Ten of the 107 yachts that left Grand Harbour on Saturday 17 October for the 47th Rolex Middle Sea Race flew the colours of the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Their crews ranged from veterans to teenagers, from local sailors to international ones, from family boats to newly formed professional campaigns. Not all of them made it round the 606-nautical-mile course around Sicily, but every one of them came home with a story.
Artie III leads the Maltese home
Artie III was the first Maltese boat to finish and took class honours. It was Lee Satariano’s 17th race and his eighth on the HH42; he has twice won the race overall with an earlier boat. His co-skipper, Christian Ripard, set a new record with his 36th participation. “This is what I love about Artie: the crew, the team, the bond,” said Satariano. “We pushed hard from beginning to end.” Ripard’s verdict was simple: “I love this race, and I’d love to do it again.”
A duel to the last mile
The battle that kept followers on the tracker was between Elusive 2, sailed by the Podesta siblings Aaron, Christoph and Maya, and Jonathan Gambin’s Ton Ton Laferla. Gambin, on his 19th race with a crew that has barely changed over the years, was beating home in more than 30 knots when Ton Ton’s J2 tore off Dragonara, just short of the finish. “My son had asked whether the J2 could take 28 knots, and I said yes,” he said. “We saw 31. It gave way at just the wrong moment. That was my fault.” He counts this year’s crew among his best, and already knows what to work on for next year: upwind speed in heavy weather.
Ton Ton Laferla crossed the line first, but on corrected time Elusive 2 was six minutes ahead, giving the Podesta siblings the Arthur Podesta Trophy, named after their late father, as the first Maltese boat under IRC. “This race throws everything at you, and it is one of the toughest mentally,” said Aaron Podesta. “The battle with Ton Ton started right from the gun, and we had to slowly claw our way back. There’s a saying on board: the race ends at the finish line.”
Co-skipper Maya Podesta, one of the most experienced of the growing number of women racing in the Maltese fleet, looks after the work that never shows on the tracker: keeping the boat in order and making sure the crew eats, drinks and can find what it needs. “This type of race is not all about strength,” she said. “There are a lot of other jobs on the boat, and it’s all about fitting into the right spot.”
Calypso and a grandfather’s legacy
On Calypso, the smallest of the Club’s entries, Sebastian Ripard sailed his first race since the death of his grandfather, race co-founder John Ripard Snr. “We would go to my grandfather’s house and talk it through with him. He would tell us where we had made mistakes and go over the crew’s tactical choices,” he recalled. “It is sad that I can no longer do that. But I am grateful that I had those experiences with him, and grateful that I can continue to build on his legacy.” Racing a small, exposed boat against far bigger yachts is a challenge he values: “There is hardship, but there is a great sense of achievement in knowing that we can do it.”
Youth, grit and hard decisions
Stefan Debattista’s Geisha MeDirect mixed local and international sailors, among them 17-year-old Pippa Bartolo Parnis on her third race. After a tactical leg from Stromboli to Favignana, the stretches to Pantelleria, Lampedusa and home were harder still. “Maintaining boat speed, concentration and team morale while living at a 45-degree angle for days on end is no easy task,” said Debattista. “Every race teaches you something, and we’re already looking at how we can come back stronger.”
Luis Azzopardi’s late entry Kixx Me carried some of the fleet’s youngest sailors, Lily Ellul (15) and Nathaniel Raute (16), as well as its eldest, Joe Farrugia (71), and finished despite minor trouble with the wind vane and sails. “They did an excellent job,” Azzopardi said of his two teenagers. “I would always consider having them with us in future races, because they gave 100% to their roles.”
Three Club boats retired. Vivace, last year’s Arthur Podesta Trophy winner, stopped 14 miles outside Marsala when a crew member was injured. “Safety comes first,” said Chiara Scerri Herrera, the only woman on board. The Jarhead Young Sailors’ Foundation’s JYS Jan, skippered by Gary Mercieca with a largely new crew, tore its mainsail near Pantelleria. “This race taught us when to retire the boat, and what a hard decision that can be,” said Mercieca. Kevin Pisani Zammit’s newly acquired Amuni found rigging damage shortly after rounding Favignana in 25 knots and heavy seas, and the crew retired at once. Even so, he called it “our best Middle Sea Race ever”.
Rear Commodore House Mario Debono returned with Seven by Malta Sotheby’s International Realty, overhauled with new rigging, keel, instruments and sails and sailed by a Malta-based international crew. The campaign is now professionally managed and sponsored, with the Caribbean circuit in its sights within two years, but Debono is clear about its roots: “This does not mean leaving the Corinthian spirit behind. The race was born out of it, and I will continue to push for it and support it.”
From a 36th race to a first, the Club’s crews each took something different from this year’s edition, and many are already looking ahead to 2027.
Photo Credit: © RMYC / Andrea Azzopardi
