Year on year, the Rolex Middle Sea Race features a myriad of skirmishes right through the fleet.

If you dream of winning one of the classic 600 nautical mile offshore races overall, you must have the determination and commitment to first win your section of the IRC category.

At the 43rd edition, some of the class wars have been intense affairs to the finish, while others have appeared walkovers as the competition missed catching the wind train or suffered other injustices in the fickle winds.

At least one such battle is still ongoing and is unlikely to finish for many hours.

In IRC 1, the eventual gap between first and second boats on time correction was 50 minutes, and the fight remained unresolved until the finish line.

The two boats, Spirit of Lorina (FRA) and Wild Joe (HUN) had been in contention since the start, and were locked together until Stromboli.

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