Danyil Mykhailichenko, racing for host club Birżebbuġa, won the Optimist Senior class and the RMYC’s Dimitrios Pipi Vertsonis took the ILCA 6 at the Yachting Malta BSC International Regatta, which welcomed 120 sailors from eight countries and some of the most difficult weather of the season.
Strong winds and swell wiped out the first two days, and Race Committee chief Miguel Amaral moved Saturday’s racing inside the harbour, with the Optimists in the morning and the ILCAs in the afternoon. Four races were sailed in each fleet. On Sunday there was barely two knots for most of the day, and only one final race could be sailed, in the early afternoon off Xrobb l-Għaġin.
Lithuania’s Erik Scheidt led the Optimist Seniors overnight by three points, but Mykhailichenko pipped him by one on the final day. Malta’s Timmy Vassallo held third, so a Maltese flag made the podium. Nathan Montebello (BSC) won the Cadets from Villiams Osipovs, with the RMYC’s Ethan Kodjaazliev third.
Benjamin Vassallo (MYSC) won the last race to take the ILCA 4 title from Jake Mallia, with Laidon Buhagiar edging Katrina Micallef for third. In ILCA 6, Birżebbuġa’s Lacey Aquilina and Michela Mifsud took first and second in the final race, and Vertsonis’s third was enough to beat Matthew Flores, who had won three of Saturday’s four races, by two points. Kurt Borg completed the podium. The event was sponsored by Yachting Malta and supported by RLR Yachting, Go&Fun, 3FL Sails and Birżebbuġa Local Council.
