Abu Dhabi: Defending EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour (EFG SATT) champions EFG Bank Monaco consolidated their overall lead with victory in the third offshore leg of the Muscat to Dubai race on Tuesday.
The event’s record three-time winners saw off spirited attacks from Al Mouj and Zain to seal victory in the third leg of the race from Khasab to Abu Dhabi.
Al Mouj recorded their second runners-up spot and Zain got their first podium, after two previous fourth-place finishes. This is Bank Monaco’s second triumph in three legs so far, having just missed out to Renaissance in the first leg from Muscat to Sohar, before making up for that, with victory in the second leg from Sohar to Khasab.
“I am really happy to finish this leg in first place,” said Bank Monaco crewmember Haitham Al Wahaibi.
“It was a really difficult leg — we got stuck in a fishing net for around five minutes and we lost a few places but we were able to free the boat and continue the race.
“Al Mouj and Zain were very fast and pushing us all the time so we’re very happy to have been able to beat them in the end. We will see if we can keep it up in the next leg.”
EFG SATT is five-leg 763 nautical mile race from Muscat to Dubai, via Sohar, Khasab, Abu Dhabi and Doha, with three in-port races. It started on February 14 and will end on March 1. Visit sailingarabiathetour.com for more information.
