Ceeref and Sea Dubai. Image copyright Nico Martinez/RC44.
by Sharon Allison
Sailing a perfect five match races Sea Dubai took all the honours and steamed into the lead on day one of the Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy at Dubai International Marine Club in the first round of the RC44 Championship Tour 2010. Truly the best of the day they took on Katusha, Cereef, Aqua, Austria and finally No Way Back and were the unstoppable stars gaining five points and the lead of the competition.
The matches were close, some closer than others, Cereef and Sea Dubai approached the finish together crossing with only the front half of Sea Dubai over the line first making it nail biting stuff for spectators. Exciting maneuvers racing with Katusha and No Way Back were magnificent, boats turning together into the wind then turning in unison away from the wind with the huge spinnaker sails being pulled across the boat before being winched in to place. Saeed Harib, CEO of DIMC and Sea Dubai was full of praise for the team in the press conference that ended the first day of racing. ‘We’re happy to welcome all the teams to Dubai, those who are returning for the fourth of fifth time as well as new comers. I’m especially happy as well that our team has performed so well today,’ he commented.
‘We learnt a lot from training earlier on in the year here in Dubai with No Way Back,’ said Marcus Wieser, match-racing skipper of the team. ‘We practiced match and fleet racing and pre starts and hope it has helped to stop us making the silly mistakes we’ve made in the past. Raimondo Tonelli has joined us this season as fleet racing skipper and with his strategy skills and excellent onboard communication it helped me to make the right tactical decisions today,’ he added.
Rod Davis (Ceeref) vs. Markus Wieser (Sea Dubai). Image copyright Nico Martinez/RC44.
At the start of the racing the wind was light and unsettled, frustrating Race Officer, Peter Reggio immensely as he had his heart set on the strong winds of the previous day continuing. But as so often in Dubai the wind settled and blew nicely enabling him to get in all the five planned rounds.
Sponsors Emirates Airline, Edox Swiss Watches and Marinepool were following the race closely and all commented that it is a great start to the new season.
Racing continues 23rd February at 1130 with the final match-racing day with the fleet racing starting on 25th February where all nine boats will compete together.
Results:
Pos Name Skipper Country Points
1st Sea Dubai Markus Wieser UAE 5
2nd Artemis Terry Hutchinson Sweden 4
3rd= Cereef Rod Davis Slovenia 2
3rd= BMW Oracle Adam Minoprio USA 2
3rd= Puerto Calero José Maria Ponce Spain 2
3rd= No Way Back Ray Davies Netherlands 2
7th= Aqua Cameron Appleton UAE 1
7th= Katusha Paul Cayard Russia 1
7th= Austria Christian Binder Austria 1
Dubai International Marine Club
RC44
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