Race preview
Rolex Middle Sea Race 2026: Course, Favourites and Forecast
Published · Last checked October 2026
The 47th Rolex Middle Sea Race starts from Grand Harbour, Malta, on Saturday 17 October 2026. The 606-nautical-mile course runs anticlockwise around Sicily and back to the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Remon Vos's 100-footer Black Jack 100 defends monohull line honours, and the early forecast is for a light-air start.
The course
The race leaves Malta, heads north up the east coast of Sicily and through the Strait of Messina, then turns west past the volcano of Stromboli. After rounding Favignana off Sicily's western tip, the fleet heads south to Pantelleria and Lampedusa before the final leg back to Malta.
| Mark | Where it is |
|---|---|
| Start | Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta |
| Strait of Messina | The narrow channel between Sicily and mainland Italy |
| Stromboli | Active volcano in the Aeolian Islands, north of Sicily |
| Favignana | Island off Sicily's western tip |
| Pantelleria | Island between Sicily and Tunisia |
| Lampedusa | The southernmost mark |
| Finish | Royal Malta Yacht Club, Marsamxett Harbour |
The line honours battle
Black Jack 100, a Reichel/Pugh design owned by Remon Vos and skippered by Tristan Le Brun, took monohull line honours in 2025 in 65 hours 44 minutes. She has a long history in this race: as Esimit Europa 2 she took line honours four times, setting the boat's fastest time of 54 hours 52 minutes in 2010. Since then she has had a new hull, more ballast, a longer keel fin, a lighter rig, new sails and a longer bowsprit.
- Pace (Volvo Open 70, Johnny Vincent): won monohull line honours and IRC overall at the 2026 RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race.
- JAJO (Volvo Ocean 65): second overall under IRC at the 2023 Fastnet and IRC Super Zero winner here in 2025.
- More Volvo boats: the 70s Dinzer Doo, Ocean Breeze and Il Mostro, and the 65s Sisi and Wind Whisper.
- Outsiders: Filip Balcaen's Mills 72 Balthasar, the defending IRC overall champion, and Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's Wallyrocket 71 Django 7X on her debut.
The course record, 40 hours 17 minutes set by Comanche in 2021, looks safe. Le Brun said they "would need the same conditions as Comanche" to threaten it. He also warned that Pace "can be extremely fast at reaching angles in more than 20 knots of wind."
Multihulls, Class40s and a record 36th race
Four multihulls are entered, led on rating by the Italian Kinetic 54 Garbina J. Five Class40s are racing, among them Optimus Prime, which took line honours in the Cannes–Malta Race earlier in October. Christian Ripard, a four-time overall winner, starts his record 36th Middle Sea Race aboard the HH42 Artie III.
What the forecast means for navigators
Race management expects a light start, with the wind veering and easing through Saturday into Sunday morning. Overnight holes in the wind could slow the fleet on the way to Messina, where tidal streams are strong and change direction through the day. Timing the strait right is the kind of tidal-gate planning every coastal skipper does, on a much bigger scale. Ripard's advice for the race fits any long passage: "You have to be prepared for everything."