George David's Rambler 88 finished the Rolex Middle Sea Race first for the third consecutive year
George David’s American Maxi Rambler 88 has taken Line Honours in the 2017 Rolex Middle Sea Race, crossing the finish line at the Royal Malta Yacht Club at 21:48:09 CEST on Monday (23rd October), in 2 days, 9 hours 48 minutes 9 seconds.
Rambler 88 has taken Monohull Line Honours in the race for the third consecutive year. The record set by George David 10 years ago in a previous Rambler still stands, after the fleet experienced light winds for the first 30 hours of the race.
However early Sunday morning the gale force conditions helped Rambler 88 speed up over the second half of the course; the 88ft canting keel Maxi covered 300 miles in just 14 hours.
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George David commented: “The Mistral conditions reminded me of 2007 in Rambler 90 when we set the record, but then it blew even harder maybe 50 knots. This time we saw 40 but mainly mid-30s. In those conditions it is a little hard to see, it is exciting and very wet, especially when you turn a corner, and you are sideways to the waves. It was a really wet race, and when we had the pedal down we were into the 30s for boat speed. It is nice to get home first, but we race this boat for a corrected time win as well. You can never tell until the last boat is in, so we will have to wait and see.”
The 38th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race started on Saturday (21 October). Crews set off from Grand Harbour in Malta before sailing a 606 nautical mile course around the Island of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, the Egadi Islands (except Marettimo Island), Pantelleria and Lampedusa Islands and returned to the finish line in Marsamxett Harbour in Malta.