Racing in the Al Maktoum Trophy: Team Premier. Supplied image.
by Sharon Allison
The winners of the three divisions of the IRC Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy at Dubai International Marine Club all made the same comment Thursday - that the conditions were great. Haines Waimer who won Division One sailing Team Premier, David Rostant the winner of Division Two sailing EPI Mattafix and Mikhail Rassoudov who took first place on Victoria in Division Three all said that they loved the strong shifty conditions. The average wind speed during the day was between fifteen to twenty knots with gusts of up to twenty six knots from the south making very exciting sailing conditions. Team Premier managed to stay ahead of Yo, the 2008 winner of the Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy, sailed by Toby O’Connell after finishing the first race behind him in second place. ‘We were unlucky on the first race,’ said the skipper of Team Premier, ‘we got a tear in our jib and we had to make some repairs, but we had a spare and managed to change it for the second race but then our spinnaker tore and blew right out. It was an expensive race but great fun,’ he added.
In division two, David Rostant on EPI Mattafix was also happy with his win crossing the finish line minutes ahead of Mike Jelfs on MACE, ‘it was a fantastic day, the wind was good and we played the wind shifts to the best of our ability,’ commented the winning skipper.
Newcomers to the racing circuit won in division three, Mikhail Rassoudov and his crew on his boat Victoria beat the young under eighteen hopefuls on Go North with Frederic Jacobs at the helm who will be dreaming tactics tonight ahead of tomorrow’s races. ‘Winds are set to strengthen over the next two days, it was great racing today, the sea was flat and the boat speed was amazing, we really enjoyed it,’ said Mikhail. Racing resumes at 11:00 Friday with three races and concludes on Saturday 27th February.
MACE. Supplied image.
Results:
Pos – Div 1 Name Skipper Points
1st Team Premier Haines Waimer 4
2nd YO Toby O’Connell 6
3rd Drilling Systems Francis Carr 8
Pos – Div 2
1st EPI Mattafix David Rostant 3
2nd MACE Mike Jelfs 6
3rd The Office Mike Lawton 9
Pos – Div 3
1st Victoria Mikhail Rassaudov 3
2nd Go North Frederic Jacobs 6
3rd DIMC 2 Conrad Scwhindt 10
Dubai International Marine Club
No comments:
Post a Comment