Thousands of spectators are expected to line up the two sides of Marsamxett Harbour to watch the start involving the various classes and the 69 entrants.
This year’s edition is expected to be a fast one, if one is to take the strong wind forecasts around Sicily in the forthcoming two days into consideration.
The over 600 mile event, now established as one of the main events in the local sporting calendar, sees the replica breitling watches going through the Straits of Messina on to Lipari Islands, around Capo San Vito, on to Pantelleria, Lampedusa and back to Malta.
Unfortunately, till early yesterday afternoon, not all the boats had made it to Malta due to the strong winds of the past few days. The organisers confirmed that there will certainly be no record at the start line today, as at least six or seven boats will definitely not be coming. Sixty eight boats had registered for participation this year. Some others were expected to arrive later yesterday.
However, it has been confirmed that all the five Maxis will be taking part and they will all be hoping for the best conditions to be able to establish a new course record.
The course record so far remains in the hands of Zephyrus IV of the United States. It was in 2000 that they established the record, finishing the course in 64 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds.
This year’s participants hail from 15 different countries and these are Italy 22, Malta 14, the UK nine, Germany six, France four, replica watches uk, Russia, the US and Switzerland two each, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, Greece, The Netherlands and Belgium one each.
Malta’s representatives are AirMalta Falcon, Artie Go, Aziza, Bordeaux, Elusive MB, Escape, First Time, Garmin Allegra, Comm Raider, Horatio, Jammin, Primadonna MB, Primavera and Strait Dealer.
John Ripard Jr is about to embark on his 15th race, co skippering the Maltese J 109 Jammin with his brother in law Andrew Calascione. The two won the race on the same boat in 2002, under the name of Market Wizard. This year there is a twist to the campaign, as Ripard explains, “as crew we’ll have my two sons, Sebastian and Tommy, and Andrew will have his two sons, Danny and Marky, so that’s six of us all related. We were scratching our heads because we did need more than six, but we really only wanted family. So we decided to take Shirley Falcone who is Sebastian’s girlfriend and a seasoned sailor.”
One of the great favourites for Line Honours is the old Alfa Romeo, which has been given a reshuffle, including its name, which is now Rambler. The young crew is eyeing participation in the bigger races around the world. They have already registered one win. They also did well at Porto Cervo and the Fastnet Race. Now they will be here to test their abilities in this Mediterranean Classic.