Alfa Romeo takes 74th and final win!

"This event has been absolutely remarkable," said Skipper Neville Crichton at the end of the event in Malta. "It has tested every member of the crew to the absolute limit and, as indicated by the fact that we have come back into Malta with damaged sails, it pushed Alfa Romeo beyond her limits!"

Neville Crichton had said that a decision on whether to contest the 2004 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race would be made immediately after the completion of the Rolex Middle of the Sea Race. This decision has now been delayed pending an assessment of the damage to Alfa Romeo and the availably of replacement sails.

For the first two days of the race, the biggest issue for all the yachts competing was wind, or the lack of it, culminating in the yachts sitting stationary for nearly 12 hours north of the Italian Island of Sicily. These conditions tested the crew's ability to find what little wind there was and to position Alfa Romeo in the ideal place when the wind did arrive. "To be honest, conditions were so bad, we discussed retiring from the race," said Neville Crichton. "It seemed pointless as we were going nowhere. But all credit to the crew, looking at the weather charts and sniffing out the wind from the top of the mast, because when it did arrive, we were the only yacht to benefit from it!"

So much so that Alfa Romeo was able to pull out a mighty six and half hour lead over the rest of the fleet, as it caught a healthy 20 knot wind that came Alfa Romeo's way but ignored every other yacht. But over the last night the weather quickly went from little wind to way too much, as a massive electrical storm heralded the arrival of not just severe weather, but weather that dramatically changed from one moment to the next.

Alfa Romeo was worst affected by the conditions. Sailing under Code Zero sails in the pitch-black night, the wind dropped to 12 knots as the crew had furled the powerful headsail and were half way through dropping it when a 30 knot gust came through. The furled sail began to writhe around on deck, six crewmen unable to control it and the last to hang on to it, America's Cup grinder John Macbeth, one of the beefiest guys on the Aussie maxi, was tossed overboard like a rag doll.

Macbeth was recovered after 12 minutes in the water. "The guys on the boat all knew what to do and I had full confidence in them. They did a great job," Macbeth said later. "When I was in the water, I kicked off my shoes and wet weather gear and waited for them to come back. All credit to them, they picked me up very quickly and I never really felt in danger at any time."

More drama was to come for the Alfa Romeo team two hours later when sailing along in 8 knots the wind suddenly piped up to 30 and then 58 knots, knocking the boat flat on its side under full mainsail and furled Code Zero. "It was very quick," recounted Neville Crichton. "We tried to run with it, but it was hopeless and we lost control and it went straight over. The boom and the rig were in the water and dragged the yacht sideways and deeper into the water. “It took us 15 minutes to get Alfa Romeo back upright on its feet and probably another three hours after that to tidy the boat up and get everything operating. In the crash we destroyed the mainsail which was $150,000 and two spinnakers, so it was a $200,000 fall over!"

On Black Dragon, the yacht over which Alfa Romeo had built up a six hour lead, they were more fortunate. Rounding the island of Lampedusa and the final turning mark of the Rolex Middle Sea Race they broke the top batten in their mainsail and pulled into the lee of the island to drop the mainsail and replace it. "Just as we did that all hell broke lost," described racing Skipper Jesper Radich. "Hail, 46 knots of wind and we were doing 20 knots of speed downwind under jib.

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