Team Desert Eagle go top at Dubai Duty Free SB20 World Championships

Gulf Today, Sports Reporter

Race management for the Dubai Duty Free SB20 World Championship successfully completed four races on Wednesday, effectively putting the world championships back on schedule for a full series of races following a one-day delay to the start.

With only five races remaining, the competition is heating up as sailors vie for the top spots in the standings.

The forty-eight teams experienced incredibly volatile conditions, with Race 5 seeing the course shortened on the second lap due to the wind dropping out altogether.

Races 7 and 8 marked a shift as the wind began to stabilise. Consistency and focus among the sailors became crucial factors in climbing up the leaderboard, highlighted by Desert Eagle's move from 5th overall to second place.

Enthusiasm and competitiveness among the teams remained high, with Ian Garretta, skipper of Jeune FFVoile 1, stating, "We had some good races but we did two very bad races. We managed to win the last race, and I think we finished 4th place in the second race of the day, so not very happy but we are still in the match."

Kidzink, which secured the top position on Tuesday, retained its third-place standing on the leaderboard today, with Superbella trailing closely in second.

However, claiming first place today was Desert Eagle, helmed by Hendrik Witzmann. Reflecting on the day's events and the weather conditions, Hendrik remarked, “I have never had conditions like that in Dubai. The challenge we have of not taking too much risk to then suddenly be 30 or 40 which is easily possible. So it was ok for us today. I would say, we are happy.”