22 Boats Started, they moved the course mainly inside the break wall. The seas outside were 3-6 , but no go. We battled with Wind of Roam with in 5-10 ft for 5 laps at 105mph. It was 4-6 on the out side at the start we raced mainly a protected course.

Team Qatar 1st (Nicolini/Skater Copy) Qatar
Giovanni in a (Hot Boat) 2nd Italy
Al Boom 3rd (Quiver Copy) UAE
Team Abu Dhabi 4th(Quiver Copy) UAE
Pro Marine 5th(DW) USA
Wind of Roam 6th (Hot Boat) Italy
Servenci Fondri 6th (Victory) Italy
King Fisher 7th (DW) UK

ALL MERCURY 2.5 POWERED

No major incidents, very fast and intense racing.
We will be in Dubai all week racing in the finals next Saturday, we are currently in 2nd in the X-Cat world series points out of 25 boats.

Special thanks to GB & PW for this oppurtunity.

Thanks for the report , Ryan , sorry I couldnt make there.
Its too bad you werent in the rough stuff, you guys would have kicked A$$!

Good job guys!

Great job guys ! Good luck next weekend, Go kick azz !!!

Delma Marine sails to victory in UAE Xcat race
By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
Published: April 11, 2009, 22:54


Abu Dhabi: Delma Marine, a Qatari boat, dominated the third round of the UAE Xcat (Class III) Offshore Championship and won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in style. However, Lavida Lucka, an Italian boat, maintained its lead at the top of the standings.

Delma Marine, steered by Khalid Al Shamlan and Mohammad Al Nasr, overcame tough competition in the thrilling race contested by 22 boats. The boats went round Lulu Island, which faces the capital's corniche.

Fazza, steered by seasoned sailors Arif Al Zafein and Nader Bin Hindi, grabbed an early lead and led Lavida Lucka and Delma Marine.

However, the Qatari team edged both rivals in the fourth lap and maintained their lead till the end of the race. Fazza suffered engine trouble in the fifth lap.


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Lavida Lucka came in second, while UAE boat, Delma Marine, finished third. In fourth place was the Abu Dhabi Racing Team which was steered by Ahmad and Rashid Al Hamly.

Lavid Lucka continued to lead the standings of the championship after three rounds with 470 points. It was followed by Qatar's Delma Marine with 390 and the UAE's Delma Marine with 120 points.

Attending the event were Saeed Hareb, chairman of the UAE Marine Sports Federation; Salem Al Rumaithi, director of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC); and Ahmad Ebrahim, supervisor of the race.

The fourth round will be held in Dubai





The old victory boat FAZZA has been running in the top three every race if they could just finish.

Great racing and competition in this series.

Congrats guys....Its great to see Gary and Pat giving some O/B racers a taste of what its like over there....

Awesome!!!

VERY EXCITING RACING!!!!!!!!!

Julie

We should have at least 25 boats it this Saturdays race, the final race of this X-cat series for the year. It was supposed to have been 6 races but they cancelled 2 of the rounds. Things have changed race by race. Now fuel is no longer free, you have to pay insurance at each race, & there is an entry fee at each race. The prize money is still very good compared to the states but it varies at each site. The info that was posted at the beginning of the season is not quite accurate. The racing is the tightest and most competitive that I have EVER done or seen and the boats/propellers are ALL TOTALLY DIFFERENT. We also got the tour of the Victory team shop today which was very cool and saw there Class 1 / FAZZA boat test today....