Record maxi fleet to set sail in tomorrow’s Rolex Middle Sea Race

The opening event in the International Maxi Association’s 2026-27 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge sets sail at 1100 tomorrow, Saturday with the Royal Malta Yacht Club’s Rolex Middle Sea Race. Among the 108 competing yachts a giant maxi fleet of 22 is taking part.

The start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race is one of the most dramatic in the sport: the line is set within the confines of Grand Harbour, surrounded by the giant ramparts and fortifications of Malta’s ancient capital Valletta, crews setting off to the tune of cannon fire and cheers of the amassed spectators.

From here the 606-mile course is the usual elongated anticlockwise lap of Sicily, passing the active volcanoes of Etna on Sicily and Stromboli, the race’s northeasterly turning mark, passing through the tidal Strait of Messina between Sicily and the toe of Italy en route. After rounding the north and west sides of Sicily, the boats head south to the remote islands of Pantelleria, just 35 miles from Tunisia, and on to the southwesterly turning mark of Lampedusa before they head back towards the Comino Channel and on to the finish at the entrance to Valletta’s Marsamxett Harbour.

This year the fleet of 60+ft maxis ranges in size from Remon Vos’ 100ft Black Jack via Maxi Grand Prix racers such as Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s wallyrocket 71 Django 7X and Louis Balcaen’s Maxi 72 Balthasar to the 52-year-old Swan 65 ketch Translated 9, originally Clare Francis’ ADC Accutrac in the 1977/78 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Black Jack has won monohull line honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race a record six times, first as Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo II in 2005, then four times as Igor Simčič’s Esimit Europa 2 and in Vos’ hands was first home in 2025.

She is run-away favourite for line honours this year being the only 100 footer competing, although the team has some concerns. Since passing through a lightning storm in the Palermo-Montecarlo race they have been chasing gremlins around their electronics. Skipper Tristan Le Brun explains: “We replaced most things but then on the delivery things kept continuing to break. So our preparation has been frustrating replacing the whole PLC, all communication systems, AIS, VHF, Starlink, GPSes, compasses, you name it.” However on the positive side they have a new suit of North Sails which are optimised for IRC, the team now considering their corrected time performance, not just line honours.

Le Brun is confident that Comanche’s race record set in 2021 of 40 hours 17 minutes 50 seconds will stand. “For us, it’ll be three years in a row that we find ourselves at the front of the fleet pushing through the light - as it looks like it's going to be that again. But it's still evolving…”

In fact overnight the forecast has improved, most models now showing some wind for the start, competitors then quickly meeting some strong southeasterlies to at least get them across to Sicily before the wind drops or dies early on Sunday morning, en route passing through the Strait of Messina. While the faster maxis should slip through, all models are showing a significant lee to the north of Sicily on Monday, when the southeasterly is at its strongest, making for a fetch to Pantelleria and then a beat to Lampedusa. From Wednesday a northerly kicks in the southwest sector of the course making for a fast run home for the slower boats - perhaps favouring them for IRC Overall.

Strong upwind to Lampedusa will be to the liking of the seven former Volvo Ocean Race boats entered, some of them with ‘pay to play’ crews, from the fastest Benedikt Clauberg’s Dinzer Doo (ex-Ericsson 1), Ocean Breeze (ex-Telefonica Blue) to her 2008-09 race rival Il Mostro and the trio of VO65s Sisi, the Polish crew on Wind Whisper to the all-star cast on Alex Laing’s Jajo including American Tony Rey and Nacho Postigo. However favourite is Johnny Vincent’s Pace, originally the 2011-12 round the world race winner Groupama 4 and since then having had a spectacular winning streak as Wizard, Tschüss and now Pace, mostly recently claiming the RORC Round Britain Race overall.

Rating similarly to these are two Maxi Grand Prix yachts. Launched last year Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s wallyrocket 71 Django 7X won the 2025 Rolex IMA Maxi Grand Prix World Championship but this will be her first major offshore race. Older, but well proven offshore, is Louis Balcaen’s Maxi 72 Balthasar, which last year not only won the Maxi class in the Rolex Middle Sea Race but the race overall under IRC. She already set the tone this week winning Wednesday’s breezy Yacht Malta Coastal Race both on the water and under IRC.

This year Balthasar returns with a similar crew but with a new mast. Her tactician, round the world race veteran Bouwe Bekking comments: “Of course, it’s always special when you won an event the year before. But this will be a different year, and, we know, with these long races anything can happen. Last year, we were unlucky that we had really light airs going upwind while the TPs were reaching. This race will be similar. Of course, this time we have Django here as well - she is a very good boat and very close to us in rating, bringing something new into the equation.

“With a boat like Pace, if we're not far ahead, then we know they’ll smoke us on the reach to Pantelleria. And even upwind in a breeze, they're quicker than us. Hopefully we can put some miles on them and stay ahead… Once it starts going two sail reaching, or like anything tighter than 130˚, they’re quicker than us. And when there's more breeze, they are much quicker than us!”

From the 70 footers there is a big step down to the rest of the maxi fleet where the two hot boats will be the 60ft Wild Joe and the 65ft Artemis Bleu. Wild Joe, a DSS foil-equipped 60 footer campaigned by Hungarian Marton Józsa, is a regular Rolex Middle Sea Race competitor and in 2022 finished third in IRC Overall. In Artemis Bleu she will face powerful competition from former Royal Ocean Racing Club Commodore James Neville, with a strong crew led by former Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker.

A sistership of Spirit of Lorina, a two time class winner here, Artemis Bleu underwent major work last winter, replacing her lifting keel with a fixed version, adding 1400kg of water ballast with additional work to her mast, hydraulics and power, plus a general lightening. While Neville and his team are highly experienced and come from winning this year’s Sardinia Cup with their 52 footer, this will be Artemis Bleu’s first offshore race. “We don't know how we’ll do, but we're looking forward to finding out.” says Neville. “We’re worried about the start and transition off the start. I think there's a few bear traps through Messina and across the top, but then the breeze should be a bit more solid from the northwest corner.”

Also in the hunt will be Andreas Verder and Arco Van Nieuwland’s much travelled Marten 72 Aragon with a crew led by Olympians turned round the world race winners Carolijn Brouwer and Don Cowie. Also strong will be regular competitor Guido Paolo Gamucci’s canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X, which was IMA Maxi European Champion in the Maxi 3 division this summer in Sorrento.

Another Rolex Middle Sea Race regular is the Scuderia 65 Hägar V, back following her dismasting on the stormy first night of the 2024 race. She will face the Oyster 885 Babiana of Anthony Ward, Jean-Michel Caye’s Vismara 80 Luce Guida and another former IMA Maxi European Champion, Paul Berger’s Swan 80 Kallima with a strong crew led by Romain Mouchel and including former French America’s Cup sailor Thomas le Breton.

The lowest rated under IRC are the Swan 65 Translated 9 and the more modern cruiser CNB 60 Expression of London, followed by the 1984 vintage Swan 651 Lunz Am Meer of Riccardo Genghini.