Black Jack 100 has delivered a stunning Monohull Line Honours victory at the 47th Rolex Middle Sea Race, completing the 606-nautical-mile course in a record time for the yacht’s 21-year history. Owner Remon Vos and skipper Tristan Le Brun guided the 100-footer across the finish line in Marsamxett Harbour, home of the Royal Malta Yacht Club in Valletta, at 15:51 CEST on Monday 19 October 2026, with an elapsed time of two days, three hours and 51 minutes.
For Vos, the victory marked another emotional high point in a race that has become a cherished fixture in his sailing calendar. “Winning line honours in this year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race is fantastic, and that joy is not really about the past or the future,” said Vos. “This is just a unique experience with this boat and the team on board.”
The 2026 edition served up a remarkable contrast in conditions. Picture-perfect sailing defined much of the opening two days before the final open water legs south of Sicily brought winds hitting 28 knots and a punchy, steep sea. Vos relished both sides of the experience, though not in equal measure. “Towards the end it was pretty tough, honestly, it was primitive,” he admitted with a laugh, describing the difficulty of simply making coffee or grabbing food while the boat crashed through towering waves.
Yet this is exactly the experience that draws Vos back time and again. “Well, I always think, why do I do this, I’m not going to ever do this again, but I’ve said this before, and I keep coming back.” The attraction extends well beyond competition for Vos. “You’re completely disconnected. You’re away from everything. You’re with the water, the wind. We had a beautiful moon, the stars, animals, dolphins, and we even had a bird on board for a while—a hitchhiker.”
Equally meaningful is the chance to share these moments with an international crew spanning different generations and backgrounds. Vos spoke warmly of the friendships, professionalism and commitment aboard Black Jack 100. “It’s inspirational to see a team like that work so well,” he said. “It’s a beautiful group of people with a lot of experience, young and old.”
Skipper Tristan Le Brun was equally proud of the campaign that secured victory. Within hours of exiting Grand Harbour, Black Jack 100 found her stride, building an advantage that grew substantially around the course. “We were straight into it, and we think we did a very good job overall. We didn’t make any big mistakes,” said Le Brun, who highlighted the opening reaching leg to Messina as one of the team’s strongest performances. “We were at max-speed all the way to Messina. We got through the strait very, very quickly this year, full downwind. It was windy all the way through.”
The checkpoint figures tell the story emphatically. Just 12 minutes ahead of closest rivals Django 7X and Balthasar at Capo Passero, Black Jack 100 had stretched her lead to more than 90 minutes by Messina. At Stromboli, the advantage approached one hour and 40 minutes. The next significant gain came along Sicily’s northern coast, where Le Brun credited consistent boat speed even as conditions lightened. “The whole leg north of Sicily was very good, very consistent speed through the light. We were constantly doing 10 to 14 knots of boat speed. We were really sailing well.”
By Favignana at the northwest corner of the course, Black Jack 100 had pushed her lead to almost three and a half hours, maintaining momentum through the leg past Pantelleria and on to Lampedusa before the final demanding beat back to Malta.
Challenges did arise. An awkward headsail change in rough conditions cost time, with the crew forced to bear away to protect the rig. Le Brun, however, was satisfied the team had extracted nearly everything possible from the conditions. The achievement held particular significance given the yacht’s history. Launched in 2005 and substantially modified over the years, Black Jack 100 has now bettered the yacht’s previous fastest Rolex Middle Sea Race passage of 54 hours, 52 minutes and 32 seconds, set in 2010 when the boat raced as Esimit Europa 2. “We are super proud of it,” said Le Brun. “It’s a big statement about our own performance and development of the boat, and how we use Black Jack.”
Vos is already contemplating another return to Malta, with the race’s 60th anniversary in 2028 holding particular appeal. “We want to come back for the 60th anniversary. Let’s try and win that. That would be nice!” For a man who repeatedly vows never to endure another offshore race, the attraction of the Rolex Middle Sea Race remains irresistible. And for Black Jack 100, another memorable chapter has been written in an extraordinary racing history.
