On Monday the 23rd October at 13.10 CEST, the 44th Rolex Middle Sea Race welcomed its first finisher – the MOD70 Limosa, skippered by Alexia Barrier. Taking multihull line honours for the second year in a row as skipper of a maxi trimaran is an important achievement. Barrier and her Famous Project team have their eyes set on the greater prize of an all-woman round the world record attempt in 2025. The 2023 Rolex Middle Sea Race was regarded as an important rung on the ladder to that goal.
On the dock in Marsamxett Harbour, Alexia Barrier, a Vendée Globe finisher, was thrilled to have successfully completed the 606nm course without mishap. Her nine person multi-national crew, including co-skipper Dee Caffari (GBR), Elodie-Jane Mettraux (FRA), Marie Riou (FRA), Sara Hastreiter (USA), Jonny Malbon (FRA), Jeff Mearing (GBR), Tom Dawson (GBR), Robin Christol (FRA), had performed admirably given it was the first time for some on a MOD70 multihull in race mode. “Even though we were alone we always pushed hard. We did know from the beginning that it would not be the weather to challenge for the record, but we did try our best and I think it was one of our best experiences this year,” said Barrier. “In French we say, ‘never two without three’, so maybe next year we will come back and win again!”
According to Dee Caffari, most of the major landmarks were passed in darkness, but Barrier is constantly impressed by what the course offers. “The Rolex Middle Sea Race is a mighty race in the Mediterranean. It is unique, it is super technical because you can have no wind and really strong wind, so we have everything we need, and I understand why everyone wants to come. I hope next year we can come again and have five MOD70s on the starting line!”
The passage was not without issue, given the power and speed of Limosa. “We had strong winds and lightning entering Messina Strait, which was quite worrying for a moment,” smiled Barrier. It was a point picked up by Caffari, the first woman to sail single-handed around the world in both directions, with four other global circumnavigations on her CV. “The course has a little bit of everything and especially at night when you are on a beast like this that just doesn’t know anything other than to go fast you have to hang on for the ride and trust the boat,” said Caffari. “Alexia won the race last year on this boat, so she was really confident, but for many of us it was the first time steering in those conditions and, in the dark, it always feels so different. It was such a steep learning curve and a huge leap forwards for The Famous Project.”
“Right from the start, when we had the gusts coming down the harbour, our time to burn changes drastically. One moment there’s 25 knots of boat speed and then five knots,” explained Caffari, continuing, “It was difficult to get to the first turning mark when the wind just stopped. Then we got into the breeze line that helped us put in good miles to get to the corner of Sicily and on.”
“In Messina in the dark, we had some big accelerations with 30 knots of true wind and, at one point I think, 54 knots of apparent wind which made us all work quite hard. Lots of tacking but not too busy with shipping.” On the wind at Stromboli before dawn, the crew did get to see one spurt of lava from Stromboli. A powerful salute from the lighthouse of the Mediterranean to the race’s most powerful entry.
“We then had to tack across the top of Sicily to stay in the pressure,” described Caffari. “We reached the Egadi islands in darkness, then had a one-sided beat to Pantelleria. A couple of tacks there, before reaching Lampedusa at daybreak this morning. The end of the course was golden for us because I felt like we had tacked our whole way round to that point. We had a 70 true wind angle blast to Malta doing between 20 and 30 knots of boat speed. It was exhilarating and that’s why we are all caked in salt but have huge grins on our faces.”
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Press Release: The Royal Malta Yacht Club.
Video: 📸 Alexia Barrier | Born Bold | Tidal Pulse Media
Image: 📸 Rolex | Kurt Arrigo