situation got pretty frustrating.' Commodore of race organisers, the Royal Malta Yacht Club, Georges Bonello DuPuis sailing on Primadonna is equally upbeat, 'Yesterday was a bit frustrating as the whole fleet seemed to pass us at the Straits when we got stuck in a hole. Then we got wind and did the same to them. We are pleased to have rounded Stromoboli at last and are looking forward to some better sailing at least for the next few hours!'

Even the sailors on last-placed Aquaranta are having fun out there despite their problems, as skipper Massimo Frediani explained. 'Unfortunately we are not finding the ideal conditions here because our light breeze sails were meant to arrive in Malta on Friday, but the air carrier delayed the delivery by 24 hours and they did not make it for the start. We are racing with medium breeze sails and hoping that a stronger wind will blow in the next few hours. We are having a nice race though, and a grand view of lava on Mount Etna. We hope we will soon be able to see lava on Stromboli, too.' Aquaranta was the last of the fleet to pass through the Straits of Messina at 1100 CET this morning (23rd October).

Listen to interviews from the Rolex Middle Sea Race: www.regattanews.com

Zephyrus IV established the current Course Record of 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds in 2000.