The 100ft Maxi Comanche confirmed as overall winner of the 42nd Rolex Middle Sea Race following the decision to rescore the event using the alternative finish line.
Comanche finished the race on the morning of Monday 25 October and was in pole position until the arrival of the JPK 1180 Sunrise on the afternoon of Tuesday 26 October.
The race narrative then altered in the early hours of Wednesday 27 October, with some 23 boats still on the racecourse.
A serious and adverse change to the weather forecast led the Royal Malta Yacht Club Race Committee to invoke the alternative finish line, as per the sailing instructions.
As a consequence of the decision, all yachts taking part have been scored for the purposes of time correction using the alternative finish line.
Competing in IRC Class One, Comanche’s corrected time to the alternative finish line of three days six hours 30 minutes and 20 seconds has proved just over an hour faster than second placed Sunrise (IRC Class Five) and almost four hours ahead of Daguet 3 – Corum in third (IRC Class Two).
Some 89 yachts of the 114 that took part in the race have so far finished with 25 officially retiring.
No one left racing is able to meet the time required to change this result.
Skippered by Mitch Booth, the exceptional crew of 23 included in its ranks the likes of Will Oxley, as navigator, Tom Slingsby, Kyle Langford, Shannon Falcone, Hugo Rocha, Justin Slattery, Willy Altadill and Luke Molloy.
Victory under IRC time correction is added to the monohull line honours and monohull race record secured in a contest dominated, initially at least, by what many have described as a once in a lifetime weather system.
Comanche has achieved the trifecta of overall winner, monohull line honours and a monohull race record. Comanche’s race record of 40 hours, 17 minutes and 50 seconds is based upon the full course distance of 606nm.
Two boats have previously achieved this monohull triple crown: Robert McNeil’s 75ft Zephyrus IV in 2000 and George David’s 90ft Rambler in 2007.
Jason Carroll’s MOD 70 trimaran Argo (USA) also completed a triple crown winning the Multihull Class under MOCRA time correction, taking multihull line honours and setting a new outright race record of 33 hours, 29 minutes and 28 seconds.
Related post:
42nd Rolex Middle Sea Race – New Mono and Multihull records set
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