Another great Victory in the Rolex Middle Sea Race

Team Xpact had another successful MSR. Taunted by 35 knots of breeze north of Sicily this edition of the Iconic Middle Sea race turned out to be anything but easy.

The crew of Xpact under the excellent leadership of Josef Schultheis and supported by Timmy Camilleri had to face some difficulties including an early near full blackout on the electrics. Pro active routing by navigator Jochem Visser, a 8 x veteran in the MSR, guided the team through the transition of the calm and benign weather before the iconic volcanic island Stromboli to rather a ferocious crossing North of Palermo and through the latter part of the race.

Scoring a second in class under ORC & IRC and a 5th overall was remarkable for this team as Xpact was more set up and tuned for the usual more traditional light air race.

Their tenacity and never give up attitude highlighted the quality of the team.

Middle Sea Race weather preview

The 2017 MSR is going to be a tougher one than the usually light air dominated 600nm race. The left over hurricane which plagued Ireland and the UK over the last week has a cold front which stretches far enough south to start the infamous Mistral in the mediterranean .

All in all the competitors in the 2017 MSR will have to endure 35-40 kts of wind from a NW direction depending on where they are in the race. Particularly the passage from Stromboli to Palermo wil be challenging. The Mistral conditions are famous for whipping up a serious sea state in a very short time.