Maxi Grand Prix yachts top the Rolex Middle Sea Race
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 22 Oct 03:02 PDT
22 October 2026
Setting sail from Valletta's Grand Harbour on Saturday with Artemis Bleu to leeward - Rolex Middle Sea Race 2026 © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo
Following Balthasar's overall victory in 2025, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's wallyrocket 71 Django 7x has won this year's Rolex Middle Sea Race, beating Louis Balcaen's Maxi 72 Balthasar into second place by 1 hour 21 minutes 20 seconds.
Having started from the Maltese capital Valletta on Saturday, the Royal Malta Yacht Club's annual 600 mile race marks a strong start to the International Maxi Association's 2026-27 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge, with a record fleet of 22 60+ft maxi yachts among the 104 total starters, from the 100ft Black Jack to the 50+ year old Swan 65 ketch Translated 9 racing in IRC Four.
Despite the forecast raising pre-start concerns about another light wind race, for the most part this proved not to be the case for the frontrunners. During the race there were surprisingly few tacks and gybes yet most boats used their entire sail wardrobe, the course having many corners and the wind coming and going, the sea even becoming 'boat breaking' on the way back to Malta.
While Django 7x took part in the ultra-light Loro Piana Giraglia in 2025, this was her first true offshore race and her success was testament to the work carried out by her shore crew beforehand and her race crew nursing her around the course. Before the Rolex Middle Sea Race she was due a new offshore rig but this broke while being shipped from New Zealand. Instead her shore crew modified their existing inshore rig for offshore use, with reef points, etc. This proved fortuitous, as Stronati recounted: "The last part of the race was really incredible - tough, with big waves. Vasco [Vascotto, tactician] told me that he had never seen such bad conditions. It was not the wind - that was a maximum of 28 knots, but the waves - very short, very square and from all sides!"
Due to this confused 3-4m sea state, they were unable to point directly at the Comino Channel and then had to put in a hitch east once closer to Malta.
For Stronati the final leg into the finish was also exhilarating. At the final mark off the harbour they hoisted the kite and sped across the line at 20 knots. "It was incredible, because we were sailing very deep when we entered the harbour. Fortunately inside there were no waves, so everything went well.
"It was a very tough race. We had a real battle with Balthasar - I think they have the best crew for the offshores. We are lucky to beat them, because they are very good." In fact during the race the lead swapped repeatedly between them, after they had shaken off the most persistent of the former Volvo Ocean Race boats - Johnny Vincent's VO70 Pace - en route to the Strait of Messina on the first evening.
Sailing in a straight line in breeze, and with no lee beneath Sicily's Mount Etna this year, they were unusually quick to pass through the Strait of Messina: Black Jack exiting just before midnight with Django 7x leading Balthasar out an hour later. For the front runners the lightest part of the race was en route to Stromboli, the northeasterly turning mark. Then half way to the dramatic island volcano, Django 7x, having led from the start, sailed into a hole allowing Balthasar to edge past her.
After Stromboli, all three frontrunners continued northwest on starboard gybe, the Maxi Grand Prix duo gybing some 15 miles short of Black Jack. Black Jack co-skipper Tristan Le Brun explained: "We had to take a long loop, because there were some very big patches of light wind [to the south] that we would have got stuck in. We didn't want to end up in a hole - because that is the worst that can happen to you on a sailboat race..."
On the long port gybe west along the north coast of Sicily, Django 7X and Balthasar remained locked in a match race, shaving the notoriously tricky cape San Vito (west of Palermo] at around 1900 on Sunday night at which time, ahead, Black Jack was passing through the Favignana gate, her offshore route having successfully kept her in breeze at the cost of added distance. It was also here in the transition that Django 7X regained her lead over Balthasar for the final time. "Thanks to the very clean execution of a couple of manoeuvres from the crew, we overtook them. And then as we got into more breeze, we extended," explained Django 7X strategist and helmsman Michele Ivaldi. "But the wind was very disturbed - it went from 90-80° and suddenly to 160° and then 220°. Then as soon as we passed Favignana, it was 80° again."
At Lampedusa, the southwesterly turning mark, to mix things up the trailing Balthasar held on port tack a little longer than Django 7x (a move that had paid for Balthasar's navigator Juan Vila when he had helped Scallywag SHK secure line honours victory in 2024). But this time it was not enough and when conditions had abated adequately, Django 7x tacked to cover and remained ahead.
