My name is Darren Abdilla and I am the Project Manager of the Malteser 2. The first Malteser resulted to be a successful all rounder club winning boat and after 6 years of success, I have decided that it is time to achieve better results. The Malteser 2 has been brewing in my mind for the past 5 years and thought that it is the right time to introduce it to the RC market.

 

I am from Malta and the Malteser name is inspired by my National country which I am proud to represent.

 

At 3 years of age, my father introduced me to the World of sailing as a crew on his boat. When I was 9 years old, I begun training as a helmsman and was amongst the best young Maltese talents. I had many successful dinghy racing in Malta and have also represented my country in Sicily at the age 12 in the Sunfish class. After switching to the Laser Olympic class, I had some physical problems which led me to quit dinghy sailing. My father introduced me to radio sailing at the age of sixteen years and although I have shown potential, I had to quit radio sailing after 2 years due to financial struggles.

 

Locally, I managed to win several races since I re-started radio sailing. Most of them being local events but have also participated in competitions against foreign skippers. I won the Malta Nationals 6 times and the best result in the Malta Open was 4th overall in 2015.

 

In September 2014, I represented my country in the European Championships at Lake Garda, Italy which had 76 competitors from all over Europe. When you consider the quality and skilled skippers, some of them World and European Champions, I am very pleased that I managed to finish in 19th place overall.

 

Other achievements that I will cherish, go back to June 2015, where I finished 1st overall at Castiglione del Lago, Italy. In July 2015 I finished 3rd overall in the International Istanbul RC Cup. May 2018, I finished 3rd overall at Castiglione Del Lago in Italy and in March 2022 finished 5th overall at Italian Nationals which were held in Sabaudia.

Through my experience, I learned that a perfect setup does not exist. There are many ways to tune a boat and it depends on the model that you are using, the foils, counter weight positions, the rigging used, and the sails make the biggest difference in getting the best out of your boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo taken at the age of 5 years; my father and I are posing with the Hector’s Trophy which I will cherish forever.

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