Dubai: The temperamental Gulf winds chose to smile on Dubai Offshore Sailing Club's J/22 fleet yesterday.
It may have had something to do with the combined positive thinking of the nine skippers whose races were cut short during the first of the three-part Middle East J/22 Championship in February after they were becalmed.
"I put in a load of wind generators in over there," joked Marius Vygantas, of event sponsor Gulf Wind gesturing to the white-flecked horizon from the support boat.
And he may not have been joking. The last time the fleet of J/22s hoisted sail in readiness for a race, they ended up sitting for an hour-and-a-half on a glassy sea off Dubai Offshore Sailing Club (DOSC) hoping for a breeze.
On that occasion, and despite the poor conditions, skipper Rod Miller in Basilico managed to bag the most points before proceedings were abandoned, making him the man to beat yesterday.
But no one else was quite up to the challenge and Miller emerged the victor for second time while Catch 22 and skipper Mike Cross came second in both races. Mystique and John Morgan took the third in the first race and Elaion and David Jones pipped them to third in the second race.
Overall Miller and his team are the runaway leaders, while Cross is runner up, Jones is in third and Morgan fourth.
Miller must now defend his two-out-of-two record at the third and final running of the Middle East J/22 Championships at the on April 14, when the fleet will be racing around The World development off the coast of Dubai.
Steven Kelly, DOSC manager said: "This event is a first as a regional event. At DOSC we have a strong fleet of ten boats."
The J/22 fleet at DOSC is the only active one-design fleet in the UAE, meaning that all the boats are designed to the same specifications. In those circumstances, winning or losing comes down to the skill of the crew on the boat, rather than who has the fastest design.
