Dibba, Oman: Dutch Student Team Delft Challenge-TU Delft pulled off a stunning victory in today’s leg of the Gulf region’s only long distance offshore sailing race, finishing over an hour ahead of the nearest rival.
The leg, which takes in some of the most scenic backdrops on the Tour, should have been plain sailing for the leading three teams.
All the boats competing in EFG Bank Sailing Arabia – The Tour are Farr 30 one designs, identical boats of identical speed and under normal circumstances in an offshore leg the boats are separated by minutes, if not seconds.
However on the sixth leg of the event from Zighy Bay to Mussanah Marina, the leading boat, TU Delft, arrived one hour and 12 minutes ahead of her rivals.
After taking the risky tactics of splitting from the rest of the fleet and heading inshore in the early hours of this morning, the Dutch student team led by Kay Heemskerk had extended away at one point by more than 10 miles – impressive on a leg that ended up being less than 60 miles from start to finish, after it was shortened.
The result leaves TU Delft solidly in fourth place overall, while Bertrand Pace’s team on AISM continues to lead albeit with only a 4.25 point advantage over second-placed BAE Systems going into today’s final sprint leg of EFG Bank Sailing Arabia – The Tour, from Mussanah Marina back to The Wave, Muscat.
the peninsula
