<i>Maltese Falcon</i> makes waves at Punto Rosa

The Maltese Falcon has been flying the Maltese flag high in the yacht racing season, particularly last month when it placed an overall second in one of the most challenging regattas of the summer.

Following last year's season, the Maltese Falcon's first, the Maltese Beneteu 40.7 last month competed in the challenging Tyrrhenian and Ionian Championships held in Punto Rosa, Sicily.

The Championships saw the Maltese Falcon's crew, the youngest in the competition, being pitted against a selection of the finest sailors from southern Italy and Sicily - many of whom represent a selection of competitors for both the World and European Championships.

"We had a brilliant start that gave the Maltese Falcon the lead over all the others. In all five races we were flying the Maltese spinnaker ahead of the rest of the fleet when rounding the first windward mark," Alfie Manduca, the Maltese Falcon's skipper, explained.

The Maltese Falcon was, for most of the regatta, neck and neck in a closely-fought battle with an identical boat - the Alba Blu from the home port of Punto Rosa. However, a formidable challenge had also presented itself in the form of the Italian Beneteu Tra Diavolo.

Despite the stiff competition from all fronts over the three-day regatta, the Maltese Falcon managed to finish second in every race save one, in which it placed third.

The eight-person Maltese crew held their own against the odds and despite being the youngest crew at the regatta, they managed to finish a very respectable overall second.

According to Manduca, it was the crew's high-calibre performance that had made such a positive result possible. The crew was made up of Aaron Podesta, his sister and only female member Maya, Matthew Farrugia, Mark Vassallo, Andrew Wilson, Etienne Cachia, Andre Rossignaud - trainer at the Young Sailors Club - and Manduca as skipper.

This second placing in the Punto Rosa regatta has been the best result achieved over the Maltese Falcon's last two seasons.

The Maltese Falcon had kicked off the season with the Roma Per Tutti regatta. The competition, held in April, was a long distance race starting in Riva di Traiano, just outside Rome, and covered a 535-mile course to Capri, Lipari and back to Rome.

Over 100 participants had competed in the different classes. The Maltese Falcon was raced by a crew of eight. At Lipari, the Maltese Falcon was the fourth to pass through the mid-course checkpoint, but the crew later found that, under corrected time, they had actually come first.

Meanwhile, the northbound leg back to Riva di Traiano was extremely slow due to a lack of wind. However, the three leading boats had managed to get ahead of the calms and eventually finished some seven hours ahead of the rest.

The Maltese Falcon wasn't awarded sufficient corrected time and, after five days at sea, failed to retain the first place position. Nevertheless, the result was still a respectable overall fourth place.

Meanwhile, May saw the Maltese Falcon competing in the Rolex IMS World Championship in Capri and the Audi IMS European Championships in Punta Ala.

Both events witnessed intense racing and competition between the world's best sailing teams - manned by sailors such as Paul Cayard, Vasco Vascotto and Olympic gold medallists from Spain, France, Italy and Greece, and even the King of Spain.

The Maltese Falcon finished third out of nine identical boats in its class. With such results, the future looks bright for the Maltese Falcon, which is also due to compete in the Middle Sea Race this October.

However, as Manduca pointed out, such performances could not have been possible without the support of Virtu Ferries - instrumental in transporting the crew over the past months, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Captain Morgan Yacht Charter Company.