Scallywag on Cloud Nine - Rolex Middle Sea Yacht Race Monohull Line Honours

• NEWS
• 22 Oct, 2024 04:29:00 PM

Scallywag on Cloud Nine - Rolex Middle Sea Yacht Race Monohull Line Honours

Huang-Seng Lee’s Scallywag 100 (HKG) crossed the finish line of the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race at 09:43:29 CEST on Tuesday 22 October to take Monohull Line Honours in an elapsed time of two days 21 hours, 33 minutes29 seconds.

After a stop-start 48 hours, the Rolex Middle Sea Race sprang into life overnight, as the leading part of the fleet picked up the fresh southerly blowing from Malta up towards the Strait of Sicily. The net result for those boats that had passed or were passing Favignana yesterday afternoon was some solid stable breeze at long last.

For Seng Huang Lee’s Scallywag 100 from Hong Kong, it was just what the doctor ordered to propel the 100 foot / 30.48 metre Maxi to a hard-fought Line Honours victory. Crossing the finish line of the 2024 Rolex Middle Sea Race at 09:43:29 CEST on Tuesday morning, the crew’s elapsed time was two days, 21 hours, 33 minutes and 29 seconds. If only it was so easy.

SCALLYWAG 100, Sail No: HKG2276, Design: DOVELL 100, IRC Class 1, Skippers: David Witt, Owner: Seng Huang Lee, Boat Country: Hong Kong
Line Honours

“First of all, I am really proud of the team. That’s one the toughest races I’ve done in a 100 footer,” said a clearly relieved David Witt, shortly after docking in Marsamxett Harbour home to the Royal Malta Yacht Club. “We had 40 knot rain squalls, trying to keep the boat in one piece and not tip it over. 90 degree wind shifts and glass outs. More sail changes than anyone else and the boys never made a mistake.”

Tristan Le Brun, racing skipper of Black Jack was clearly disappointed, but philosophical in defeat. He was quick to congratulate the opposition. “Congratulations to Scallywag, this time it is in their favour,” he said. “Scallywag have been very competitive. We were very impressed. They came into the race very well prepared, the boat was functioning very well, they sailed well, their sail changes were fast, good navigation, all of which made life very difficult for us.”

The two boats were locked together for much of the race, as the splits around the course show:

Capo Passero: Black Jack by 14 minutes; Messina: Black Jack by 58 mins; Stromboli: Black Jack by 15mins; Favignana: Scallywag by 14 mins; Pantelleria: Black Jack by 22 mins; Lampedusa: Black Jack by 16 mins; Finish: Scallywag by 18 mins.

In a race with so many stops and starts, twists and turns, Scallywag’s hallelujah moment came with 110nm left to run. David Witt continues: “In terms of key decisions, plenty could have lost us the race, but the critical point was rounding Lampedusa. I thought we were going to take a tack, but Juan (Vila) pointed to a cloud and said: ‘we are going over to it’. He said: ‘we are going into the cloud, it will look like it is terrible, but we will come out on the other tack, we’ll be 30 degrees higher, and we will have a shot’. When Juan Vila says something like that, you do what he says.”

Clearly one of Scallywag’s best judgments ahead of the race was the appointment of Vila as navigator, as Witt confirmed: “What a decision to get him for the race for this race. We’d still be out there if he wasn’t on board. Black Jack did the smart thing at Lampedusa and tacked away from the cloud. Juan’s call was impressive, and it was a privilege to have him on board as our navigator. He’s a legend.”

Vila from Spain, a former round the world race winner, suggested this pivotal call was more a throw of the dice. “It is usual for the Rolex Middle Sea Race to be a difficult race. It is always very tricky,” he advised. “We constantly had to figure out what the wind was going to do next. It was a very intense race. The last opportunity at Lampedusa to split against Black Jack was one of the biggest moments. We had to try our luck, and it worked out well for us.”

His crew mates would disagree it had anything to do with luck. “Before we had rounded the island, Juan came up on deck and said: ‘there is a cloud to the south on the other side. We are going to sail through that before we tack’. You never sail into clouds. We did, we got very wet, but it worked. I’ve never seen anything like it.” said Pete Cumming, who was on the MOD70 Argo, when it set the outright race record in 2021.

The Spanish sailor is clearly someone to be listened to. “It is probably one of the toughest races I have had to navigate,” he remarked. “It was non-stop, one thing after another, lots of changes, lots of things to figure out and the weather models were not always right. There were a lot of things to look at, a lot of information and a lot of key moments to get right.” Vila was also complimentary about the competition: “Black Jack is an excellent boat and an excellent crew. They did really well and if it was not for that last opportunity they would have won this race easily. They had been sailing very smart. Both boats did the best job they good to try to be safe when ahead and to find an opportunity when behind.” Vila was also disarmingly honest about how fortunate they had been to have Black Jack slightly in front at the bottom of the course: “It worked out well for us. We managed to get the shift to the right from the northeast to the south east. That put us to windward of Black Jack, slightly behind but in a good position to crack sheets and go fast. If we had been on our own, we would have done what Black Jack did. Being behind it is almost easier when you need to find a chance to split.”

The Black Jack crew were already keenly aware by the halfway mark at Favignana that they needed to find something special in the remaining 300 miles. It was not going to be easy, and frankly was in the lap of the gods.  Wind from the southeast was due to fill the remaining course area, and the angle would be good for a muscular reaching Maxi like Scallywag. “Going south, it was really calculated and fully in control,” explained Le Brun. “In an ideal world we would have pulled away further, because we were very aware that towards the end, reaching upwind in 20 knots is a strength of Scallywag. They are just faster. It was a smart tactical decision at Lampedusa. We thought what they did was the best. We did not have the gap we needed, tried to take a different route and tried to play with the luck. It did not work out.”

For Witt, the opportunity spotted by Vila was all Scallywag needed. “Scallywags never give up and we really needed this result,” he said.  “As soon as we realised we had a sniff of a chance everyone gave it everything. The Black Jack sailed their boat fantastically well. I thought they did an outstanding job. We are just lucky we never gave up.”

The faces of the Scallywag team showed this was more than just a race win. The yacht had undergone an extensive refit in 2023, and on its first real outing at the Rolex Sydney Hobart last December had to retire after breaking the bowsprit. This was an opportunity to prove the original and subsequent effort was worthwhile. “This result is justification for everything,” said Witt. “We thought we had the package right, but until you get a result you don’t know. This is a really prestigious race, a fantastic race, and we would love to come back and do it again.”

Despite the evident sense of frustration that, having held the lead so often in the race, it was not possible to execute, Le Brun was quick to compliment owner Remon Vos and the crew for an impressive effort. “At the end of the day, this is a team sport, and this is the most important part of it,” he commented. “We were a great team before the start. We were a great team during the race. And now, we are a great team after the finish line even if we are not where we want to be. In this race some things are not predictable, and a good team shows it is constantly looking for solutions and supporting each other to solve what is going wrong.” Black Jack were undoubtedly more than a good team.