Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing Race (60ft) - Heat 1 (Delayed)

The registration closes today for the first round of the 60ft Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing Race which is organized by the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) tomorrow (Saturday).

DIMC has notified all the boat owners and racers about the registration procedure including the race instruction earlier this week wherein the club will receive until today. The race tomorrow will be the opening rounds for the 60ft category wherein it includes 4 rounds this season.

 This season’s the 60ft celebrates its 30^th after its launching year, three decades ago during the third edition of the Al Gaffal Long Distance Race (from Sir Bu Na’air to Dubai Coast) on May 1993.

Mohammed Harib , CEO of DIMC said that the 60ft Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing Race is one of the most important event organized by the club, since its rooted in the heart of their forefathers and pass down to generations wherein the family gathers together in one unique event, that revives the past culture in pearl diving.

He stated that the 60ft Dhow Sailing Race were launched in 1993 as an implementation of the vision of the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum in which that time the club organized the first race for  60ft Dhow Sailing with the participation of 16 boats racing alongside with the 43ft Dhow Boats on the third edition of the Al Gaffal Race.

Hareb added that, “The idea of holding the joint race came during that period in order to test the endurance of the boats participating in long-distance race towards the sea waves and winds offshore. The decision came to adopt the 60ft Dhow Boats only for Al Gaffal Races starting on its 4^th edition in 1994.

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Boat no. 36 Mansour was hailed as the first winner of the 60ft Category during the third Al Gaffal Race in 1993.

199

In the previous season 2021-2022 the boat no. 199 Hasheem took the season title led by Hassan Abdullah Muhammad Al Marzouqi who by then won as well the 31^st edition of the Al Gaffal Long Distance Race.   

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Dubai International Marine Club will be organizing 4 rounds of the 60ft Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing race this sports season 2022-2023 wherein the first round will be held tomorrow (Saturday), the second round scheduled on the 4th of December, the third one in the middle of next January, while the fourth & final round will be on next May for the 32nd edition of the Al Gaffal Race. 

Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing Race (60ft) Schedule : 

• First Race: Saturday 15 October 2022
• Second Race: Sunday 04 December 2022
• Third Race: Sunday 15 January 2023
• Fourth Race: 20 or 27 May 2023 (Al Gaffal Race)

Dubai beaches will witness this afternoon a big heritage event for the launching of the 60ft Dhow Sailing Race organized by Dubai International Marine Club as part of the marine sports season 2022-2023. 

Today's race is important for the boat owner and sailors as it is the first out of 4 rounds throughout this season which started off last September and will continue until May the next year. 

It is expected that today's race would be exciting as more than 80 boats will line up to compete for the title in the first round of the race, which marks the start of the season for this category.  

The crew of boat no. 96 Al Shaqi,  owned by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, and led by the skipper Khalaf Butti Musabeh Al Ghasheesh Al Marri, was crowned the champion of the Dubai Traditional Dhow Sailing Race (60ft) which was held last Saturday in the shores of Dubai.