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Event Information:
The
Middle Sea Race is a yacht race
organised by the Royal Malta Yacht
Club. Currently sponsored by Rolex,
its current name is the Rolex Middle
Sea Race. Co founded in 1968 by the
Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Royal
Ocean Racing Club. The race is 607
miles long, starting and finishing
in Malta, and takes the fleet in an
anti-clockwise direction around the
island of Sicily.
The
Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC) is a
yacht club in the island of Malta.
The date of the first establishment
of the Royal Malta Yacht Club has
not been ascertained, although there
are rumours as to the existence of
an obscure yacht club in Malta as
far back as 1835. It is, however, on
record that the Admiralty issued a
warrant authorising the use of the
Blue Ensign in 1873, (re-issued in
1894). By 1892 that club had reached
its nadir and virtually ceased to
exist.
Around
1896, a small group of gentlemen
resident in Mata and owning as a
syndicate a 30-ton cutter called the
"RHODA", formed an association which
was commonly known as the Rhoda
Sailing Club At first, their
interests were primarily in
cruising, but later on, races were
staged for sailing dinghies and
small local craft, which attracted
other enthusiasts who were not
members of the original syndicate.
From these and others, a club known
as the Mediterranean Skiff Club was
formed in 1905 and the 14-Foot West
of England Conference Dinghy adopted
as its racing class. The
Mediterranean Skiff Club remained in
existence until 1916 when it was
wound up owing to the majority of
its members being on active service.
In
1921 the club was reconstituted
under the title of the Malta Yacht
Club, presumably in ignorance of the
Royal tradition it had inherited,
and it was until 1928 that steps
were taken to obtain official
recognition of the prefix "Royal" -
although for some years previously
the Admiralty had adopted that form
of address when communicating with
the Club. In 1929, following a
successful motorboat regatta, the
Malta Motor Boat Club was formed.
This led in 1930 to the two clubs
amalgamating under the title of the
senior body, with the declared
policy of providing a common meeting
ground for the Maltese and English
sections of the community, and to
this end, the building of premises
suitable to the Clubs' activities.
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