Saturday 20th May was the date where it would be decided which school in Qatar is the best sailing school for 2017.
The teams were all selected from the students who sail with the Regatta Sailing Academy throughout the season so for the 28 sailors selected to represent their schools, simply getting this far is a fantastic achievement on its own.
The six teams were all comprised of one laser sailor, two sailors in a Pico and one sailor in a Tera. The format for the event was three races, with no discards. So the sailors were under incredible pressure to perform in every race, in every fleet.
The light and unstable wind made the first race a very difficult affair for the competitors with positions changing on every leg and mark rounding with some pre-event favorites showing well to only then suffer badly in the later stages of the race.
After the first race defending champions Compass International were joint points with under dog team, Doha home educators with the young pretenders American Community school close behind in third.
The wind backed and stabilized for the start of race 2 allowing the sailors to have a more even race course. Again, with such an even mixture of talent throughout the fleet position changes were often and important as every position and point was clearly going to count with the fleet so tightly packed.
After race two Compass International had pulled ahead by one single point from Doha home educators. A great race for the American community school saw them close the gap on second place.
With the entire event resting on the last race the wind did its best to make things more difficult for the fleet by weakening and becoming very patchy. With a two lap race for the laser fleet and a single lap dash for the Picos and Teras, it wouldn’t be long until the Inter schools champions 2017 were decided.
Following the final race the fleet made its way back to the beach base of Regatta Sailing Academy in Katara, Doha. With no teams clear on final positions the entire fleet were on tender hooks listening to the final results and prize giving.
With Mike Lawton, GM of Regatta and Gwen Newnham of Trinity Talent Qatar awarding the prizes the final placing’s were as follows. In joint 5th place, with 45 points each were the joint team of International school of London, Qatar / Cardiff International and Sherborne Qatar. In 4th place with 33 points was a joint team of Doha College and Doha English Speaking school. In third place with 28 points was the team from the American Community school. In joint first place, both with 19 points was the two teams of Compass International and Doha Home educators, with the winner by tie break being Doha Home educators.
The event, which was a culmination of over years of work for most of these students who have learnt how to sail with the academy and then persevered and learnt and practiced their skills, was a fantastic afternoon of racing with parents and supporters lining the shore line to support the event and their sailors.
We would like to thank Trinity Talent Qatar who are a sponsor and long term friend of the Academy for their generous support and help as well as all the schools who are involved with us.