Longer distances races at Regatta Sailing Academy, Doha

Longer distances races at Regatta Sailing Academy, Doha © Simon Kearns

Longer distance racing tests Regatta Sailing Academy sailors

Longer distances and longer duration racing tested the racing sailors at the Regatta Sailing Academy, Doha, Qatar. Racers had a break from their traditional short, tactical racing off the beach at the Intercontinental Hotel and raced around a course set in the West bay area of Doha by head racing coach Simon Kearns and assistant Liam Reece.

Friday produced some of the best conditions so far this season for the two adult racing fleets. With warm temperatures around 35 Celsius, 15 knots of wind and a water temperature around the 25 celsius mark the sailors faced a 7km course including some navigational skills as not all racing marks could be seen with the naked eye.

With the breeze building for fleet 1 it was Bob Monroe who stamped his authority on the race choosing the right way up the difficult first beat and then holding on to the lead on the downwind leg and also on the screaming broad reach to the finish even though he was pushed hard by a fast charging Helen Swan.

In fleet 2 the course was the same but the wind had changed phases and was now from a slightly more difficult angle. With a storming fetch it was Stuart Turner who rounded the windward mark first but Denise Munster pushed hard and by the final mark was looking good for the win with a broad reach to the finish in front of the Intercontinental Hotel however, the wind shifted round to make the final leg a beat to windward approaching the shore and Stuart Turner managed to hold his nerve and retake first place by a few seconds from Miriam Munster in second.

Saturday dawned with similar temperatures but less wind for the Junior learn to race fleet. Sadly the sea breeze didn’t come through in time so the sailors had some fun games on the water and covered in depth some racing rules.

By the time the Junior racing fleet started the wind had filled in and once again produced some fantastic sailing conditions for the 22 junior sailors. With a pursuit race format for the two races of the day it was the Optimist sailors who were away first followed by the Pico’s, 4.7’s, Radial’s, and then the Vago. Whilst the Optimists fought hard and held on to the lead until the final few moments it was the Vago team of Freddie Witzmann and Michael Bayatti that took both races followed by Robbie Witzmann a Laser radial. Special mention must be made of Stephanos Garawal who managed to hold onto fourth place in his Optimist in race two.

Sunday was once again a gorgeous day in Doha, however with humidity slightly high this held back the wind so the Ladies racing fleet had a more technical light wind session. With the wind never really picking up above 5 knots the race team managed to only get in one race with Sally Cronin once again managing to keep her cool and taking the race victory.

Overall leaders after four weeks of racing are Bob Monroe (USA), Rob Munster (NZL), Robbie Witzmann (GBR), Sally Cronin (GBR) and Petar Vuk Avramovic (AUS). With the autumn series now half complete the racing results remain tight with a further eight races remaining before the final victors are decided.