Exciting Leg – Abu Dhabi crew airlifted after running aground!
Dubai-based Team AISM has claimed the second leg of the EFG Bank Sailing Arabia The Tour, following 18 hours of maximum exhilaration for the nine international and regional crews competing between Doha and Abu Dhabi.

At 159 miles, this leg from the Qatari capital, Doha, was the longest of SATT, the region’s only long distance offshore race. It was sailed in 20 knot northerlies, and for the crews competing aboard their one design 30ft yachts, it proved to be drama-laden with their boats pushed to the limit, resulting in numerous broaches in the brisk conditions, and an incident for the Abu Dhabi team who were airlifted after running aground! (read more)

Yet for the leaders that arrived into Abu Dhabi in swift succession just before dawn this morning it was smiles all round.

At the front of the fleet a cut-throat competition was going on between the three world-class heavyweights – the Bertrand Pacé-steered and Dubai-based AISM, SidneyGavignet’s team on EFG Bank (Monaco) and Cédric Pouligny on team BAE Systems. Gavignet’s team lost the lead when their yacht suffered problems with their electronics to be overtaken by Tuesday’s triple in-port race winner, AISM. Into Abu Dhabi Team AISM continued her winning streak, with Team BAE Systems second and EFG Bank (Monaco) dropping to third.

Al Thuraya Bank Muscat Team again claimed a respectable seventh out of the nine crews.
Go girls!

Sailing Arabia The Tour:
February 10-25 – 15 days, 4 countries, 8 ports of call and 760 nautical miles
…and we’re again making history, as SATT’s first and only Women’s Sailing Team!

Photos by Lloyd Images

Sailing Arabia The Tour:
February 10-25 – 15 days, 4 countries, 8 ports of call and 760 nautical miles
…and we’re again making history, as SATT’s first and only Women’s Sailing Team!

Rising Tide Leadership Institute Ambassador, British yachtswoman Dee Caffari, is the returning skipper of Al-Thuraya Bank Muscat, once again sailed exclusively by women. Dee, the only woman to have sailed non-stop around the world singlehanded both eastabout and westabout, is joined by American round the world sailor, RTLI Ambassador Katie Pettibone. The Bank Muscat team includes six up and coming Omani female sailors, four of whom will be on board at any one time – comprising a 50% Omani crew. Because the women are smaller, they will race with eight onboard, while the men’s teams will be sailed by six or seven crew.

Skipper Dee Caffari

The first 100 mile leg of Sailing Arabia The Tour was yesterday, Bahrain to Doha. Over the course of Sunday afternoon and through the night the nine crews, taking part in the region’s only long distance offshore sailing race, were forced to use their engines, and spent most of the early hours of the morning waiting for the wind to materialize by the ‘Fairway’ mark, just off the northeast coast of Qatar. This lack of wind greatly restricted racing efforts. (Quite a contrast to last year’s 2012 SATT, when competitors at the start were buffeted by 30 knot winds.) Finally, at approximately 8:00 AM, the breeze began to fill in, and the Oman Sail Race Committee was able to set a 46 mile course towards Doha, south down Qatar’s east coast.

Dee shared, “It’s painful, but we’ve had a good sail at the end. The race director did well getting a race in. It was sheet glass the whole way and we waited four hours hanging around for daylight to see if we would race in a sea of glass. But eventually the wind came.”

The top three positions, with only a boat length between them, were BAE Systems (Oman), skippered by world-renowned Cedric Pouligny in first, EFG Bank (Monaco) skippered by Sidney Gavignet in second ,and the youthful team, Messe Frankfurt led by Marcel Herrera, came in third. Al-Thuraya Bank Muscat, the women’s team, came in seventh out of nine. Better luck in the next leg, as these women are extremely capable, winning the inshore regatta and placing second in the offshore regatta just a few months ago, November 2012.

Read more about Sailing Arabia The Tour and Follow Dee & Team on the second leg, beginning Wednesday, Qatar to Abu Dhabi.