Our final offshore race of the season did no entirely boast the idyllic Mediterranean conditions of sunshine and gentle breezes that I had been promised or naively hoped for!  On the contrary, we had just about every condition possible from periods of total becalm to lashing rain in severe squalls with over forty knots of wind!  

Here I am now, sat on Seawolf in bright sunshine under the magnificent cityscape of Valetta, relaxing and reflecting on a long season of offshore racing and in particular the latest adventure we have all experienced on Seawolf.  What an adventure it has been to, a great climax to another brilliant season of offshore racing.  

The Rolex Middle Sea Race 2010 provided us with a tense and hard fought battle with no let up for over four days.  With constant sail changes, hard trimming and complete focus from our helmsmen the team aboard Seawolf, our joint entry with Atlantic Charters of Gibraltar, gave it their all for the duration of the race.  Another epic battle commenced as the three Pronavia 38’s fought for supremacy at the front end of the fleet.  

The leader board changed on an hourly basis and we could only watch in bewilderment as Tangaroa clawed back a thirteen-mile deficit in light and tricky conditions.  We were out witted by them as they passed us with between two and three knots of wind.  The gauntlet was thrown down as we chased hard to regain our lead of the Pronavia 38’s with less than a day to go.

In the closing stages of the race it was all to play for with a podium position within our sights.  We pushed Seawolf hard and fast on the last day, which provided us with champagne sailing conditions.  Thirty knots of wind, bright sunshine and a beam reach in a three-metre swell.  Can you get more perfect than that?  

Boat speeds stayed in double figures for hours on end as we powered our way to the finish line with over a mile lead on Tangaroa.  What a finish in the magnificent harbour that is so rich in nautical history.  Now for a tense wait to see if we had finished in third place!

Sadly when the results came out we had been pipped into 4^th place by just six minutes!  So close after four days of tough racing.  That did not deter us from heading straight to the closest bar to celebrate until the early hours and reminisce on a gruelling but exciting final offshore race of the season.

Now my thoughts are on next season and hatching a new and exciting plan to provide everyone with more thrills.  My brain is in overdrive (and yes it is hurting).  More about that later! 

Nick McLoughlin, Navigator on Visit Malta Puma

It had all started so well. Mid week and with our usual skipper Philippe gallivanting around the Med in the Middle Sea Race (do we know yet what he forgot?!), the crew of defending champions Visit Malta Puma were keen to know who was going to skipper the boat on the third Sunday of racing in the Winter Series. We were not disappointed when Peter Robson (owner of Playing Around and winner of the 40.7 class at this year’s Cowes Week) was confirmed as skipper.  Also the wind forecast for the weekend was looking like classic "Reflex wind" – 17/18 knots and gusting a little more. What was the gust/lull ratio going to be we all wondered?! Certainly not the sort of wind we thought would be favoured by series leaders Vortex. And oh yes the Visit Malta Puma crew had seen the Jaguar Logic blog - nothing like a bit of rivalry for inspiration!

A very early and chilly start on Sunday morning saw sunshine and blue skies and a hive of activity around the Sailing Logic boats. There was a really positive vibe around the Visit Malta Puma crew despite the hour. We were all at the boat early and keen to produce a duo of good results to both challenge Vortex and consolidate 2nd place in the series to keep the other Sailing Logic boats at bay.

But Sunday also saw the northerly wind now forecast to be much lighter at around 10-12kts (classic “Vortex wind”…). So to make Visit Malta Puma as light as possible, everything that could legally come off the boat was taken off including bunk cushions and mysteriously some bread baking tins left over from Visit Malta Puma’s recent tour of the British Isles – no wonder our upwind boat speed last weekend was down on polars!

Spring tides against meant that we needed to be off the dock by about 07:45 and as Visit Malta Puma powered up Southampton Water to the Solent race area, tweaks were made to the rigging in anticipation of the lighter winds. And then after a few practice hoists, gybes and drops, the start was upon us after the Big Boats were all away cleanly.

Our first race start line was in the vicinity of Flying Fish and after Hamble Comms and Hamble Race Control had waxed lyrical about the famous HRYC cake on offer after racing, they announced the windward/leeward course up to Royal Southern cascading very slightly East in the northern Solent over the Hillhead plateau with a finish at Hamble Yacht Services. With little happening tide-wise, this first race was one where wind strategy was to the fore. After a good start, the boat was going really well contesting 2nd place with Encore until Phil on bow called a rip in our #1 headsail. A change to the #2 ensued on the next downwind leg but despite really good team work that change to a sail unsuited to conditions unfortunately cost us valuable time despite the fact that we seemed to be going pretty well upwind. We crossed the line 3rd on the water and anxiously counted down the seconds to the next boat to cross the line – Lion Logic. With 25 seconds between us on the water it was going to be close on corrected time. Chatting between boats between races, Lion Logic skipper Pete Burwood thought that he had just pipped us…

The second race saw another windward/leeward course starting this time near Universal Marina and finishing at HW Corporate Finance with a foray over the deeper water to Sunsail Events.  This race required a lot more tidal strategy and it was important not to over stand any of the marks and have to sail back uptide. After a cracking start and some great downwind sailing, we were lying in 2nd place coming into the final leeward mark, Flying Fish. And then as we came into the mark, two class zero boats got in our way.... Although quite within their rights and fighting for position in their own race, these two boats called water and we had to keep clear. In the meantime, Interceptor (our nearest rival in the race) sailed around the outside and they were off and away by the time we were around the mark. We did our best to catch them up the pretty long last beat with some good trimming but to no avail. Crossing the line, we were confident of 3rd place on corrected after seeing how far the next boat was behind us. 

