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A light-air Rolex Middle Sea Race has come down to the wire for multihull line honors. Just 56 seconds is all that separated the top two MOD 70’s, Mana and Zoulou after more than two and a half days and 600 miles of sailing. Owned by Riccardo Pavoncelli and skippered by Vendée Globe veteran Alexia Barrier – who has her eyes set on the Jules Verne Trophy with an all-female crew – Mana just barely nipped the upstart Zoulou across the line.
With a crew that includes MOD 70 aficionados Ned Collier-Wakefield, Loick Peyron and Sidney Gavignet among others, Zoulou wasted no time in getting up to speed and fighting Mana all the way to the finish. Class stalwart Giovanni Soldini and Maserati crossed the finish in third place, just ten minutes later with Frank Slootman’s new Snowflake MOD 70 program a further one and a quarter hour behind.
Behind the four MOD 70’s at the head of the fleet, Chris Shepherd’s Farr 100 Leopard 3 walked away with monohull line honors while the top boats on IRC include many usual suspects including the Ker 46 Corum-Daguet 3, the Nivelt – Muratet designed NMYD 54 Teasing Machine and the R/P 60 Wild Joe, among many other worthy contenders. Most of the fleet still has half the race to go, make sure to follow the tracker or on Yellow Brick on your mobile device. Ronnie Simpson.
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