Dutch student crew show their class with Sailing Arabia victory

Annulled victory from Leg 2 only a temporary setback for Team Delft Challenge

Teams taking part in an in-port race during the Sailing Arabia – The Tour 2014 stop in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Lloyd Images

ABU DHABI // After having their Leg 2 victory annulled by race officials, Team Delft Challenge bounced back on Saturday by winning the Abu Dhabi in-port race of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour 2014.

Team Delft Challenge crossed the line first on the 159-mile Leg 2 from Doha to Abu Dhabi, but their win was cancelled out after a port/starboard incident with EFG Bank (Monaco).

They were back to their winning ways on Saturday, taking first place in both races by Abu Dhabi’s Breakwater, ahead of EFG Bank. Seven teams took part, including Team Abu Dhabi, who joined the Tour specifically for the in-port racing despite not taking part in the tour this year.

Team Delft Challenge are made up of Dutch university students, and they demonstrated their perseverance in the Arabian Gulf’s only long-distance endurance race.

“We were a bit disappointed about the disqualification, but it made us more motivated to win today and it was very important for us to make a good stand,” skipper Koen de Smedt said.

“We had some good starts and had a couple of good shifts, plus EFG Bank overstood the windward mark in the second race which gave us an opportunity to sneak in the inside. That gave us the edge and we had a good downwind leg, too.”

EFG Bank, who are skippered by Sidney Gavignet, experienced a mixed day with one poor start in particular, which saw the team having to round the end of the line after they hit the pin end mark. However, they soon re-engaged with the fleet and managed to score two second places.

Gavignet said: “We had a couple of poor starts including hitting the mark at the pin end, so we had to go round the end. Plus, the Dutch team is very good and sailing well. We managed to regain some speed with good crew work and Damien Iehl in particular made a good call on one of the shift.”

Messe Frankfurt Sailing Team finished in third place in both races.

Leg 3 starts on Sunday at 7am. This leg, which spans from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, is 60 nautical miles, 10 miles shorter than originally planned, with an estimated time of arrival in Dubai is between 6pm and 7pm.