Malta Open Invitation Race 28th / 31st march 2014

This fantastic event that draws so many skippers from different country’s was overshadowed by the tragic death of a young Maltese skipper called Matthew, Shortly after  a C fleet race on the second day of sailing, Matthew collapsed and later died. Sailing was abandoned for the rest of the day as a mark of respect. Matthew was only 34 years old, and his passing was a massive shock to everybody , and the sailing community from the UK wish to extend their condolences to the family.

The sailing started on Friday at a venue that was near perfect , most competitors stayed in the hotel complex and it was only a few yards from the dock side where sailing took place, Racing got under way at 10 am with the first of three seeding races, With Mick C 46 coming second in his seeding race things were looking favourable for the Lincoln club. As for the Brits, Most skippers were not having a great day and most ending up in C fleet at some time, and then fighting back with some good scores , at the end of day Huub Gillissen from the Netherlands led from John Tushingham , with Derek Priestly lying in third place and Mick C  gbr46 a very respectable 5th have stayed in A fleet all day. Day two dawned and again it was a B suit day , and with Mick C,  gbr 46 coming second yet again to John Tushingham in the first race things were looking good for the Brits , as mentioned above racing was abandoned shortly after .

On day three the wind had shifted into the south east and with it a huge swell was coming into the bay and waves were sweeping over the jetty making it impossible to launch the rescue craft and it would have been touch and go if we had to try to retrieve our yachts from the water , so racing was postponed until 1pm and with conditions not improving racing was postponed for the rest of the day . On Monday the breeze and the swell were down and top suits were deployed , Mick C gbr 46 in his second race of the day went down into B fleet and could not find a way out for four races , which spoiled his day and of course his overall result . A lovely dinner was held and a low-key presentation , which gave 5 Brits in the top ten with Mick C  gbr 46 in eleventh place. A good time was had by all with plenty of banter around the dinner table, with meat and three veg most nights Beef , Pork , Sirloin Steak  and some lovely vegetables , green beans , Potatoes , cauliflower, Broccoli, sadly,  although there were  Turnips on the Island , none appeared to be  on the menu .

results below

  some pictures of the event are below

The right side is definitely favoured.

control area

A decent swell

V8 secrets

AHA !!!! What have we here then a secret bulb

A very nice V7
from Belgium

The boat Shed

Dennis the Pain,, nice looking V8

The guts of a V8

GBR 46 Stuff

The Guts of Huub’s new Fusion

More of the Shed

Nice Sails

Aha its that boat Again

I will not be _____________

Is that another V8 I see

there will be a lot more pictures in the gallerys over the next few days just gotta pop and get me pension

Mick Admin