Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/619227
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2015 SAILING Sport SAILING Royal Malta Yacht Club – 2015 review MARIA VELLA-GALEA WITH a myriad of races taking place throughout the year, crews were certainly not left wanting for choice! Match Racing Series The Match Racing Winter Series consisted of six individual days of round robin competitions between four different teams on each day. Each team raced each other an av- erage of ten times over the six days during winter. David Anastasi's team of Mark Vassallo, Tom Bonello Ghio and Karl Miggiani emerged the overall winners of the 2015 RMYC Match Racing Winter Series. The team, who was joined by Zach Zammit who replaced Mark Vassallo went to represent Malta at the Ger- trude Cup (Etchells Invitational) in Cowes, where they took Most Improved Team Prize. J70 Class With 5 boats in the fleet, the J70 Class is by no means the least ac- tive or competitive. Popularity for this class has increased with more sailors becoming involved in the Class and full participation in the four regattas organised locally. Se- bastian Ripard's Team Betsafe also ventured away from our shores to compete in the J70 World Cham- pionships (finishing in 21st place overall and achieving 5th place in the Corinthian (non-profession- als) category). Their participation in the J70 Europa Cup saw them clinch a bronze podium position. Keelboat Regattas A full programme of races for keelboats include fully crewed and double handed races. Week- end regattas to Sicily – Marzame- mi, Syracuse and Ragusa, prove to be the most popular although lo- cal weekend regattas have enjoyed strong competitive participation from the likes of the Podesta siblings' Elusive II BOV, Anton Calleja's Lartista, Jamie Sammut's Unica, Mark Vassallo's Fast For- ward and Godwin Zammit's In- spiration just to mention a few. National Dinghy Championships The 2015 National Dinghy championships, organized by the Malta Sailing Federation and hosted by the Royal Malta Yacht Club saw a large fleet with 61 boats, representing Birzebbugia Sailing Club, Malta Young Sailors Club and Royal Malta Yacht Club as well as a good international representation with sailors hailing from Algeria, Egypt, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Moldova, the Seychelles and Tunisia. Youssef Akrout from Tunisia and Allan Julie from the Seychelles have represented their countries in the Olympic Games. Races took place outside Mar- samxett Harbour and was split over two days 36th Rolex Middle Sea Race The Rolex Middle Sea Race, which this year featured a fleet of 111 yachts representing 22 na- tions with yachts ranging from 9 to 25 metres in length, was won by Michele Galli's B2, in a nerve wracking affair when they beat Mascalzone Latino by a mere nine seconds, after time correction. Good results were achieved by Maltese crews, and whilst Lee Satariano's Artie did not replicate last year's win, it achieved fourth overall, first in Class and first Maltese boat to cross the finish line. Good results were achieved by Elusive II BOV, skippered by Christoph Podesta was with Jamie Sammut's Unica and Tim- my Camilleri & Josef Schulteis' Xp-act Bank Sails. Sport Development Initiatives to develop further the sport of sailing has seen great progress through the efforts of the Royal Malta Yacht Club Sail- ing School and the International Maritime Academy. Both outfits have been working hard to in- crease interest in sailing and their efforts are producing great results! To date, the Royal Malta Yacht Club Sailing School has run over 480 individual sailing lessons and its students have performed very well at the Club's Summer Regatta and National Dinghy Champion- ships. The Sailing School also invested, with the assistance of Yachting Malta, in two RS Fevas which will enable them to cater for more people interested in sail- ing. The Club is looking forward to increased participation in the 2016 Racing Calendar which is once again filled with a variety of races to cater for everyone. BOV Regatta Dinghy Championships RMYC Match Racing PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARLO BORLENGHI PHOTOGRAPHY BY RMYC MARIA VELLA-GALEA PHOTOGRAPHY BY RMYC MARIA VELLA-GALEA PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEFAN ABELA