With the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race more than 24 hours old, the story so far has been dominated by dramatic fluctuations in the wind conditions and sea state.

At 16:00 CEST, the bulk of the fleet was sailing in generally light airs, spread between Capo Murro di Porco in the south and midway between the islands of Alicudi and Ustica, off the north coast of Sicily.

Remon Vos’ Black Jack 100 holds a slim advantage over Huang-Seng Lee’s Scallywag 100 from Hong Kong and the United States entry, Bryon Ehrhart’s 88ft Lucky, with the Maxi72 Balthasar still in the frame, just. Some 12 yachts have passed Stromboli, and the course mark of Strombolicchio.

Times at this transit point put the German Botin 56 Black Pearl of Stefan Jentszch in the lead overall under IRC time correction by a handful of minutes from Balthasar and Eric de Turckheim’s 2022 French winner, Teasing Machine. With plenty of yachts still to round the volcanic outpost, the contest for the Rolex Middle Sea Race trophy is far from over.

Black Pearl during the 45th Rolex Middle Sea Race – photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo

Track the fleet here.

112 yachts set off from Grand Harbour, Valletta on Saturday in a reasonable southerly breeze that propelled the fleet towards Capo Passero. Circumstances were not straightforward as the dominant low pressure system continued to disrupt the prevailing wind strength and direction. The unstable and unseasonably warm weather was also generating squalls and water spouts, interspersed with thunder and lightning, and short, steep potentially boat-breaking waves.

As the yachts approached the south east corner of Sicily, the skies darkened earlier than the expected sunset. Within minutes the wind rose from 12-15 knots to a sustained 40 plus, gusting even higher, as a violent squall thumped into the main body of the fleet. The sudden change showed no respect for experience, size or status. Several yachts suffered shredded sails and worse, including three dismastings. In total, 29 boats have been forced out of the race following this extreme episode. The most high-profile entrant affected was last year’s winner Bullitt.

The seriously experienced John Ripard Jr, on his 30th Rolex Middle Sea Race and sailing double-handed with his son Tommy on the Maltese Swan 47 Lazy Duck, reported in this morning. “It has been a very difficult 24 hours so far,” said Ripard. “A harrowing 30 minute squall of quite some intensity caught as we were with full main and code zero. We emerged from that bruised but not beaten – the only downside apart from wear and tear on our bodies and minds – was the failure of our wind instruments, which we have not managed to recover as yet.”

Christoph Podesta, co-skipper of the First 45 Elusive 2 also from Malta and a competitor equally well versed in the vagaries of Mediterranean sailing, was another to send in a report that captured the flavour of the previous night. “Very strong wind yesterday afternoon with a very dramatic, big thunderstorm forming very close to us,” he advised. “Heavy-duty, squally gusts with a lot of lightning. We saw multiple water spouts forming around us and we managed to carefully dodge the dangerous parts.”

This morning and for much of the day, the situation has been the complete antithesis, as the pair explained, Ripard first.

“First 12 hrs of this morning were painful in zero wind and a very lumpy residual south easterly swell. Apart from all that and spending some time up the rig sorting stuff we are still smiling!” Podesta added: “Overall had quite a good night with fast progress. But now unfortunately, we are in very little wind, and we are becalmed east of Etna. We are trying to work our way up to the Strait of Messina, but the wind has not played ball.” At 16:00, some 24 boats had passed through and entered the Tyrrhenian Sea.

One of those, French entry Long Courrier, a Sydney 43, is armed with Géry Trentesaux and Alexis Loisin, both winners of this race and the Rolex Fastnet Race, and with other potent weapons in the crew.

“After an interesting night we are approaching the Strait of Messina in this fantastic race. We tore some sails during a squall, which lasted 30 minutes. Everyone is well and we are looking forward to a good day,” commented Trentesaux. Loisin joined in: “24 hours into the race we are nearing Messina. A lot has happened already, and we have had a bit of everything in terms of conditions. We are in good form, at the head of our class, and we are ripping it up.” Long Courrier eventually exited the narrow strait at 11:35 CEST and by late afternoon was 11nm from Stromboli.

Another to escape the Messina Strait this morning was the British Carkeek 45 Ino Noir of James Neville, past Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. “Just coming to Stromboli turning mark now,” advised Neville. “We had a clean trip through Messina with tide behind. This leg up to Stromboli has been fickle with lots of sail changes and gybes to stay in the breeze. The wind died and picked up from the east. It is now dry on board after the hosing yesterday and a warm day, the sea is even relatively flat.” Ino Noir passed through the Stromboli transit at 15:37.

At the head of the fleet, it has not been plain sailing despite the size of the lead. Following a fast passage to Capo Passero, arriving just as the sky turned black, the fastest four initially made good progress towards the toe of mainland Italy. Black Jack arrived at the entrance to the 20nm Strait of Messina at about 22:30, with a five mile lead over Scallywag, while Lucky and Balthasar were a further 8 miles in arrears. The Strait proved a bottle neck. The four compressed during a difficult dance up the mainland shore, popping out between 02:00 and 03:00. None could achieve any significant separation on the leg to Stromboli, which they reached at day break. As we go to press, the quartet is at a standstill, with the considerably smaller Black Pearl seemingly bringing the wind with her as she closes in.

Class Action @ 16:00 CEST, Sunday 20 October

IRC 1

The mighty have made hay compared to the bulk of the fleet, but look to be in for a difficult night with the wind to the north of Sicily showing no sign that it will fill in. At the Stromboli transit, Balthasar held a solid near five hour lead over Lucky, with Black Jack 100 in third, a mere 20 minutes back.

