Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482987
14 EYEWITNESS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 OCTOBER 2022 ON Wednesday, 26 October, the winner of the 43rd edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race was an- nounced as Eric de Turckheim's French NMYD 54 Teasing Ma- chine. None of the remaining yachts still racing at that point at 4pm were able to better Teasing Machine's corrected time un- der IRC. "It is a huge emotion winning the Rolex Middle Sea Race," said de Turckheim. "It is our first 600 (nm) race overall, af- ter making several podiums around the world. On top of that, it is certainly our favour- ite 600nm race because of the complexity of the course, the complexity of the winds." "I have a passion for the 600nm races," he continued. "It's like running a marathon. It's a mixture of being compet- itive 24 hours after 24 hours, and having the resistance and the teamwork. It was our seventh race and experience counts a lot." Teasing Machine Crew: Eric de Turckheim, Laurent Pages, Christian Ponthieu, Quentin Le Nabour, Tony Brochet, Ga- briele Olivo, Betrand Castel- nerac, Paco Lepoutre, Aleandre Degrival, Jerome Teillet, Quen- tin Bouchacourt The Royal Ocean Racing Club Vice Commodore, Eric de Turckheim is a force to be recokoned with in any offshore race. Teasing Machine's record at the Rolex Middle Sea Race was already exceptional before this overall win. A class winner and third overall in 2017, on the NMYD 54's debut, was fol- lowed up with second in class in 2019, third in class in 2020, and second in class in 2021. Teasing Machine is the fourth French yacht to have won the Rolex Middle Sea Race follow- ing in the footsteps of Antares (1981), Spirit of Ad Hoc (2008) and Courrier Recommandé (2018). With the confirmation that Teasing Machine cannot be beaten by those left on the racecourse, attention turned to the class standings and the respective podiums. 38 boats officially retired mostly due to the continuing lack of wind across the course area and little prospect of substantial change. The tease machine