Successful Citadel Marzamemi Weekend Regatta

Successful Citadel Marzamemi Weekend Regatta

The first offshore race for RoyalMalta Yacht Club crews was a success which fully justified the Club’s decisionto postpone the race a couple of weeks before due to bad weather. Supported byCitadel Insurance plc, the Marzamemi Weekend Regatta is one of the Club’s mostpopular and competitive races on its calendar.

A fleet of twenty five boats,split in three racing classes and the Club cruising class,  leftMarsamexett Harbour early on a Friday morning, setting off for the first passagerace up, crossing the Malta-Sicily Channel and finishing off inMarzamemi. 

Jamie Sammut, skipper of IsomatUnica, Overall Winner in the race up to Marzamemi remarked – “We took the riskof starting with a code 0 to make sure we stay with the big boats. Twenty milesaway from Malta the wind started picking up to 18 – 20 knots. The wind backed acouple of degrees and hoisted the kite, the boat was flying towards Marzamemidoing between 10 – 15 knots.  Elusive BOV who was close to us finishedjust around a minute and a half ahead to claim line honours, however we managedto beat them on corrected time. A big well done goes to the crew John Cachia,Joe Vassallo, Tony Demajo, Jeremy Gravina for the hard work and great teamwork”

The picturesque seaside villageof Marzamemi comes to life with the arrival of Maltese gang. After all theexcitement and adrenaline experience in the race up, Saturday sees crews congregatingin the piazza for a long afternoon of socialising, exchanging jokes andexperiences before preparing their boats for the passage race down to Malta onthe Sunday.

Weather conditions for both raceswere billed as perfect, with constant winds that enabled most boats to fly towardsMarzamemi with speeds reaching between 10 – 15 knots.  Similar conditionswere experienced at the start of the race back to Malta with winds dying downas crews starting to reach Malta.

Speaking after the race FerdinandGrech, Kontiki Skipper, enthused – “For my crew and I, it was one of the bestregattas I have ever participated in, sailing up was fantastic perfect wind andwind direction and we have placed first in our class and forth overall. Sailingdown was also a very good experience and have also enjoyed every minute of it.As usual the race was very well organized, thumbs up to the committee. A verybig well done and thank you to Citadel Insurance, all participants andorganizers alike. Looking forward to the next race” KonTiki won the OverallClass in the passage race down to Malta.

A prize giving ceremony was heldlater on at the Royal Malta Yacht Club in the presence of crews, families andfriends and representatives of Citadel Insurance plc who presented the winnersof the various categories with their prizes.

“With boats coming off the hardin time for this race, we are always pleased with the enthusiasm andcompetitive spirit that crews emit in these racing conditions” commented GodwinZammit, Commodore of the Royal Malta Yacht Club. “We are also pleased with theinterest that Citadel Insurance plc has shown towards this race, and aregrateful for this partnership which has now been in place for a number ofyears”.

The Race Committee was assistedby members of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club who flew in purposely toassist in the Citadel Marzamemi Weekend Regatta.

Results

 

 

Race to Marzamemi (Friday 13th May)

Race to Malta (Sunday 15th May)

Overall

1st

Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut)

KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech)

 

 

 

 

IRC Class 1

1st

Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut)

Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut)

 

2nd

Elusive 2 BOV (Maya Podesta)

Elusive 2 BOV (Maya Podesta)

 

3rd

Allegra (Patrick Vassallo)

Xpresso (Sean Borg)

 

 

 

 

IRC Class 2

1st

Puddleduck (Chris Selvagi)

Puddleduck (Chris Selvagi)

 

2nd

Time Out (Mario Sant)

Fast Forward (Mark Vassallo)

 

3rd

Kaimana (David Anastasi)

Kaimana (David Anastasi)

 

 

 

 

IRC Class 4

1st

KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech)

KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech)

 

2nd

Mawimbi (Ian Pace)

Mawimbi (Ian Pace)

 

 

 

 

RMYC Cruiser

1st

Toddler (Mike Montanaro Gauci)

Nauti Buoy (Robert Ciantar)

2nd

For Pete’s Sake (Peter Rough)

Janissah (Mario Debono)

 

3rd

Kira (Gino Cutajar)

Kira (Gino Cutajar)

More information on the RoyalMalta Yacht Club and its activities can be found on www.rmyc.org

Event Photos can be found in the Media Gallery section on the Club's website