ARTIE and JARU Win IRC Class 3 & 4
(Malta)- The 31st edition of the 606-nautical mile Rolex Middle Sea Race began Saturday, 23 October from Grand Harbour, Malta and the first boats finished by Monday the 25th. There is no question it was another epic odyssey for those sailors crossing the trading routes of antiquity, experiencing what many a mariner must have faced back in the days of Phoenicians ruling the Med or the Romans facing enormous navigational (and boat-handling) problems crossing the straits to Tunisia. In short, whether it was Rome's Neptune or the Greek's Poseidon, the mythological Gods of the Sea threw everything, including the Roman baths and kitchen sinks at the fleet as they took their counter-clockwise course around the extraordinarily picturesque volcanic island of Sicily. Faced with everything from dead calms to 40+ knot Mistrals from the WNW, it was certainly going to be a test of the sailors as well as their boats.
Before the race, the betting was on as to which Ripard family team was going to beat the other. And, perhaps more importantly, who was going to add another Rolex watch to their collection, especially after Christian Ripard won class and overall in the 2001 edition of the Rolex MSR with his J/125 STRAIGHT DEALER. Local knowledge in this race helps and, as predicted, the Ripard-family sailed teams would be very competitive against a very strong fleet of professionally sailed TP52s and an assortment of 45 to 100 foot custom racers.
After a difficult, physically-demanding and challenging race, the J/122 ARTIE sailed by Royal Malta YC members Lee Satariano and Christian Ripard won IRC Class 4 were 2nd in IRC overall, just missing by just 26 minutes the overall honors against a slew of high-speed, custom offshore sleds like TP52s and two 100 foot canting keelers. First J to finish by just 25 minutes over the J/122 ARTIE was the J/133 JARU co-skippered by John Ripard Jr. and his brother-in-law, Andrew Calascione. JARU sailed strongly to win IRC Class 3 and place 3rd just behind ARTIE for IRC overall, in fact, beating in class a Swan 45 and Swan 56 custom and a Summit/Mills 40. Finishing 5th also in IRC Class 3 and 12th Overall IRC was the J/133 JUNO sailed by Sonke Stein.
ARTIE's Christian Ripard commented- "all three J's, ARTIE J/122, JARU J/133 and JUNO J/133, have done the J Boats family proud and all the crew of these three boats would not change their boats for anything else-- and my congratulations to Didier LeMoal and the Johnstone family and their teams for building us a solid, fast, comfortable, safe boat capable of winning against flat-out offshore race boats crewed by professional America's Cup and Volvo guys! My bow-man is 19 years old and this was his first offshore race!".
It was a horse-race from the beginning. By late Sunday night, the J/122 ARTIE was leading the fleet on corrected time going thru the Straits of Messina. At the Stromboli checkpoint, it was going to the wire in Class Three. Sonke Stein’s J/133 JUNO was leading, but only just, four minutes ahead of JARU and ARGO from Malta and Italy respectively, who are inseparable on corrected time.
Stein said, "Although JUNO is registered in Hamburg, she is based in Malta. This is my first Rolex Middle Sea Race with the boat, but personally this is my ninth race. The crew is mainly Maltese and has done the race many times. We hope to win, but the competition is very strong, we are looking forward to more exciting conditions ahead and above all to enjoy quality time with good friends."
One crew member in the race, Hillary Cook, commented on email, "North of Sicily it feels like we have sailed into a different climate zone. Gone from deck is the stash of sun cream and water bottles, to be replaced by thermals, oilskins and pleas for cups of hot tea. Porridge for breakfast this morning was very welcome after a challenging night, battling heavy rain and a wind which refused to make up its mind whether it was still southeasterly or the promised westerly, and at times settled for being zero."
If you have any interest in peering at a yacht tracker, check out each one of the boats tracks on the RMSR website. After the R/P 100 Esimit Europa 2 claimed line honours on Monday, the Slovenian maxi held the corrected lead, but only until the TP52 Lucky (USA) completed a fantastic lap around Sicily to take the overall handicap lead. Then it was down to ARTIE, and for a while, fellow Maltese boat JARU, a J/133, to see if they could beat the clock. Artie had to finish at 08.18 Wednesday morning, and at the various checkpoints of the course that meant averaging around mid-9 knots. They had shown flashes of this speed, so it was all possible. It was pretty impressive sailing in a J/122, a 40-foot performance racer-cruiser class that has had great success at several offshore events, including the Rolex Fastnet Race.
ARTIE had a fast passage Tuesday night hitting boat speeds in the high teens, from Lampedusa through the South Comino Channel. Between Gozo and Comino the breeze held out, but around 08.00, as ARTIE sailed into Marsamxett Harbour, the breeze dropped away to zero, along with any chance of making the cutoff. Crossing the line at 08:44, ARTIE missed the overall win by a mere 26 minutes on corrected time. Incredible. And, to know you were winning going into the last few miles up into the Grand Harbour, from the giddy heights of euphoria to the dungeon of dismay in minutes.
Owner and co-skipper Lee Satariano could be expected to be disappointed, though he said, "Last night we had many hours where the boat was just surfing down the waves. I really enjoyed that moment, it was really moving. There was really nothing I would change, we raced the boat to its fullest potential, but we have only had this boat for a short time and we are very happy with our achievement. We knew on the last day that we were close to having first overall, but from the beginning to the end we were always pushing it to the limit. At no point did we take it easy. The entries for the Rolex Middle Sea Race have been increasing every year and the competition is reaching a very high level. Maltese boats have shown well in recent races, we are up there; we can compete with the international competition."
Artie’s co-skipper, Christian Ripard was also full of wonder about the blast home on the last night. "The last night was just wonderful sailing and the crew had become fully in tune with each other. We were sailing on the edge and that requires precision, something that can only be achieved by perfect harmony which comes with time together on the boat."
First Maltese boat home was Andrew Calascione’s J/133 JARU, after 3 days, 20 hours, 2 minutes. Calascione said, "Sailing last night was one of those really special nights. First of all, the moon came up at a certain time where we were actually heading into it. We probably had a steady 17 knots of wind – chute up – and squalls to 25 knots, with just fantastic speeds because the wind was off the port quarter. Big seas, just a fantastic night of sailing, one of those things you dream of, twelve hours of it! The crew is in great shape, so it was good." For more Rolex Middle Sea Race sailing information. Rolex Sailing Photos/ Kurt Arrigo
