A fleet of 16 yachts will be competing in the BOV Round the Islands race this Saturday. Organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, the race – with an estimated course length of 100 nautical miles – is one of the longest coastal races in Malta.

Depending on wind conditions and strength, the race is expected to be demanding on the crews both in the racing and the cruiser division. The double-handed class makes the event even more challenging for those who wish to endure the full day of racing with just two persons on board.

The race will start at the Marsamxett harbour entrance and the course will take the boats south towards Marsaxlokk and around the island of Filfla. From there, the sailors will proceed to the south Comino channel and around Gozo in an anti-clockwise circle. They will then head back towards Fifla, rounding the south of Malta and finishing at the Royal Malta Yacht Club.

The Cruiser fleet will start at 8.55am with the Racer fleet starting at 9.05am from Marsamxett harbour entrance, with the prizegiving held the following day at the Royal Malta Yacht Club.

During the pre-race briefing, Vanessa Macdonald, Head Media and Community Relations, gave skippers an introduction on Bank of Valletta’s support for MEPA’s new project called “LIFE + Migrate – (LIFE11 NAT/MT/1070)” A wave of hope for marine life.

Details of this project were given by Ms Carmen Mifsud, a MEPA representative. This project, co-financed by the LIFE+ funding programme of the European Union, aims to understand the status and gather knowledge on the type of habitat that may be essential for the bottlenose dolphin and the loggerhead turtle, so that their habitats, if present locally, can be adequately protected.

In view of a lack of comprehensive data regarding these species and any essential habitats, sightings of dolphins and turtles are being logged with details of position, sea and wind state, and any other relevant information like pod size for dolphins and number of turtles, the direction they are heading and so on.

The data will be collected over three years and specific scientific surveys will also be carried out to check any important areas identified. Hence any information you can contribute will prove invaluable when it comes to monitoring the dolphin and turtle populations and drawing up conservation strategies.

Bank of Valletta is using its strong community presence to raise awareness of the project and to encourage boat owners to sign up as volunteers for the project, collecting data and photos whenever they encounter dolphins and turtles at sea.

Posters will also be put up in its branches explaining about the project – another corporate social responsibility initiative.

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