It was only the second time that a foreign crew participated inthe most prestigious race in the Arabic Gulf, The Gaffal Dhow. It is also the biggest race in the world with over 100 boats of 60‘.
The name Gaffal means the return as it commemorates the end of the pearl diving season when this activity was the main economic activity of the Gulf area. Over 100 wooden traditional sailing Dhow participated, lead by the most preeminent UAE families. The win the Gaffal is like to win an Olympic medal for them.
We have been invited by the Al Tayer family which are our close friends that we follow for the past 6 years to all the previous Gaffal races. Our Dhow was skippered by Pierre Eric Lys and I was one of the 17 crew members. We did pretty well as we were leading the race for the first 4 hours and we passed the first mark at mid race on 4thposition. Then experience spoke a little bit more and 17 boats overtook us and we finished in 21st place which is very good for a first time. – Anarchist Xavier.
