News

On a recent trip to Dubai from a chase boat, I watched 80 Dhows race along the coast of Dubai. The race organized by the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club began at the World Islands and finished at the Burj Al Arab. Each Dhow carried between 15 and 20 people aboard. The Dhows are made from teak with carbon fibre spars and masts and are very light. The 60 foot Dhows weigh only 1-3 tons. Water ballast and sand bag ballast are used to ballast the powerful boats. Doyle had sails on two boats in the race. Ahmed Almehairi (#47) used one of our mainsails to achieve an 8th place finish while Mohammed Khalfan (#22) used one of our aft mast sails and finished just under 20th place out of 90. Unlike most sailboat races starts, Dhows wait for a signal before hoisting the huge booms that hold the sails.

Most of the pictures are taken from a chase boat during the race but some are from the practice day on board Mohammed Khalfan's #22.

Coverage of the race by Multimedia - The National Newspaper

Dhow Photo Gallery

Labels: Dhow, One Design

Doyle Spaysail: A combination of a spinnaker and a staysail. Spaysails fly with slight luff projection and are considerably more effective at broader angles than a standard staysail.

Neil Pryde and crew on Hi Fi dominated the Racing Class in the 2009 Singapore Straits Regatta, winning 7 out of 7 races, beating some high performing boats including Quantum Racing. Richard Bouzaid explains, "the new generation of Doyle Downwind sails and Spaysail are giving the boat a big edge downwind." The spaysail was designed by Richard Bouzaid with the assistance Kevin Costin, Hi Fi's tactician.

Neil and Hi Fi also won the Sir Thomas Lipton Perpetual Trophy for the lowest scoring contender of the Perpetual Cup Series. The series consists of the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta, the Phuket King's Cup and the Singapore Straits Regatta.

2009 Singapore Straits Regatta:
Website
Results
Photos

2008 Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta:
Website
Results
Photos

2008 Phuket King's Cup Regatta:
Website
Results
Photos

Labels: Spaysail