Alan Skennerton, who has enjoyed success as a rally driver and as a skipper in one of the Gulf's longest offshore yachting races, hopes to take a short course to victory over the weekend in the Maktoum Sailing Trophy.

Skennerton, a former UAE champion and Oman International winner, retired from rallying 10 years ago, swapping the wheel for the helm and is now the proud owner of one of the leading challengers in the new IRC race series entering its third of seven rounds at Jebel Ali Sailing Club today.

Since taking delivery of his 36.7 ft Beneteau yacht last August and naming it Aquamarine Shock Wave, he and his crew have worked hard to keep it on course for a chance of outright success in the Maktoum Sailing Trophy.

After two rounds, they lie fourth and Skennerton believes the three boats ahead, Horizon FCB owned by Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and skippered by Christophe Vanek, David Worrall's Sharazad, and Xclusive with Yousuf Bin Lahej, are all within reach.

"It could be very close all the way to the end of the series unless somebody makes a break and builds up a buffer of points, but that's not likely," said Skennerton. The likelihood is an intriguing tactical battle to the finish in April, a result envisaged by Saeed Hareb, managing director of Dubai International Marine Club, when he had devised the series.

During a skippers' briefing at Jebel Ali Sailing Club last night, regatta chairman Sid Bensalah said expected light winds this weekend may persuade DIMC to interrupt the scheduled programme of six short course races with an offshore event.

Skennerton's priority is to plot a much shorter course to success in this weekend's Jebel Ali Sailing Club series, which is sponsored by Southwest, Van Oord and MMI. Back in action after playing a key role behind the scenes during last week's Dubai Junior Regatta is Yousuf Bin Lahej, sailing coordinater at Dubai International Marine Club, organisers of the Maktoum Sailing Trophy.

"Onshore, we're looking at how we can change the rig to suit the boat and the conditions for each race. Out on the water, initially you're going to make mistakes, but the important thing is learn from those mistakes."

Second-placed skipper David Worrall added: "There's a lot of fine tuning that can be done."