Royal Malta Yacht Club launches calendar of events for 2021

The Royal Malta Yacht Club launched its calendar of sailing events for 2021, which was spearheaded by the Club’s Rear Commodore (Sailing) Peter Dimech together with the input of Club Committee and regular crews who gave their feedback and shared their ideas and views.

The Calendar will consist of nearly forty races which include a selection of Coastal, Offshore and Short Handed races which will cater for the variety of sailing interests Club members’ have.

The Club announced that there will be Three Annual Challenge Trophies -Coastal, Offshore, Short Handed and various races throughout the year will see participants add points which will count towards these Annual Trophies. Whilst some races cater for longer distances, the Club will be hosting a short-handed division in the majority of its races.

The first race for the season will take place at 1100hrs on Sunday 14th February when the first race of the Coastal Series will take place.

The Club will also be collaborating with other Associations – such as the SB20 Class Association to host a number of races. The first Malta J Cup will be taking place between the 26th and 30th March, hosted in collaboration with the SB20 Class and supported by RLR Yachting.

In terms of offshore sailing, the Club has revived the Vega Race, which previously used to take place in September. The 90 nautical mile race will be the first offshore race for the Club this year.

From an international perspective the sixty first edition of the Syracuse – Malta Race will take place in July. This race is included in the Federazione Italiana Vela calendar and is a big attraction for Italian sailors who have already started to submit their entries. This year, the race has been lengthened to include a rounding of Gozo before the finish at Marsamxett. This historical race has also been included to the Ulysses Challenge. Now in its third year, the Challenge starts in Catanzaro with a stopover at Taormina before arriving in Syracuse.

The Club’s flagship race, the Rolex Middle Sea Race is scheduled to start on Saturday 23rd

October. This will be the 42nd edition of this classic 606 nautical miler.

“Despite that Covid-19 is still very present, the Club will attempt to host all races – within the protocols established by the Health Authorities. For the time being no social events will take place, hopefully the Club will be in a position to host them sooner rather than later” explained Peter Dimech.

For the latest information on the Club’s events, visit https://www.rmyc.org/eventtype/races/