Black Jack finished at 15:51 on Monday afternoon to collect line honours in a time of 2 days 3 hours 51 minutes, just over three hours faster than her previous personal best (set in 2010 as Igor Simcic's Esimit Europa II). "It's a very nice outcome and good closure on Black Jack's season," commented Tristan Le Brun, who personally had a difficult race, having set off from Malta with a fever. With no other 100 footers to race this year (more are expected in 2027), the team had focussed on optimising their 100 footer for IRC. "We finished fourth under IRC and were three minutes from being third in IRC Overall. Clearly we sailed a longer course than the Maxi Grand Prix boats, hence the time difference."
Owner Ramon Vos was also pleased with the outcome, continued Le Brun: "He was super happy even though he too arrived tired - it was a tough race for all of us. He drove at the start and out of the harbour, and almost halfway all the way to Messina. Then he was on the normal watch schedule during the race, and drove for the whole finish - all the way into the harbour. I'm very proud of him."
Back on board Django 7x on the tight reach to Pantelleria and the fetch to Lampedusa, their added stability over Balthasar had paid off. "It was amazing because we did 18.5 knots and in 3.5 hours we put four miles on them," recalled Stronati. In the lee of Lampedusa they had put in a reef and changed to the J3.5 headsail in anticipation of the lumpy ride home. They later considered a second reef but resisted this due to "crazy waves". "It was survival mode at that point because of the waves," said Stronati. The experience was made no more pleasant by the amount of water getting down below forcing the off-watch crew to bail continually.
"There were moments that we throttled back just to get the furniture back home," admitted Michele Ivaldi.
Second overall was still a top result for Balthasar, the defending champion, now 13-years-old compared to her rival which was launched only last year.
"It was fun match racing with Django. She is a weapon and that showed," commented Balthasar's tactician, round the world veteran Bouwe Bekking. "In the light, we were competitive. Above 12-13 knots, they are just faster than us. Then they sailed into the first of the new breeze, and just extended. Then to Pantelleria, they were a bit faster reaching."
Behind them on Sunday morning a gaggle of boats had emerged from the Strait of Messina rounding Stromboli en masse, including the three VO65s and four VO70s led by Pace, but along with the 60-footers including Hungarian Marton Józsa's DSS-equipped 60ft racer Wild Joe and former RORC Commodore James Neville's Botin 65 Artemis Bleu, the Marten 72 Aragon and the IMA Maxi Europeans class winner Guido Paolo Gamucci's canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X. After Stromboli Aragon did well staying north with Pace crossing just ahead of her. But it was Wild Joe and Artemis Bleu which led on the water at Favignana until Pace, and then the Alex Laing-chartered VO65 Jajo, powered through to lead this group around Pantelleria. Eventually after eating up the harsh conditions en route home, Pace finished at 00:47 on Tuesday followed by Jajo at 03:46, Artemis Bleu at 04:53 and Wild Joe at 06:56. This allowed Pace and Jajo to take fourth and five in IRC One and Artemis Bleu and Wild Joe to reach the IRC Two podium (behind the Carkeet 54 Daguet 5).
Significantly Artemis Bleu received a two minute time award for having had to sail extra distance to round an off-position mark soon after Saturday's start. This was enough for her to relieve Pace of fifth place in IRC Overall...by three seconds.
"It was good - a tough race," commented James Neville. This was despite blowing up their A1.5 spinnaker soon after the start. "The big call was where to go after Stromboli - we stayed fairly south. There probably would have been more wind north, but we took a shorter route. Then we went to the J0 off to Favignana and pulled away from Wild Joe. At that point, we'd have been leading everybody. And then it was a tight GS reach to Pantelleria and then it looked like it was going to be a one-sided beat to Gozo, but we got headed while the first three boats got lifted leaving us about 15° off. It's our first offshore race in this boat and she held up pretty well. It was hard work, but I'm happy we were fifth overall and first British boat."
Wild Joe had a strong race, her DSS foil coming into its own at own after Favignana. "The boat went well but we couldn't overcome the physics," recounted Gordon Kay. a watch leader. They also were hampered by sail damage - their A2 in the Strait of Messina followed by their J4 and even their storm jib. She finished 11th overall and third in class.
Kallima ended up eighth in IRC Two, owner Paul Berger sailing his first major offshore race. "It was an eventful race," commented tactician Romain Mouchel. "We were very happy for the first 24-36 hours until we got to Stromboli: We were still up with the main group and we knew that our moment would be in the second half of the race with the long upwind. Unfortunately we were not close enough to the rest of our group and we stopped twice and lost about seven hours which destroyed our hopes. Otherwise we sailed well - the boat was impressive upwind from Favignana to Lampedusa and for Paul it was a discovery. He was excited and scared at the same time but really enjoyed it even though it was not the most comfortable ride."