Et voila! The crew just finished and is already cleaning up the boat, taking off sails, clearing the sheets etc. And the race, well close to 72 hours or 3 days for a 600 miles and a bit, Rán II finished after Esimit, 2nd boat passing the finishing line on the water. We shall have to wait to have the final result on IRC rating, since many boats are still at sea. To make it fair competition and not have the biggest boat winning by default since they are fastest, each boat entered in the race has a handicap rating which is used to calculate the time allowance for each boat. All results will be posted on the Rolex Middle Sea website. Everyone very happy on board. We are looking forward to nice proper lunch, change and rest! We hope you have enjoyed your virtual ride with Rán II during this Rolex Middle Sea Race 2011!

The picture is showing the island of Gozo which we are passing on port before entering the channel going onto Malta. Sunshine in the morning. Sunblock out. Still very damp from last night. We are sailing at 9.5 knots, with a 11.5 knots of wind speed. Everybody happy on-board as we have never been closer to the end now!

Sunrise this morning tuesday 25th October on the Mediterranean sea. We are approximately 25 miles to the finish. The wind is dropping but we are still going and now with a beautiful autumn sun, the finish should be spectacular!

It is 4am and we have been very lucky with the wind. It hardly dropped. We passed Lampedusa just before midnight. We stayed most of the time on the same tack. Only rounding the island to port, did we tack a few times. We are now back on the port tack on the way to the finish. Still sailing with 10 knots with 11 knots of wind speed. Earlier in the night those off watch trying to sleep below got woken up because of the tacks. The reason is simple: one always chooses a bunk to rest on the wind ward side to keep the weight on that side of the boat. So even sleeping you help with you body weight in the right position. But when the boat tacks - changes directions - you are expected to switch sides of bunks. If you don't feel the boat tacking, someone will make sure you are woken up (flash light, louder voice, bit of a nudge! Which ever works to get you up and going fast to swap bunks to the other side!) Sometimes if those tacks are very short, a nice tactician will let you know you don't need to move! That is highly appreciated. You might now have been woken up but you can work faster in trying to get back to sleep in the same bunk. Priceless when there is only maximum 3h resting every 6 hours, to which you take out the time to change clothes, add or take out layers if needed or eat if you missed dinner served on deck while the other watch was on duty. All well timed and routined! So now back to our race, we are going very well, we could expect to be in Malta for lunch time? Should we hope for brunch?! And why not! Go wind, stay with us!

We are closing Monday 24th of October in the Mediterranean sea. We forgot how little we are in the middle of the open sea - well it looks open from where we are! We are still all alone on this water, the only visitor we had was a cute little turtle on her own. We could see her shell and her head popping our of the water when at the peak of the wave. At the trough of the wave, totally disappeared! For the rest it is water, water and more water! We are 50 miles from Lampedusa. Cross fingers for the breeze to hold so we can celebrate the 25th of october at Lampedusa. It is an island of approx 6000 inhabitants. Sadly we will not see it by light. We have not changed sails since 3pm this afternoon, a nice balance compared to the first part of the trip when sails were changed every so often! The wind has decreased just a little, still 12 or so knots of wind and we are sailing up wind at almost 10 knots. The sea state is not as choppy as this morning which makes the ride more enjoyable.
Who ever is not off watch down below or not helming and trimming the boat, are hanging off the rail on the wind ward side to keep the weight in the right place to keep her going! The trick is to tuck yourself so well that you can put your head down and snooze while on the rail. Just like a (side-way!) rocking chair... Well which you share with a good dozen people around - let's say a special rocking chair! And since there is nothing else at hand, enjoy it, and you never know, the company you get on each side when you sit, can be very entertaining!

A cup of tea will be served in a few minutes on deck Rán II. Perfect timing after lunch which today was "chicken chasseur", chicken stew with couscous and little vegetables - really good. Plus warm!
We are still sailing up wind, the sea state is much quieter but still agitated. The calm moments of the beginning of the race are over, only in souvenirs until the finish, as it seems we will have an agitated sea. We shall see. The picture shows Pantalleria island, the last moments of it. After this island, we are sailing onto Lampadusa Island which we should round in 85 miles or so. So far so good, all happy and healthy on-board, dry for the moment, wind and no rain. We are sailing at 10 knots of speed and the wind is blowing 13 knots. How could this be better?! Ah yes maybe - imagine racing and being served a real good foamy Italian cappuccino like they must have them on those islands?! Wouldn't you say? Then life would be more than just perfect!

We are now over half way between the island of Sicily and the island of Pantelleria - we have another 35 miles to round the latter to port. Since just after breakfast, around 7am, just after passing Marettimo, the sea state totally changed. Rocky, higher waves, and because we are now going up wind, the boat is banging on the waves. Being in the galley is now a challenge but much less than changing a sail on the splashed fore deck. Waves and up wind are synonym of wet and wet! One has to crawl on-board to make sure you don't loose your balance. But it is a real sunny and beautiful day other than that. We don't have much company, other than the few dolphins we saw early at sunrise or the helicopter who came to take a few shots. The rest of the fleet is back behind us, maybe 35 miles, to be confirmed.
We are sailing at 10.5 knots with a wind speed of 14.5 so far. Let's hope the sea will quiet down, but the winds will keep going strong. Despite all the discomfort, the more wind is always the favourite friend to play in this game!

In the foreground of the picture are the Rán Racing passengers on-board enjoying their breakfast. The china is special for offshore race - it is colourful so one can see it easily in the galley area and not throw it overboard when doing the washing up. Most importantly it is very light (the lightest the boat, the fastest it will sail) and resistant to heat (our food on board is freeze-dried which means it needs hot water to be edible - just like a pot-noodle at home!) But hey! the pot noodle comes with a stable 4 legged chair when you have it at home - now try to swing left and right while eating it, and a little faster, there you go, just like on-board! In the background is the island of Levanzo which we will leave to port. After that, it will be direct line to the islands of Pantelleria (75 miles from now) and Lampedusa (another 85 miles) which are to be left to port, to the South Comino Channel keeping Malta to starboard and the Islands of Gozo and Comino to port (from Lampedusa another 95 miles). And lastly less then 10 miles after that, we will hit the finish line in Marsamxett Harbour in Valetta. So all in around 270 miles to go. Let's hope we keep this wind!

Closing shortly onto 48 hours of non stop race, we are coming to our next rounding, which is the most Eastern point of the Island of Sicily, leaving the small island of Marettimo to starboard. After experiencing very little wind during the night and at some points very big gusts in our down wind sailing, we are now back up wind in 16.5 knots of wind and we are sailing at a speed of 13.5 knots. If you were driving a car, this would compare to about 25 km per hour approx. Slow you might think? Well with a carbon floating machine like this one and her heal angle when going up wind, you better hold on and forget about your nice hair-do! Rocky and fast is the description of the experience; Hold on and strap yourself! Still no rain instead a beautiful sunrise behind the hilly landscape of Sicily!