A boat is pictured against the backdrop of the setting sun during the EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour. At right, the EFG team celebrate.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
The fast 60nm sprint from Dubai to Abu Dhabi gave Sidney Gavignet and his EFG Bank (Monaco) team a chance to demonstrate their tactical skill once again as they secured their third leg win in the EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour. Gavignet and his super-tuned crew that includes Spanish sailor Alex Pella, Nicolas Lunven, and Ireland’s Damian Foxall, had a poor start but it did not take the seasoned team long to find their stride and lead the 11-strong fleet round the windward mark.
The teams have already set sail on Leg 5, from Abu Dhabi to Doha and are expected to reach the Four Seasons marina on February 25 where they take part in a thrilling in-port race before setting off on the final leg of the race towards the finish line in Bahrain.
Although they had an impressive one-and-half minutes lead at the mark, they were pushed all the way by the ever-threatening Zain Sailing Team – headed by seasoned Tour competitor, and former team partner of Gavignet, Cédric Pouligny.
Mohamed al-Mujaini, one of the three Omani crew members on board EFG Bank (Monaco), commented: “Our start was really, really bad but we played the shifts well. Zain pushed us all the time but we kept all the focus on speed and we did not think of anything else other than that. In fact, it always makes us work harder when we have pressure from others.”
Seasoned Tour competitor Cédric Pouligny and his Zain Sailing Team includes Gérald Véniard on navigation and a crew formed mainly from employees of Zain – one of the Middle East’s leading mobile telecoms operators. The crew for this leg also included Bader al-Khafari – Deputy Chairman of Zain, and Head of the MAK Group in Kuwait.
Commenting on his first ever yacht race, al-Khafari said: “It was interesting and challenging and the rough sea made it tough but we made it, enjoyed it and got a top result. It was all down to teamwork. I enjoyed being part of it and actually help sail the boat, including a stint at the helm.”
In third place after a race long struggle through the fleet following an OCS (over the line at the start) was Marcel Herrera and Team averda (Oman). Herrera commented: “Despite our OCS we actually had really good speed throughout the day. We worked hard and constantly gained, which was down to a top effort from the team.”
Fahad al-Hasni and the all-Omani team on Renaissance sailed well once again and held third position for most of the leg but lack of boat speed in the closing stages saw them lose four places. Al-Hasni commented: “We don’t know what happened the boat just seemed to stop. We did everything we could but it is a mystery.”
The consistent Delft Challenge team was always in the top half of the fleet and took fourth despite a start line incident that resulted in a bit of damage to the boat. “It is not too bad,” commented Jochem Nonhebel, “We will get it fixed for tomorrow.”
Another team sailing well and posting consistent results is Lorenz Müller’s amateur Bienne Voile team from Switzerland. Today they finished fifth, and the team currently stands in fifth place overall.
Nick Moloney and his mostly Chinese team on GAC powered by Dongfeng Race Team had a better day finishing sixth, just ahead of Renaissance.
