The Rolex Middle Sea Race is up their with its two namesakes in world-class, offshore classics – the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. It is a race that sorts out the pack so to speak, as it is renowned for its grueling 606-nautical-mile course that makes a loose triangle round Sicily, passing the Aeolian Islands, dropping down to Pantelleria and Lampedusa and back to Malta. Ted Turner is widely reported to have said that this race has the most beautiful course in the world. Passing Stromboli at night and catching its volcanic glow is always a highlight, if crews have time to cast a glance that is.

Some 81 boats are registered to take part this year, in various classes, and about 18 nationalities are represented on the list. Many crews have already had more than a taste of things to come having sailed more than the 606 nautical miles just getting to Malta for the start. A past British competitor said that while he knew how to read the Atlantic with its fairly understandable fronts, the mid-Med was something else, as weather was unpredictable at best.

So, perhaps the home teams, knowing these waters as well as they do, have an advantage? Well, only eight of the fleet give Malta as their country, although Maltese sailors are found as crew on others. As the Rolex Middle Sea Race site says: ‘The foreign contingent is substantial and remarkable. Few other races around the world could match such statistics. Equally interesting is that for so many of the outsiders this is not their first time competing. Even more intriguing, many are serial returnees’. Expect stiff competition then.

This year sees 2010 overall winner Andres Soriano on the 21-metre mini-maxi Alegre (GBR) (photo above); 2010 line honours winner, Igor Simcic’s 30-metre Esimit Europa 2 (SLO); and two-time Rolex Fastnet winner, the 21–metre Rán 2 (GBR), owned by Niklas Zennstrom. Each year’s Rolex Middle Sea is up for grabs as no one can really predict the winning combination of weather, crew, crewmanship and yacht even if there are some firm favourites at the bookies.

If you’re keen to see the staggered start, head to St Barbara Bastions, Valletta, or thereabouts for 11am on Saturday 22nd for a bird’s eye view (earlier in fact, as parking and pole viewing positions will be scarce). If you’d like to see the first boats back, the fastest makes it in around just under three days. Check the Race Tracker for up-to-the-minute info.

Photo: courtesy Royal Malta Yacht Club

And this is just the shape of things to come. On board Alegre (GBR)

‘It’s all wind, or no wind’, is how one overseas competitor described the annual Rolex Middle Sea Race, which saw its 31st edition start in Grand Harbour last Saturday (23 October). Given the erratic stormy weather that has buffeted the islands in the past week, it clear even to landlubbers that Malta has some very challenging sailing to offer.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race is up their with its two namesakes in world-class, offshore classics – the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. It is a race that sorts out the pack so to speak, as it is renowned for its grueling 606-nautical-mile course that makes a loose triangle round Sicily, passing the Aeolian Islands, dropping down to Pantelleria and Lampedusa and back to Malta. Ted Turner is widely reported to have said that this race has the most beautiful course in the world. Passing Stromboli at night and catching its volcanic glow is always a highlight, if crews have time to cast a glance that is.

Some 80-plus yachts registered to take part this year, in various classes, and about 18 nationalities are represented on the list. Many crews have already had more than a taste of things to come having sailed more than the 606 nautical miles and battled 3 – 4 metre waves and 50 knots winds just getting to Malta for the start. A British competitor said that while he knew how to read the Atlantic with its fairly understandable fronts, the mid-Med was something else, as weather was unpredictable at best.

So, perhaps the home teams, knowing these waters as well as they do, have an advantage. Well, last year’s overall and line winners were both GBR yachts. But each year’s Rolex Middle Sea is up for grabs as no one can really predict the winning combination of weather, crew, crewmanship and yacht even if there are some firm favourites at the bookies.

Last night saw the crews partying at their host’s – the Royal Malta Yacht Club, which organises the race. Today, one final ‘rest’ day, and a bit of ambling around Grand Harbour and environs (see most yachts on Birgu Waterfront at Camper & Nicholsons’ Grand Harbour Marina).

If you’re keen to see the staggered start, head to St Barbara Bastions, Valletta, or thereabouts for 11am on Saturday for a bird’s eye view. If you’d like to see the first boats back, the fastest makes it in around just under three days. Check the Race Tracker for up-to-the-minute info on which yacht is where. For a personal account of life on board in the race, see our contributor’s article from last year here.

Photo: courtesy Royal Malta Yacht Club

Night flowering cactus, a fleeting treat of autumn

It’s amazing to experience, however many years you live here. Autumn is Malta’s second spring and real treat after several months of parched, dust-bowl landscape.

On my first visit to Malta 20 years back, I flew in at the beginning of September. Looking down as the plane came into land, I saw only gaping stony holes – the quarries near the airport, shimmering white in the heat. All seemed barren; only hardy trees like Aleppo pines and carob gave a hint of green. By the time I left two weeks later, Malta had had its first real storms to break the summer heat. Immediately, greenery had dusted itself down and sprung to life, and flowers were back in business after their summer dormancy.