A great sail at 7kts down Southampton Water whilst having lunch reminded us why the Winter Series is such a great event and why some of us keep coming back year after year when we get weekends of blue skies, sunshine and a decent breeze. A cheeky beer (or pinot grigio spritze) later in the Waterfront pub and we were away home  frequently hitting refresh on our phones in anticipation of the results. 

And Lion Logic beat us into 4th place in the first race by a mere 3 seconds in a race lasting approx 75 mins – galling but really well done to Lion and her crew. We also only avoided arch rival Old Mother Gun beating us by 5 seconds so it was all too close to call. If only we hadn’t ripped our #1 and we could well have been in 3rd if not 2nd place. Our 3rd place in the second race was confirmed but what would have happened if those class zero boats had not got in our way? Yacht racing is so frustrating! We did very well considering no #1 jib for most of the racing. Oh and Vortex were first in both races – told you it was classic “Vortex wind” (and great sailing). 

So in race number terms we are now half way through the series. Crew teamwork is improving markedly every time we sail together and we are still looking to contest the series and defend our title but it is going to be a challenge from here on in – we just need stronger "Reflex" winds and then we’ll see how it all shakes out.

A view from Bryan Davies, Skipper of Jaguar Logic.


Each Sunday during the Hamble Winter Series there are two races, and after a poor first race, the crew on Jaguar Logic were a little despondent, but we had a team chat and hyped each other up to get back into the start of the next race. As so often is the case, mental attitude counts for as much as physical ability.

The conditions were very light, with winds dropping from 8 knots to below 5 kts, so finding the wind was going to be critical. We thought the left side looked more promising. After an okay start, both VisitMaltaPuma and Vortex X35 (current series leaders) rolled us to windward and with another boat pushing us up from leeward, this completely closed our lane -  we had to tack out to find clear wind.

We regained boat speed, but we’d been spat out the at back of the group and were behind our main rivals VisitMaltaPuma! It turned out that there was more breeze on the right side of the course, giving some of the fleet a huge advantage, and we approached the top mark at the back of the fleet. Not a good start.

But remembering our team chat we weren’t about to give up! After rounding the top mark, we launched the kite and gybed almost immediately so we could chase down some breeze on the right hand side of the course. Only one other boat had gone right - Panther Logic, another Sailing Logic Reflex 38 with the London Corinthian crew onboard. A bad gybe unfortunately lost us much of the gains we had made on the right, but the battle was not over. With the wind dying down dramatically we still had a chance.

After the bottom mark, everyone went right as that had been the favoured side last time. We felt the left looked better but it was too great a risk to separate ourselves from the fleet, so we stayed in the middle of the course. But after 20 mins of painfully slow sailing, we spotted some ripples on the left hand side and decided to take the risk. And what a decision!! We overtook VisitMaltaPuma at last! The crew were thrilled, but a poor tack decision just short of lay line meant that we had to do two extra tacks, and we lost ground again and Puma re-established their lead on us.

On the final leg, the top three boats again went right but VisitMaltaPuma went left, keeping tacking to a minimum to maintain boat speed. We played safe in the middle of the course. Then, breeze started building from the left, but to get there we would have to over-lay the finish mark and to sail around the fleet. But that’s what we did. VisitMaltaPuma were just to windward of us, close enough for the some banter between the crews. Both boats were sailing well at 5.5kts, but we were determined to win.  Jaguar Logic’s crew were all working overtime; altering jib cars, checking and rechecking sail settings and adjusting the weight distribution to keep boat speed.  With the breeze ahead starting to head us too – it all paid off and we gradually overtook VisitMaltaPuma (finally)!

Now they were getting our dirty wind and a little gust of fresh pressure reached us first to widen the gap and we crossed the line just 1 minute and 18 seconds ahead. Giving us 2^nd place and VisitMaltaPuma 3^rd.

A fantastic result achieved by good team work and great team spirit, especially after rounding the first mark at the back of the fleet! Congratulations Jaguar Logic Crew!

Seawolf took first blood as she sailed a fantastic opening race in Malta as the prelude for the Rolex Middle Sea Race, which begins on Saturday morning under the magnificent back drop of Valetta.

The weather over the past few days has not been typically Maltese as rain storms have lashed down delivering bolts of lightening which even damaged a yacht berthed in the harbour.

The rain stayed away for most of yesterdays warm up race but the wind was plentiful proving the competitors with testing conditions with a mixture of upwind beats in 3 metre waves and exhilarating downwind blasts touching 15 knots.

Seawolf, sailed by Dave Latham and Philippe Falle, led the fleet out of the harbour with an impressive lead.  They even had a TP52 and Shipman 63 chasing them down for the first mile!  The te am on board gelled very well to power around the course in a time good enough to win by a comfortable margin.

Now there are another two days of training and boat prep before the big one starts on Saturday at 11am.  You c an follow our team aboard Seawolf on the Rolex Middle Sea race tracker as they tackle the 600 mile course around Sicily.  Philippe will also be sending regular blogs throughout the race.