Rolex Middle Sea Race 2014 — a Storm-Battered Regatta

A Storm-Battered Regatta Just over half a month remains until the Rolex Middle Sea Race, one of the Mediterranean’s most prestigious offshore races. The race has been held since 1968 and is organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Our captain, Andrey, has taken part in this regatta three times, on different boats and with different crews. In 2012, his team, skippered by Ilgonis Balodis, took first place in the Russian national standings. And in 2014, although by then they were sailing with a different crew—but still with Ilgonis as skipper—thank God, they FINISHED. And that was quite something, because 68 of the 117 boats retired from the race. Strange Symbols We watched the regatta from ashore. Or, to be more precise, glued to a laptop screen. There was virtually no proper connection for almost five days, while on the tracker at http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/tracker/#pt something strange was going on: a good half of the little boat triangles were poking into the Sicilian coast all around its perimeter and going nowhere. Waiting for the Weather “What was that?” we asked Andrey when he returned. It turned out to have been a storm. A pretty serious one: Force 10 on the Beaufort scale, close to the one we once endured in Sicily . This time, Andrey combined the duties of navigator and watch leader aboard a 60-foot racing yacht. The weather forecast promised nothing but mind-numbing boredom for the first couple of days. After that, they would switch the wind on. Following a windless start, everyone spent the first two and a half days trying to catch a breath of wind. The bow lookout watched for ripples on the sea’s surface, then pointed the boat towards that very spot with an imperious finger. They even managed to overtake someone along the way at the breakneck speed of 0.4 knots (1 nautical knot = 1 nautical mile per hour). To give the wind a helping hand, the crew blew into the sails, scratched the mast (an old superstition) and recited incantations: “Wind, wind, you are mighty!” In short, the sailors did everything in their power. The wind listened attentively and finally arrived. Or rather, it came roaring in. It blew up to a full 50 knots (25 metres per second) and, over the next day and a half, battered the people and their craft right down to their bilges. A Stormy Race Fewer than half the fleet finished in Malta. Some retired because of breakages; the rest decided to withdraw in order to save their boats. Not everyone felt they had the strength to battle the elements. After entering the Strait of Sicily (between Africa and Sicily), the yacht hurtled along at speeds of up to 27 knots. For two days, they took turns sleeping with one eye open, without removing their boots or foul-weather gear. At night, in 45-knot winds, an accidental gybe occurred—the mainsail and boom swung violently across. By some miracle, the coordinated actions of the most experienced crew members, who leapt into the cockpit, saved the mast. That same stormy night, some of the electronics failed. They had to repair them urgently (I can barely imagine how they managed it). And, for dessert, the technical details of yet another failure: The speed and waves caused the propeller to rotate, shearing the key on the shaft that connects the propeller shaft to the engine itself. The shaft began spinning wildly with the propeller, heating everything around it. They had to jam it against the hull by hand with some piece of wood from the repair supplies. In plain language, the engine was completely kaput. So they entered the Maltese harbour under sail. It made for a beautiful finish, just like in the pre-engine age. Just imagine: a light, graceful 60-foot yacht entering its berth under sail in 30-plus knots of wind, and then... taking a victory lap, heeling jauntily just in front of the concrete breakwater (they weren’t going to make the turn, but managed to bear away in time—otherwise they would have crashed into it). They made another approach. They berthed under sail, dropping an anchor that never did set. The crew’s glassy eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. Longed-for sleep. The Rolex Middle Sea Race 2014 was over. Forty-nine of the 117 yachts finished. P.S. This season, we are ashore again for now, while our captain is at sea again. Only this time he is aboard Lady Mary , far from the Mediterranean and its famous 600-mile race around Sicily. Soon, from the Canary Islands , our captain will be seeing off another regatta, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2015. But that is another story altogether 😉