Malta Open 2012

Pure Malt(a)

Once again all our friends of MMBA (Marvelous Malta Breweries Association) have distilled the best blend of IOM racing.

Take four days of Pretty Bay, 4 times 7 hours of sunshine, two days of tricky winds and lifts, two more days of perfect 6 to 15 knots southwesterlies, 24 good humoured skippers (some less than others sometimes!) coming from 5 different countries, counting captains and consultants, businessmen and happy retirees and other boat builders (!), the ultimate racing officer (VZ himself) assisted by the nec plus ultra secretary (the ever smiling Val and faultless webmaster) observers and umpires, the most devoted buoy layers (and sea rescue team) who laid 69 different courses the same day due to the particularly stable conditions of Birzebugga, add half a pint of social events, a zest of protests, a drop of port priorities taken by Blackbutterfly (sorry again Dave), a couple of 100 dB roaring buggy models to facilitate concentration, a cloud of various liquors to cheer the crowd at lunch time and you will obtain the most delightful sailing cocktail ever!

I am longing to get drunk again next year!

An “hele dank U” to Hanneke who once again took the pictures of the whole distillation process and of course a thousand thanks to the Zammit couple always at the summit of organisation, efficiency and friendliness.