The first leg of the yacht race – Sailing Arabia – The Tour (SATT) – concluded under moonlight at The Pearl-Qatar in Doha, on February 13 and the fleet leaves on February 15 on the next leg to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The second leg of the race sets sail from The Pearl-Qatar south to Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club today at 10 am local time and is the longest and most challenging of the tour covering 296 kilometers.
Over the course of the race, the fleet will cover 1,408 kilometres, sailing from Bahrain, to Qatar, UAE – Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah and then three stops in Omani waters – Musandam, Mussanah and the final port in Oman’s capital, Muscat.
The unique event brings the nations of the Gulf together in a race around the region, with teams representing Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE. A French entry, Courrier Dunkerque, also going head to head with the other eight yachts, claimed the leg one victory, as the only non-GCC team competing.
The team’s skipper, Daniel Souben, said that despite winning the leg, his crew remains wary of the potential of their competitors – highlighting the Omani Team BAE Systems and the only team representing Qatar, Team Commercialbank as extremely strong competitors.
After more than 11 hours of non-stop racing from Bahrain, Courrier Dunkerque eventually crossed the finish line 31min 32sec ahead of Team BAE Systems with Team Commercialbank finishing a close third.
Frenchman Cedric Pouligny, who is skippering the same Omani crew that finished fifth in one of France’s toughest offshore events, the 2011 Tour du France a la Voile, is onboard Team BAE Systems for SATT.
“It was a great start. Most of the racing was downwind all the way to the finish line so it was quick – I would say it was pretty perfect sailing conditions for the first leg,” he said. “There was a pretty close battle on the water so we are very happy to finish second. We were fighting for a long way. I think that is normal in these kinds of conditions and as the boats are so evenly matched, the level of racing was very good.”
Bertrand Pace, the French skipper of Team Commercialbank agreed.
“The sailing conditions in this region are fantastic. We have had great winds and the first leg was really exciting racing. There are a lot of strong competitors within the fleet and although it is only the first leg, I think we have shown that Team Commercialbank is a team to contend with and we have a real shot at the podium.”
Another impressive performance was that of Arabian sailor Ahmed Al Mamari and his all-Omani crew on Team Renaissance, which finished a credible fourth after holding onto second place for all but 20 miles of the 241 kilometre leg. Al Mamari says it was a good result for his crew and that things might have played out differently had they not had a brief encounter with a wayward fishing net.
“We were in second place and holding position against Team BAE Systems and Team Commercialbank when we ran into the net. Despite stalling for a few minutes while we cleared our keel, I’m proud of the way my crew sailed and we’ll continue to improve as the race progresses.”
One position back, the all women-crew sailing Al Thuraya BankMuscat, representing Oman, finished a close fifth and was amongst the front runners for most of the race.
Dee Caffari, the team’s record breaking around the world skipper, said her crew sailed the race of their lives and believes there is a lot more left to give.
“The crew work onboard was good, but it will get better and I believe that we’re a real podium chance as our communication as a crew improves. It was a great downwind leg and valuable time for the girls sailing this leg with a spinnaker from the top mark to the finish.”
The team representing the Kingdom of Bahrain, skippered by Bahraini national Qassim Abdul Razaq, had a promising start to the race, making it to the first mark in third place. Unfortunately the team was slowed by a problem with one of the sails, but showed their potential for the rest of the race.
“We had a really good start and we made it to the first mark in third place, just behind the French team that went on to win. We then had some problems with our spinnaker so we lost a little time, but I am really pleased with the team’s performance”, Qassim said.
Just before the finish we were bow to bow with the Saudi boat and it was great competition!”
The official prize giving ceremony, hosted at The Pearl-Qatar, was attended by a host of officials and media, including Mohamed Bin Nasser Alwahaibi, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman, Waheed Mubarak Sayyar, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Doha, Juma Rashid al Nadhri, the UAE Ambassador in Qatar, and Fahad Jaber, Executive Director of Qatar Sailing and Rowing Federation.
“We are very pleased to be representing Qatar again in Sailing Arabia The Tour. Last year’s inaugural edition provided a unique opportunity for sailing teams to race across several GCC stopovers and we were immensely proud to be in the podium position. This year the Tour has grown even bigger and we have the winner of last year’s Tour – Frenchman Bertrand Pace – to helm our team.
“Our yacht reflects Commercialbank Group’s commitment to represent Qatar in a prestigious sailing event in celebration on the Qatar’s national sports day and support the vision of Qatar’s leaders for the nation to be a world class sporting destination,” Jaber presented the awards to the top three teams, alongside Fahad Bader, Executive General Manager of Commercialbank, said.
In addition to the long legs from port to port, in each stopover the teams will face a different kind of challenge with short races close to shore. In Doha, the teams sailed two races, as they challenged for The Pearl Cup, a race supported by The Pearl-Qatar.
Set against the spectacular backdrop of The Pearl-Qatar, the local Qatari team of Team Commercialbank dominated the in-port race from the start, and managed to maintain their lead throughout to claim victory. An intense battle for positions two to four was played out between Courrier Dunkerque, Team Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Team BAE Systems. Team Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did well on the last stretch to keep Team BAE Systems at bay and defend their position, finishing third, just behind the French on Courrier Dunkerque.
Saeed Al Sulaiti, General Manager at The Pearl-Qatar presented the awards to the top placed teams.
“We always support activities related to sport and we are privileged to host Sail Arabia – The Tour on Qatar National Sports Day. By hosting the in-port racing at The Pearl-Qatar, we have not only provided the GCC teams with the opportunity to race close to shore, but also to support this strategically important day for Qatar”.