Matt Britton's PRIVATEER Wins Big on Arabian Gulf
(Dubai, United Arab Emirates/ Muscat- Dec 6th)- While the boys playing in the America's Cup sandbox continue throwing exploding bricks at one another, the real sailors that use real gear to sail real sailboats (like J's) were having a great time taking in the best that the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman have to offer-- interesting vistas, gorgeous water, spectacular sunset and sunrise and often times a beautiful breeze.Matt Britton and his merry bandits from the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club walked away (some say stole) the overall Division 2 prize in the 360 nautical mile Dubai to Muscat Offshore Race. Sailing PRIVATEER, "the old bird of the J/92 fleet i.e. Hull # 2", as Matt describes her, they set out for Muscat from the Dubai Offshore sailing club on the 26th of November. Basically, you start in Dubai (part of the United Arab Emirates) and sail down the Arabian Gulf, turn right around the cape that forms the infamous 25 mile wide Straits of Hormuz (between Iran and the Emirates) and head down through the Gulf of Oman to Muscat.
Matt's account of their race was quite amusing: "The start was not exactly what you would call text book and being the smallest boat in class we watched the fleet disappearing over the horizon on the first night. Fickle winds and lots of sail changes lead us up to the straits of Hormus and we were pleased to hear our main rivals rush Knot checking in with the Oman coast guard as we went for “The Gap” meaning we were still in touch. The usual course of the race is to round the top and reach or run the remaining 200 miles. Not this year ! We stayed close hauled most of the way choosing to stay offshore and declining the invitation of potential land breezes. This proved to be the decisive in staying with the breeze. Despite sitting outside Muscat for a frustrating seven hours we pulled into Marina Bander Rowda in Muscat not only IRC Handicap winners for division 2 but first over the water in our division-- a fleet that included a Seaquest 32, Beanteau 36.7 and a Fast 42. We also managed 4th place overall in IRC. A Big "Thanks" to the crew Who included Matt Britton (owner and Skipper), Ryan (sundowner) Bray, Caroline (pooh sticks) Lassen , Teagan (Pasty) Rowlands and Josie (on Deck) Walsh."