One Race, Nine Trophies! Extraordinary ARTIE Cleans House!(Gzira, Malta)- The 35th Rolex Middle Sea Race was one to remember. Not only for international fleet that, for the third year in a row, set a record number of entries, but for the array of conditions that the yachts faced. From no wind to too much; from flat calm to turbulent seas; from going nowhere to flying fast & furious: the 608-nm mythical race course offered everything. The worthy winner had to conquer the elements as well as the competition. Exceptional challenges bring out the best in exceptional characters— none other than Lee Satariano and the crew of the Maltese J/122 ARTIE, Overall Winner of the 2014 Rolex Middle Sea Race!
122 yachts from 24 nationalities ranging in size from 9.5 to 30.5 metres gathered at the start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2014. Twenty-three more yachts than the previous record set in 2013. “Having a larger fleet and different nationalities is satisfying, because it means that the popularity of the race is not only increasing in numbers but extending to many places,” enthused Godwin Zammit, Commodore of race organizers, Royal Malta Yacht Club.
The Rolex Middle Sea Race was first run in 1968 and Rolex has been the title sponsor since 2002. On Saturday 18 October, the cannons of Valletta’s Saluting Battery overlooking Grand Harbour marked the start of the 2014 race under a clear sky, a subtle southerly breeze and the watchful gaze of a sizable crowd.
According
to Francesco de Angelis, a J/24 World Champion and tactician on
defending champion B2 from Italy: “The difficulty of this race is that
you never know what the wind is going to do. It’s a long one, with a lot
of corners, and the scenario is always changing. You know the wind you
will start with, but you don’t know what you will find along the way. It
is never easy.”The wind at the start was a light southerly. The first night at sea saw the fleet struggling to make ground towards the Strait of Messina. Concentration, attentive trimming, correct sail selection, precise helming and minimizing unnecessary movements were the key to getting anything out of the conditions.
Twenty-four hours into the race and only one boat had passed through the Strait- the Jochen Schümann-skippered line honours favourite Esimit Europa 2 covered just 215-nm in the first complete day of racing. By noon she was 10nm from Stromboli struggling to make six knots. Rán, Shockwave and B2, the next yachts on the course, were still tacking the Strait, some 30nm behind.
“The first night of this race is a very tricky and tactical affair,” explained Ian Moore, navigator on Italian Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino, one of the faster entries. “You go straight for the corner of Sicily but as soon as you have got there you begin thinking how do I enter the Strait?” Vincenzo Onorato’s boat would be the fifth to pass into the Tyrrhenian Sea (Onorato also past J/24 Italian Champion and offshore Italian champion on his J/39).
Some twenty-four hours later and Esimit Europa 2 had still yet to pass the halfway point. Most of the fleet was wallowing 100nm astern. The second night proved another opportunity for crews to hone their ability to deal with little or no wind. As more yachts rounded Stromboli, some diverted north in the search of breeze. The fact remained that everyone was barely moving. Esimit Europa’s hopes of overturning the 47 hours, 55 minute and 3 second race record (set by American Maxi Rambler in 2007) evaporated in the still heat.
Esimit Europa 2 used the building breeze to confirm her status as favourite for line honours, finally crossing the finish line in Malta’s Marsamxett Harbour at 22:47.05 CEST on Tuesday night. The Slovenian Maxi completed the course in 3 days, 10 hours, 42 minutes and 5 seconds. This fourth line honours win, following victories in 2010, 2011 and 2012, set a new record for the Rolex Middle Sea Race: some compensation for failing to better the course record.
After three quiet nights, a dramatic change in conditions occurred late on the fifth day. The wind built progressively from the northwest. Storm force winds began to sweep the course and the face of the race changed, just as most yachts were reaching the exposed westernmost point at Favignana. One crew sent photographic evidence of its instruments recording 50 knots. With the hours of darkness exceeding daylight, it was a long and difficult night.
Proof of the extraordinarily treacherous conditions lies in the eventual number of retirees – 71 – and the litany of damage reported by the fleet, even close to the finish. For those still racing the building wind also brought opportunity. The race conditions now favored a small boat. Which one would depend upon a combination of seamanship, tactics and nerve. ARTIE’s Sebastien Ripard offered an insight into the dilemma: “We have winds gusting over 40 knots and 30-foot waves. The game plan has been a mixture of pushing as hard as we can but also protecting the boat, so we have been taking it a bit easier in the big gusts of over 40 knots and then going for it when the wind speed drops a little.”
