Fun J/22 racing in IRC Middle East Championship at Dubai Offshore Sailing Club
by J/Boats 7 Jan 10:43 PST
IRC Middle East Championship © Pia Torelli & Neil Corder/ Waterwise Photography
Over the holiday weekend in late December, the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club in the United Arab Emirates hosted the IRC Middle East Championship with a variety of J/Teams sailing the three-day event.
The sailing took place on the Persian Gulf just offshore of the famous Burj Al Arab Hotel on the shoreline... a 5-star luxury resort hotel designed to look like a tall mainsail flying in the sky!
The Dubai Offshore SC's Race Committee and PRO team, along with their assorted mark boat volunteers, managed to run a good six-race series over the two-day regatta.
In the IRC 1 Division, we find the J/122 EL SERAYA, skippered and owned by Fawzi Sultan from Kuwait, ended up in fifth place with mostly mid-fleet finishes.
In the always competitive IRC 2 Division, taking the bronze medal was Mark Nolan's J/80 BLUEY, with a strong record of 3-3-3-1-3-3 for 13 pts net. His compatriots on the J/105 Twister, sailed by Sian Rowlands, sailed OK on the first day with mostly mid-fleet finishes, but unfortunately could not participate on the second day.
The large IRC 3 Division included a half-dozen very well-sailed J/22s. In fact, the J/22s pretty much dominated the top of the leaderboard. Taking 2nd was Stefano Martini & Victor Mosanya's NEMO with a 4-2-2-1-4-4 tally for 13 pts net. Earning the bronze medal for the third step on the podium was Bevan Farmer's DRAMA QUEEN with a 3-3-3-3-2-2 record for 13 pts net. He lost the tiebreaker on countback. Fourth went to Demos Stogiannidis & Evan Hatzis's J/22 MAI J with a 9-6-6-4-3-3 record for 22 pts net.
J/22 Class
Unlike the IRC standings, it was Farmer's DRAMA QUEEN that took one-design class honors as the J/22s were scored as a separate fleet! Their 8 pts net tally was sufficient to beat the NEMO duo by just 1 pt! Trailing those two boats by a 7 pt margin was the other duo on MAI J to take the bronze. Rounding out the top five were Dennis Do Rond's JUST LIKE THAT in 4th and Ronan Joile's CHAOS in 5th position.
More information at dosc.ae