A race around Italy’s largest island

Six hundred miles has proven to be a popular distance for offshore races, and there are a number of them across the world. The Sydney Hobart and Fastnet races may be the best known, but deep into the Mediterranean Sea is a popular and scenic course around Sicily that begins and ends in Malta.

The 45th Rolex Middle Sea Race, which starts on October 19, 2024, has amassed a fleet of 110 yachts – 32 to 100 feet – representing 29 countries: from Australia in the south to Finland in the north, and from the United States in the west to Hong Kong in the east.

The monohull fleet will be racing under IRC Time Correction for the Rolex Middle Sea Race trophy, awarded to the overall winner of the race. Plenty of crews will have their eye on the main trophy, not least those that have won it before. The most recent past winner is Andrea Recordati’s Bullitt, the 28.3m Judel & Vrolijk designed Wally Yacht, which claimed overall victory by 24 seconds from the much smaller Red Ruby last year.

Another winning owner is American Bryan Ehrhardt, who won in 2010 with his then TP52 Lucky on his debut appearance. Ehrhardt has upgraded his boat of choice over the intervening period and last year entered his latest Lucky, the former five-time line honors winner Rambler 88. Dismasted off north west Sicily in 2023, Ehrhardt is undeterred and back again.

Details: https://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/