MIDDLE SEA RACE: AN INCREDIBLE STORY AND SOME GREAT VIDEOS

Truly amazing these guys and what a lesson of seamanship to all those that call a Mayday and abandon their sailingboats in much lighter circumstances. I hope on day to be that good :-)

And also some short but great movies made on the boat not only won the two handed class but also made 4th overall on IRC!!! They have made a fantastic race making it in d5 h4 m38 s44. They were among the last to finish it but they were faster than for instance an Akilaria class 40 , a Dufour GL 500 or a Fast 42...and they finished while many bigger boats give up.  A very well sailed Azuree 33 going with 40k winds:

The crew of thhis Azuree 33 is a very curious one:  

Stig Westergaard two times winner of the Finn gold cup a Soling champion medallist and two round the world races racing with a NA designer Pierpaolo Ballerini. Well, Ballerini know the boat very well, it is a Ceccarelli design but Pierpaolo was part of the design team, not less than the project manager ;-)

And it was not and easy race, I mean not only the storm, they had to dive in the middle of the night to free the boat from a huge net!!!! The story:

“On the first night we were caught in a fishing net, I don't like swimming in the dark but was round the keel the propeller everywhere, it cost us nearly two hours. When the storm arrived, we didn't know that it would be so strong, we thought it would be sailable and we were doing well in the race but as the smallest boat in the race, we got washed away big time. For us it was a case of stay in one piece during the night and make sure we make breakfast. Paolo and I are a match made in heaven for Double Handed, we were able to win our class and fourth overall because we are a combination of a sailor and a seaman. Any practical issue on board, Paolo took care of including all of the sail changes and I focused on driving the boat. Even in the heavy weather, the relationship didn't change. Paolo was struggling with sea sickness but Paolo showed exceptional stamina. He was still up on the foredeck, sea sick and changing sails in 40 knots, that takes tremendous courage.”

http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/news/

And the best collection of photos posted by Yacht de on their site:
http://www.yacht.de/sport/news/stuermisches-ende-einer-flautenregatta/a92645/fotostrecke/6750997/6750011.html

http://www.yacht.de/sport/news/stuermisches-ende-einer-flautenregatta/a92645/fotostrecke/6751005/6750037.html#imageSeries
and here too,on the Rolex site:
http://www.regattanews.com/photo.aspx?eid=350&clid=0&cid=32399
It seems that we are looking at the photos of one of the bad/good editions of the Sydney-Hobart ;-)

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