After
probably the toughest 24 hours in the 46 year history of the race, Lee
Satariano’s J/122 ARTIE crossed the line at 00:45 CET on Thursday, after
4 days, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 05 second of racing. Her nearest rival
in class would finish 8 hours behind on both elapsed and corrected
time. Later that morning, with several yachts still racing, the Royal
Malta Yacht Club made an official announcement declaring the Maltese
team could not be beaten and had won the race overall!“It hasn't really sunk in yet,” smiled Lee Satariano. “But now having had the opportunity to reflect on the race, even more important than winning was the achievement of actually finishing the race in the conditions that we had out there. Even near the end my worry was not finishing, right up until the end, we knew boats were in difficulties, which was very unfortunate and that was playing on my mind until we crossed the finish line. I would like to emphasize that one thing we really promote on Artie, throughout the year, is that we have young dinghy sailors on board and a main objective is to get these youngsters out sailing, combining them with our regular crew to create the future sailors that will be representing Malta.”
An overwhelmed Satariano continued to comment: “I still can’t believe it. To win such a prestigious race, one of the most high level offshore races in the world, being a local boat and a local team is a great achievement.” Behind the delight was the knowledge of a job well done: “Having had the opportunity to reflect on the race, even more important than winning was the achievement of actually finishing. It was a very, very tough race.” This is the second title for Artie in three years, after victory in 2011, and the seventh Maltese victory in 35 editions. Fittingly, in the year when a record 122 boats started the race, it was 12.2m yacht that won!”
Lee Satariano was asked before the race if the record entry of 122 yachts and the fact that ARTIE is a J/122 was an omen? “I am not superstitious anymore!” commented Lee just after stepping ashore. “It was a very very tough race. The crew have worked around the clock from day one and the race didn't start well for us but during day two we started to get our the shifts right and co-skippers Sebastian and Christian Ripard did a great job on the tactics and the end result was a series of correct decisions that put us in a good position before the storm arrived. As always, having a good crew on board allows you to give the effort an extra push, with a good boat and an excellent crew are the intention at the start, it was to win and we hope we have achieved that.”
Christian Ripard has competed in numerous offshore classics including the infamous Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, often with many of the ARTIE crew. “The sea was big, it was very windy, we don't know exactly how windy because the Windex at the top of the rig blew off! – yes this race is up there with the toughest Hobarts I have done. In fact, we were saying on board 'when was the last time we saw a sea like this?' and I had to say it was during a windy Sydney Hobart but to have those conditions for over 24 hours is very rare, almost exceptional. You are always learning in this game and the experience showed me that it is good to go with a bloody good crew! Truly, it is the only way you can sail the boat like we did. If you don't have a good crew, you just won't get through it or you will break things and when it comes down to it – a good crew is what you need and we have done a lot of miles together on ARTIE, they are my nephews, my friends and we have been together for thousands of miles at sea.”
What
an achievement! In the history of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, only
George David and Ken Read on the 90 ft RAMBLER managed one better, that
of claiming the RMSR course record. Cheering the ARTIE boys on were the
Maltese crew of Aaron Gatt Floridia’s J/122 OTRA VEZ. Amazingly, at
least halfway into the race going along the northern coastline of Sicily
on the way from the Stromboli “smoking volcano island” to the southerly
turning point at the dramatic rocks of Favigna, it was the OTRA VEZ
team that was pushing ARTIE to the limit. In fact, from the start to
about halfway round the race, it was OTRA VEZ leading the charge for the
J/Fleet. However, their more inshore route nearer to Sicily became
their undoing. ARTIE followed a more northerly course to pass them,
anticipating the new front with the strong northwesterlies coming with
it. In the end, OTRA VEZ followed their Maltese countrymen into the
finish to take 2nd IRC Class IV and 6th IRC Overall. Congratulations to
both teams for a job well-done!Finally, no one to our knowledge has ever in the history of offshore racing ever gone home with a silverware haul like what ARTIE achieved in this year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race; take a look at this remarkable list:
- First IRC Class 4
- First ORC Class 4
- First Maltese yacht in IRC
- First Maltese yacht in ORC
- First Overall IRC
- First Overall ORC
- First Maltese Yacht Line honours
- Boccale del Mediterraneo Trophy
- Overall winner of the Rolex Middle Sea Race.
Here’s the photo of the winning J/122 ARTIE crew for the 2014 Rolex Middle Sea Race - Lee Satariano, Christian Ripard, Sebastian Ripard (co-skippers), Matthew Gusman, Sam Pizzuto, Tom Ripard, Matthew Almekinders, Gordon Bugeja, Timothy Davis. Sailing Photo Credits- Rolex/Kurt Arrigo For more Rolex Middle Sea Race sailing information
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