Dubai: Adverse wind conditions forced the 27th Al Gaffal 60ft dhow sailing race to be deferred by a day.
The annual race, held over 51 Nautical Miles from Sir Bu Nair and Dubai, was scheduled to be flagged off at 6am on Saturday. The 120 dhows were braced for action at the tip of Sir Bu Nair island on Saturday early morning, but with winds suddenly rising to well above the favourable 15 knots, the organising committee decided to postpone the event.
Led by Race Director Mohammad Abdullah Hareb, CEO of Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), the organising committee met up with some of the dhow skippers on board Al Zabeel to decide on the next course of action.
Some of the skippers said that their boats had been damaged due to the wind squall, and the race committee thought it best to wait and watch while giving the teams a chance to repair their boats.
Earlier, the start of the race was delayed due to strong winds coming in from the land. Saeed Hareb and Mohammad Abdullah Hareb convened a meeting before the scheduled 6am start and decided the boats couldn’t go out due to fear of capsizing in strong winds.
“We will never risk this part in sport. It’s always safety first for us and after considering the conditions it is better we cancel the race for a day and take a call tomorrow morning,” Hareb told Gulf News.
Race Director Mohammad Hareb said that the race committee will monitor the situation on an hourly basis. “The weather forecast is not too promising. So there may be a possible delay in the start on Sunday morning too,” Hareb said.
“We could have gone out midway perhaps to Moon Island and started off from there, like we did a few years back. But then, there have been damages to some of the dhows overnight and it would only be fair to give them a chance to mend and start the race on Sunday,” he added.
The Race Director further relayed that the committee has been closely following forecasts from three different entities, and none of the forecasts have been accurate. “All three entities say that winds will be down between two to five knots, whereas in actuality the winds are much higher than 15 knots. So the only way forward for us is to continue monitoring the weather and then take a decision closer to the start tomorrow morning,” Hareb said.
