Dubai 43ft Dhow Racing - 'manoeuvres and charm'

by Sharon Allison on 19 Jan 2011 Al Zeer swooped through the finish line next to the Burj Al Arab this afternoon (Friday) to score a win in the second round of the Dubai Traditional 43ft Dhow Sailing Championship organised by Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC). Dahees narrowly beat Al Adeed to take second and third places as the fleet seemingly descended from every direction at the finish line. Shamardel was fourth and the winner of the last round Al Shared took fifth after an amazing hour-long race full of manoeuvres and charm.

‘It was my race’ said skipper Mohammed Rashid Bin Shaheen, ‘I like tactical races and the race today was very tactical; you have to read the conditions and stick to your plan. The weather was great; a good northerly breeze of around 13 knots and I felt very confident. I want to win the championship this season and I’m really happy with this result.’

Eighty-two boats, the largest fleet this season, started dramatically with shredded sails and a man overboard who was miraculously recovered by his crew mates at the start line. Lively wind conditions and a choppy sea contributed to a spectacular race, which witnessed more split sails along the way and more men overboard who were quickly recovered by the support craft.

‘We moved the race to start at Deira Palm and finished at the Burj Al Arab because of the wind direction,’ said Marwan Al Tayer from the DIMC organising committee and Race Officer of the Day. ‘The conditions were superb for a really exciting race and I am pleased with the amount of boats on the start line, this sport is truly growing in popularity which it’s very encouraging.’

The next and final round of the Championships is at DIMC on 12 March.

Provisional Results
Place Boat Name Skipper / Owner
1 Al Zeer Mohammed Rashid Bin Shaheen / Khalifa Rashid Bin Shaheen
2 Dahees Hassan Abdullah Juma Al Marzouqi / Ali Abdullah Juma Al Marzouqi
3 Al Adeed Rashid Mohamed Rashid Musabbeh Al Rumaithi / Mohamed Rashid Musabbeh Al Rumaithi
4 Shamardel Sultan Saeed Hareb / Sh. Majed bin Mohd. Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
5 Al Shared Majid Ahmed Al Muhairi / Ahmed Khadim Al Muhairi