It is Friday October 26, 30 Celsius and the afternoon sea breeze of 12 knots starts to kick in as clock work … it must be around 3PM!
The usual fleet of RS 400, RS 100, Kestrels, Lasers and Optimists are all heading out for the weekly club races. Around 20 to 30 boats compete every week, almost every Friday except during the height of summer when 50 Celsius makes rigging and sailing a very hot affair.
The Abu Dhabi Sailing Club (ADSC), established in 1962, is one of the sailing clubs in the UAE where sailors from all nationalities enjoy the crystal clear warm blue waters for most of the year. Weekly club races and the seasonal (October to April) national regatta series keep all of us busy enjoying the pleasure of dinghy sailing.
Dubai Offshore Sailing Club and the Emirates Sailing School are other very active sailing clubs with the team and match racing topping the usual regatta format. Trophies are heavily contested and every effort is used to win them back if lost to another sailing club. Add some big events like the Volvo Ocean Race stop-over in Abu Dhabi earlier this year and sailing in the UAE is a very pleasant pastime indeed.
