Third Edition - Three classes – Three winners (Royal Malta Yacht Club)
29 April 2010

The Royal Malta Yacht Club recently organised the Double Handed Round Malta Race, sponsored by International Yacht Paints. Three winners secured the third edition of this very much sought after race. TonTon, a Dufour 44, clearly won Class 1 and first overall whilst "Otravez" clearly dominated Class 2. In the cruiser class, there wasn't anybody who could keep up with the pace of Windward, sailed by Anthony Camilleri.

All three boats clearly deserved to be the winners in their classes and there were quite a few close results in all three divisions. The forecast for the race day was for a light Easterly wind which was scheduled to increase slightly in the afternoon. From Marsamxetto Harbour, the fleet sailed towards the Munxar Cardinal buoy, down towards the Freeport Terminal, towards the South Comino Channel and back towards Valletta. Racing was very close all the way down the Western coast and the whole fleet flew their spectacular and colourful spinnakers in a nice stable building breeze which sometimes increased to a good 20 knots of wind speed.

"TonTon" with Matthew Sciciluna as skipper and Nikki Sammut as crew on board managed to sail an excellent race and led the fleet home closely followed by "Geisha". Elusive finished in 3rd place. Edward Gatt Floridia and Sean Arrigo Azzopardi on board "Otravez" won class 2 line honours and also claimed top spot on corrected time in their division. "As tough as can be but enjoyed it tremendously. We gybed all the way down the back end of Malta and made a few sail changes on the way too." said an exhausted but jubilant Arrigo at the dock."Time Out" finished in second place whilst Gordon Craig did a "Harry" and finished off in third place, beating eternal rival, Martin Beechum by just 13 seconds. Anthony Camilleri managed to hold off some stiff opposition with some great sail trimming on board his Bavaria together with Gilbert Azzopardi as crew on board "Windward". "Escape finished in second place followed by Du 4 in third. Post race comments from participants were all very positive and all looked forward to more shorthanded racing organised by the RMYC.

During the prize giving ceremony, Mr Andrew Magri Overand representing International Yacht Paint in Malta congratulated all the participants, especially the winners, who all used the International brand as their antifouling product.

The Royal Malta Yacht Club's next event is the Gewiss Marzamemi Weekend Regatta with a fleet of 55 boats expecting to participate this year.

For further details, please contact:
Royal Malta Yacht Club
Ta' Xbiex Seafront
Ta' Xbiex XBX 1028
Tel: 2133 3109
Fax: 2133 1131
Email: info@rmyc.org