Abu Dhabi Laser championship
by Bjørn Sirum 29 Jan 2005 16:58 GMT
13 January 2005
T-shirts, shorts & champagne sailing in Abu Dhabi for the Laser Masters © Bjørn Sirum
T-shirts, shorts & champagne sailing in Abu Dhabi
On the Middle East weekend of Thursday the 13th of January, 29 Lasers gathered at The Club in Abu Dhabi for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Laser championship. Seven nationalities were represented and racing was planned for Standards, Radials and 4.7’s. The forecast was good with sunshine and 12 knots forecast. Those of you sailing in frostbite series in the UK may laugh but the temperature was unseasonably chilly for January with a high of only 22 deg C.
Racing started sharp at 1500 out in the channel and both fleets got away cleanly on a flooding tide in 10 kts.. Cameron Davis from Jebel Ali showed early but then overshot to be third at the windward mark. Showing his class he moved up to first and looked set for a certain win. However, proving that a flyer can occasionally pay, Fergus Allan (ADSC) bet on the left hand side of the channel and led by 100m at the finish.
In the Radial and 4.7 fleets similar battles were being fought on either side of the shipping channel. The big story was in the 4.7’s where Evelien Heyselaar (ADSC), starting in her first ever Laser regatta, opened her account with a bullet. In the Radials Nasser al-Omran from the Emirates Sailing Club started as he meant to continue with a first.
The second race was sailed on an ebbing tide in 12 kts and resulted in race wins for Fergus Allan and Nasser al-Omran. In the 4.7 Ahmed al-Qubaisi (EHC) had got the hang of the channel and managed a first ahead of Evelien.
In the last race the tide had turned. Fergus Allan and Nasser al-Omran repeated their successes but Cameron Davis kept his hopes alive with a tactically astute late charge on the final run to get up to 2nd in the Standards. In the 4.7’s Evelien and Ahmed al-Qubaisi continued their close battle, this time with Evelien winning by only 7 seconds.
The Thursday evening was spent enjoying a barbecue provided by The Club, replaying the day’s events and trying to predict the weather for Friday.
Friday started windless and the PRO, John Mitchell-Ross, wisely signaled a postponement. As if by order, the breeze came in at midday and built quickly to a solid 15 kts. A trapezoidal course was set in front of The Club and battle commenced. In the Standards Fergus Allan, Cameron Davis, Abdullah Romeithy, Bjorn Sirum and John Leftwich had some great close racing with plenty of thrills and spills. At close of business Fergus counted three firsts and Cameron three 2nds, both of them electing to retire from race 7 and get a hot shower (it was 20 deg C after all !). In race 6 Peter Tonkin hit his straps and got a third and in the final race Bjorn got his first bullet. Abdullah Romeithy showed consistency and strength throughout the regatta, taking a well-deserved 3rd overall.
In the Radials Nasser al-Omran and Mohammad al-Obaidly traded firsts and seconds with Valerianne Nicolaou also getting a second in race 6
The 4.7’s were dominated in the breeze by Ahmed al-Qubaisi. Evelien swopped 2nds and 3rds with Mohammad al Ali.
At the prize giving the Commodore, Ron Heyselaar thanked all the competitors for making the regatta such a success and the volunteers for making it happen. Thanks also to our sponsors Ali & Sons, to The Club for hosting the regatta and to ULO for running the chandlery shop on Thursday. Look forward to seeing you all next year.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Name | Gender | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| Standard |
|---|
| 1 | Fergus Allan | M | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| 2 | Cameron Davies | M | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 10 |
| 3 | Abdullah Romeithy | M | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
| 4 | Bjorn Sirum | M | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 16 |
| 5 | Mansour Romeithy | M | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 22 |
| 6 | Shoaib Ahmed | M | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 25 |
| 7 | Simon Baker | M | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 32 |
| 8 | Amanda Bennett | F | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 36 |
| 9 | Mike White | M | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 51 |
| Masters |
|---|
| 1 | John Leftwich | M | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Peter Tonkin | M | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Derrick Painter | M | 5 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 21 |
| 4 | Richard Collins | M | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 22 |
| 5 | John Phelps | M | 2 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 24 |
| 6 | Nick Benge | M | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 29 |
| 7 | Sue Peterson | F | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 41 |
| Radial |
|---|
| 1 | Nasser Al-Omran | M | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
| 2 | Mohammed Al-Obaidly | M | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Valerianne Nicolaou | F | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | Corentin | M | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 16 |
| 5 | Matilda Tonkin | F | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| 4.7 |
|---|
| 1 | Ahmed Al-Qubaisi | M | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Evelien Heyselaar | F | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Mohammed Al Ali | M | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| 4 | Mohammed Sliman | M | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| 5 | Camille Croisier | F | 7 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 21 |
| 6 | Sallah Ibrahim | M | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 21 |
| 7 | Abdullah N | M | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 38 |