Bahrain’s brightest young sailing hopefuls have emerged as the early favourites for the new match racing series being launched later this month at the Dubai Junior Regatta.
Two young Bahraini teams head for the world’s biggest junior sailing event full of optimism after taking first and second places in their home match race last month.
Sponsored by Emirates Airline and taking place from January 22-29, the Dubai Junior Regatta is taking on another dimension with the launch of the Dubai Match Race, an open international series for challengers of all ages.
It’s another big test for the Bahraini youngsters, but one which they can take in their stride, at least according to one of the most experienced skippers they’ll be up against in Dubai.
Australian Mark Feilberg had to settle for third place behind Bahraini crews
when he gave his new Dubai-based team its match racing debut in Bahrain.
Now hoping to claim the Dubai Match Race crown, Feilberg says: “We believe we have a very strong chance of winning, but the Bahrain teams are our main competition.”
The Dubai Match Race will be contested by 12 to 16 teams sailing the newly-designed V1/Lutra-30 Sport Boat. This high performance racing boat has been built in Dubai
especially for the event and for April’s ISAF Nations Cup qualifier in the emirate.
Fielberg, runner-up in the inaugural Maktoum Sailing Trophy in Dubai last year,
says: “The Dubai Match racing is very important to us and we believe it will be up there with other international match racing events.
“Having finished third in our first regatta we’re pleased with our preparations so far. We’d like to have had some time on the V1, but as all the teams will not get much chance to prepare on the new boats we think our ability to adapt could give us an edge.”
Bahrain’s Tunisian coach, Kacem Ben Jemia, has high hopes for his two teams in Dubai where they have twice won the Laser 4.7 team title in recent years.
“The Dubai Junior Regatta is a great event for us because it brings top young sailing talent from Europe and other parts of the world to the Gulf, and that means good competitive experience for our team,” says Jemia.
In the Bahrain match racing teams for Dubai, Abdulla and Mustafa Janahi link up with Aziz Yaqoob, Abderrahim Abdulla and Mohanna al Dosari, while Sami Kooheji joins Mohammad ben Deij, Mohammad Gharib, Sameer Showaiter, and Ibrahim Abdulla.
Abdulla, Mohanna, Aziz, and Mustafa were in the Bahrain team that won the Laser 4.7 team title in the Dubai Junior Regatta in 2002 and 2003 and finished third in 2004 behind South Africa and Holland.
They will face opposition this time from India, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar and the host nation, including the two UAE national teams currently preparing for next year’s Asian Games in Doha Taking place under the patronage of H.H.Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates, the Dubai Junior Regatta is organised by Dubai International
Marine Club in conjunction with the UAE Marine Sports Federation and the ISAF, the world governing body of sailing. The event is co-sponsored by Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina, the official hotel, Marine Pool and V1 Advanced Composite Technologies. Other official suppliers for the event are Trek, Al Boom Marine, Dubai’s Victory Team, Duboats, El Mundo, Nordist and Olimpic Sails.
