|
News
« Back
A great 'one',' two' for Beneteau
date:
03-09-2007
 Maltese Falcon II
|
The Ramla Bay Regatta that heralds the start of autumn racing was held in mainly strong conditions. The opening race from Manuel Island to Ramla , a beat in 12 to 15 knots of wind was won by Martin Scicluna in his Beneteau First 40.7 ‘Maltese Falcon II’, Chris Grech in an X 41 ‘ Horatio’ was 2nd
while ‘Allegra’ a Beneteau First 47.7 came a close 3rd.
Saturday’s race, a clockwise rounding of Gozo, had the strongest wind. A steady 20 knots of wind gusting to over 30 knots saw some wild broaches and blown downwind sails. ‘Allegra’ was surfing at speeds of up to 17 knots while the ‘Maltese Falcon’ shredded an asymmetric sail, other boats suffered torn mainsails in these tough conditions. ‘Allegra’ took the bullet for this race with ‘Horatio’ taking 2nd place again while ‘Maltese Falcon’ came 3rd.
Sunday’s final race was a winner take’s all showdown between ‘Maltese Falcon’, ‘Allegra’ and ‘Horatio’ all on 4 points each.
The start was hard fought between the two Beneteau’s neither giving any quarter. The complicated race course around Comino twice (taking in an extra sausage leg in the south Comino Channel) saw multiple sail changes at a frantic pace. Each leg was over in less than 10 minutes but both Beneteau’s changed headsail on every leg and some crews race was spent desperately bagging spinnakers before they were needed again. As the wind died from 17 to 12 knots on the last downwind leg from Comino to the finish at Ramla Resort ‘Maltese Falcon’ started to make ground on ‘Allegra’, the final result was to close to call.
Both crews from the Beneteaus’ met up in the beer tent waiting for the official result and toasted each other on a hard fought race. 50 seconds on corrected time in ‘Maltese Falcon’s favour gave an overjoyed Martin Scicluna the Ramla Bay Trophy, ‘2nd place went to 'Allegra' while ‘Horatio’ had to settle for 3rd
. A great one two for Beneteau!
|