IRC 2

A cracking race is under way, with several yachts in contention for the podium. At Capo Passero, Franco Niggeler’s Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka 3 led Black Pearl and Jean Pierre Barjon’s Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina after time correction. At Messina, the ranking showed the NMYD 54 Teasing Machine at the top, followed by Kuka 3 and the Carl-Peter Forster’s German TP52 Red Bandit. The timing at Stromboli has seen another change in the standings with Black Pearl back into the lead by 11 minutes from Teasing Machine and over an hour from Kuka 3. Black Pearl has slightly extended her lead on the water as she hunts Balthasar in the class above. Mitch Booth, tactician on Kuka 3 reported in at midday: “Right now, we are focused on the next transition turning into light upwind. We lost a bit of distance this morning but that means the boats just ahead of us provide a clear indication of what is happening with wind ahead.”

Kuka 3 during the 45th Rolex Middle Sea Race – photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo

IRC 3

The leaders in IRC 3 are approaching Stromboli still in the breeze.

How long it lasts will determine how long they spend within view of the seabound furnace in the hours of darkness, and whether they continue to hold their lead after time correction. Long Courrier is first on the water, followed by the Italian Farr 45 Sagola Spartivento, skippered by Peppe Fornich, and Yves Grosjean’s Neo 430 Roma, Afazik Impulse from France. At the Messina transit the order was the same with gaps of two hours and 45 minutes respectively.

IRC 4

Elusive 2, sailed by Aaron, Maya, and Christoph Podesta, has opened up a huge lead. Benoit Tuduri’s French S40 Focus (Firecrest) and Marco & Isacco Cohen’s French MAT 12 Dajenu are having an epic battle for second place. At 1600, Dajenu was picking up pace and after time correction was ranked second by a hair’s breadth. Elusive 2’s performance is outstanding, the Podestas passed Capo Passero just four minutes ahead of Focus on the water, but 20 hours later Elusive 2 was more than 20 miles ahead and pulling away, as the wind funnels through the Strait of Messina. Nikki Henderson, skippering the British First 53 Yagiza, messaged in: “It was a pretty intense 24-hours with a lot of sail changes. We saw the big breeze coming and also water spouts and furled our Code Zero early and that really worked for us. Right now, we are trying to keep the boat moving through light patches. We are planning our Messina Strait entrance, and we are gambling on the north east side for a bit more pressure. Morale on board is high and the light winds have given the crew a chance to get a bit more sleep.”

IRC 5

Seb Ripard and Dan Calascione’s Maltese Farr 30 Calypso has had a very successful 24 hours, moving up to first in class by more than three hours after IRC time correction. Maks Vrecko’s Slovenian Elan 450 Karpo drops to second in the class ranking. Australian Swan 53 Bedouin co-skippered by Guglielmo Giordano & Linda Goddard is in third. Not wishing to disrespect the hugely talented Calypso crew, the light winds on the second day will have suited their Farr 30 much more than the displacement competition of Bedouin and Karpo.

IRC 6

The ranking for this podium has seen a big shake-up over the last 24 hours. Moving to the top of the class are two Sun Fast 3300s. Simon Toms’ British crew on Zephyr was estimated to have a 90 minute lead, after IRC time correction. Italy’s Matteo Uliassi racing Alquimia doublehanded with Francesco Cerina was ranked second. In third place was Jean Christophe Cascailh’s French Sun Fast 3200 Milou. Zephyr and Alquima deployed different tactics after passing Capo Passero, with Zephyr taking a more offshore line to pass the wind shadow of Etna, while Alquima went inshore, presumably looking for wind off the land. The result at 1600 today, is a lead of three miles to Zephyr.

At midday, Claudio Bugeja, skipper of the youth team on JYS Jan called in: “We are about to start heading into the Strait of Messina. It is still far out but we are aiming there. After yesterday’s squall we managed to repair most of the damage we had onboard. We are moving fine, and spirits are high, everyone is in good order and happy. Everyone is hungry too, which means things are good. We have some nice wind now, but it was not very easy earlier on today. Hoping the Strait treats us well!”

Double Handed Class

Only half the double-handed fleet remain in play after the dramatic first night. Lann Ael 3, Muttley-BDM Audit, Lunatika, Vivace and Atame have all retired. All crews are safe and well. Didier Gaudoux, skipper of the French MN35 Lann Ael, explained what happened: “It was very very violent. Five or six hours the start, we had 15 knots sailing with a spinnaker and everything was going well. We saw a lot of storms and lightning around us, but we had the impression it was not for us. Suddenly the wind went from 15 to 50 knots, and the boat was flat on its side for about three minutes. Eventually, we were able to drop the spinnaker, but the wind came back. The compression tube exploded, and the mast dropped. I would like to mention the boat named Goose, who dropped all their sails and circled around us during an hour and a half just to check everything was OK”.

Back on the race course, Alquimia is currently leading Lazy Duck and the First 36 Marina 21 from Greece, skippered by Milan Kolacek and Milan Tomek.

Class 40

Mikael Mergui’s Centrakor has passed the Stromboli transit, and so too has Matteo Sericano’s Lucente just over an hour behind. After leading to Capo Passero, Marvic40 has struggled through the day and only just exited the Messina Strait. Espoir and Talanta have yet to enter the Strait.

Follow the news and stories on the Rolex Middle Sea Race website at www.rolexmiddlesearace.com

by Rolex Middle Sea Race Media