Muscat: EFG Bank (Monaco) were crowned overall winners of the EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour 2014 — the region’s only long-distance offshore sailing endurance race between Bahrain and Muscat.
A consistent performance throughout the two weeks, including a second place in Monday’s Leg 7, was enough for the EFG Bank (Monaco) team to be crowned overall winners.
The winner of Leg 7, the Tour’s finale, was Kay Heemskerk and his young team of students on Team Delft Challenge - TU Delft.
Overall winner Sidney Gavignet and his professional team on EFG Bank (Monaco) finished the 760-nautical mile Tour with an impressive scoreline of eight wins in a mix of both offshore and in-port races.
The 41-year-old Gavignet — an Olympian and winning Volvo Ocean Race skipper — put together a strong team for the event including leading French sailors Cedric Pouligny and Damien Iehl alongside two of Oman’s best sailors in Ali Al Beloushi and Mohammad Al Mujaini and used the vast experience of his crew to help extend their early lead. EFG Bank (Monaco) finished with a clear six-point margin over Messe Frankfurt Sailing Team skippered by Marcel Herrera.
Gavignet said later: “It is a good job done. I am very happy for the crew and EFG, and for Monaco also because we were flying the Monaco Yacht Club colours. It is a great, great race with fantastic competition. Every leg we were fighting and we only ever won by a close margin.”
The champions were under constant threat from the exceptionally strong youth contingent — the European Messe Frankfurt Sailing Team, and the winners of the final race, Team Delft Challenge - TU Delft.
Twenty-one-year-old Marcel Herrera, Messe Frankfurt Sailing Team’s skipper, was thrilled to have finished second overall. “It is fantastic and a really great result for the team. We were always at the top with anything from a first to a third and had consistent results so I am really proud of the guys because second is fantastic for us,” he said.
