Updated 6.20pm
Thirteen boats competing in the Rolex Middle Sea Race remained out at sea as of Wednesday afternoon, as what was expected to be a major storm brewed over the island.
While some sailing teams hope to trickle into harbour before the rough weather sets in, others will have to seek refuge on Malta’s west coast as an alternative finish line has been set for the first time.
Event organiser Georges Bonello DuPuis told Times of Malta he had not experienced such bad weather at the finish in the 22 years he has been involved in the race.
Meteorologists at the Malta International Airport Met Office issued an orange alert on Wednesday morning, saying they expected moderate to heavy showers with thunder on the day, with strong winds becoming very strong over affected areas.
Later in the day, forecasters said they expected less rain than initially predicted, though winds would remain "strong to rather strong", especially in affected areas. Seas would be rough to very rough, the Met Office said.
The rough weather comes as storms in neighbouring Sicily left two people dead and entire regions on high alert, with cars overturned and streets submerged as a result of torrential rainfall.
Photo: Rolex Middle Sea Race.One boat still two days away
Bonello DuPuis said that most of the competing yachts still on the 606-nautical-mile challenge are between Lampedusa and Malta. One of the boats is still two days away from Malta.
The race organisers have decided to change the finish line for the event in a bid to avoid any unnecessary danger. “These are the precautions taken in the event of a northeasterly wind, which is hitting the island at the end of the race, when boats would otherwise be sailing along the eastern shoreline."
“It would be too risky to have sailors – especially foreigners, who would not have as much experience entering Marsamxett Harbour, the traditional finish line – sailing on a lee shore, where the waves and wind are pushing you onto land,” he said about the shift to the South Comino Channel in the limits of Ċirkewwa due to adverse weather conditions forecast.
“If something goes wrong, there would be no chance of escape,” said Bonello DuPuis, who is the Royal Malta Yacht Club special events organiser.
The sea would be “very confused” on entering the harbour, with lots of wave rebound, he explained.
“Navigating that in the eye of the storm, in the dark, soaking and exhausted after five days racing at sea, and probably seeing all sorts of lights around Valletta, is not a risk you would take.” For this reason, it was decided that the remaining boats will move to the safe side of Malta and seek shelter near Ghajn Tuffieha.
Conditions were “pretty challenging” throughout
Among those that soldiered on were two boats of the Jarhead Young Sailors Foundation, skippered and crewed by youths.
JYS Jan crossed the finish line in the morning, while JYS Jarhead was skirting the storm to be in a better position not to bear the brunt of it.
Skipper Matthew Farrugia, speaking from the yacht club on the arrival of JYS Jan earlier in the morning, said the reality was that the race was tough all the way round.
Smiles at sea: the Jarhead crew.The storm was only hitting Malta now, but the conditions were “pretty challenging” throughout, he said, adding that “this was probably one of the toughest years and difficult from the start”.
The professional adult sailor, accompanying the youths, said the tactic is to “shift down a gear in these circumstances to focus on finishing the race safely.
“Safety is the main priority. We go from 110 per cent performance mode to ‘let’s make it through the night, without getting hurt and breaking anything’,” Farrugia said.
Shift rotations were shortened to 90 minutes during the race “because the person at the wheel has to be fresh and super-concentrated, and anything more than that would have been too exhausting”.
Farrugia envisaged that weather conditions will not be as bad as what the sailors experienced near Stromboli – “pitch darkness, five-metre waves and 40 knots of wind, meaning 80km/hr”.