The Maltese Islands are at their best right now. The searing heat has passed for good, the air is fresher and the sky is a deep cobalt. Summer’s warmth now tempered makes an ideal climate for outdoor activities – cycling, walking, tennis and golf are all back on the agenda big time. The sea is wonderfully warm still and you can enjoy the beaches now without the masses. Yachtsmen rejoice as the autumn brings some of the best, if at times unpredictable weather for racing and pleasure sailing. The upcoming Rolex Middle Sea Race has seen everything from mill-pond conditions to hail and ‘force goodness knows what’ in past years!

For most islanders autumn is a brief interlude to relish. The Mediterranean really has only two seasons – summer and winter – with a few fleeting weeks of spring and spring’s second coming in autumn. My humble patio garden suddenly leaps into life come autumn, providing some seasonal surprises – the huge flowers of the cactus above come out at night, only to die by sunrise the next day. Get out and about to catch the best of autumn while you can. It’ll be over all too soon.

Valletta's harbours, a mix of history and safe haven for the novice sailor

I’ve lived in Malta 15 years and have had my bouts of ‘island fever‘. But it’s only in the past year and a bit that I’ve found a way to survive despite the islands’ restrictive space – and surprise myself by seeing Malta in a different light. All thanks to sailing.

It’s obvious really that if you don’t have space on land, you should take to the sea. A UK friend of mine living here said that one of the first things she wanted to do on arriving in Malta was to learn to sail. After all, water sports are what this place lends itself to; so play to its strengths, give up hoping that acres of peaceful countryside will materialise here, and start looking to the horizon instead.

Anyway, you can’t miss the sport in Malta, even in urban areas. You’re bound, at the very least, to drive past spanking new yachts, gleaming in the various marinas – Birgu, Msida and Portomaso. But for the most part of my landlubber life here in Malta, sailing seemed something of an elite sport requiring a good deal of cash to get in to; the super-yachts seemed a bit off-putting to a wannabe novice sailor.

But how wrong I was, and how I wished I’d made the effort earlier to learn to sail. Because sailing has given me a breath of air, time away from the frenetic, hectic madding crowd on land, and also shown me vistas of the islands I’d never have seen.

If like me, you’ve been here a while and not taken to the seas, here are the steps to find out if sailing is something that might grab you and give you a new perspective on life in Malta:

Sailing lessons
If you don’t conveniently have a friend with a boat and the patience to have a green crew member on board, then sign up for some sailing lessons. Perhaps do this anyway as it is a good way to get a grounding, both theoretical and practical, in the sport. I did a four-afternoons’ course last summer with Vikings Sailing Club, based at Haywharf, Marsamxetto Harbour, just below the Excelsior Hotel and the Public Library in Floriana. Vikings is a non-profit organisation developed to promote sailing to a wider public.

It usually runs two or three adults’ courses and a couple of junior courses (for kids generally aged 10 years +) each summer. Fees are very reasonable, and you get a lot of hands-on time on the water as well as some serious theory in the club house before each session out sailing. The club uses Lasers, and an instructor accompanies you (four people per boat). There are other clubs around, in St Paul’s Bay for instance, and most coastal five-star hotels offer dinghy hire and lessons, but usually just Easter-October.

Just note that kids’ courses vary in approach. Some offer courses for children aged 7+, and without an instructor really close at hand in the boat with them. This is fine for some kids, but not for others and can put the less confident children off the sport right at the outset.

Adults would be wise to ask around for their ideal course too. Always check out the credentials of instructors, and ask for detailed information on the course’s approach.

Sailing courses are mostly summer affairs, but sailing in Malta is pretty much an all-year-round sport, as winter weeks can be just as ideal for novice and fair-weather sailors. You’ll need minimal investment in some outer garb.

What a novice gets out of sailing
It can seem a tough sport to master, and to be a real pro, it is. But the beauty of joining a club is to enjoy sailing without a huge investment in gear; you can get what you want out of sailing when you want, and on your own terms.

You can learn to sail with the aim of pro status, or, like me, to just enjoy some ‘me-time’ away from chores, work, commitments, and have the chance to get some real fresh air and space around you. When you’re concentrating at the helm, you don’t have time to think about emails or clients!

Sure, it’s going to take me a bit more time to feel that sailing is second nature, like driving a car, but I also know that sailing is something that will never be routine. No two sessions out are the same – there are so many variables (wind, current, swell, my mindset and so on, even without a tide in the Med to think about).

The principles that apply to learning to sail a Laser, or Topper Topaz size boat, are the same as apply to larger craft, and there are thrills and adrenalin rushes to be had at every stage in the learning curve.

See Malta differently
One of the most startling side benefits of sailing is to see the islands differently. For the first time in 15 years, bar one catamaran trip to Sicily, I’ve seen Valletta’s bastions as they are meant to be seen – from the sea. There are inlets, nooks, crannies, forts and fortifications (WWII pill boxes as well) that you’d never know existed. For that alone, learning to sail has been worthwhile. From the sea, you can really appreciate what makes Malta special!