DILWORTH AIMS FOR GRAND FINALE TO MAKTOUM SAILING TROPHY

One of the UAE’s most experienced sailors is hoping a visiting friend from Europe can help him spring a surprise in the final round of the Maktoum Sailing Trophy at the weekend.

Paul Dilworth, skipper of fourth-placed Goodrich Serdal, wants to round off the series by snatching a race win over top two Kristian Tzanov and Christophe Vanek in the Gulf’s most prestigious fleet racing series.

Tzanov’s Pal Zileri-sponsored K1 Offshore Racing Team is poised to succeed Vanek’s Horizon FCB as the Maktoum Trophy champions when the five-race last round unfolds at Dubai International Marine Club on Thursday and Friday. But Dilworth, who has been sailing for almost 40 years, will not be content to play a supporting role, and he is reinforcing his crew with the addition of visiting German friend Jens Eweling, who has some impressive racing credentials.

"Our hope for round four is to simply keep improving," he said. "Beating 'Pal Zileri' and 'Horizon' in at least one of the races would be good for crew morale. Jens was part of the Danish Sailing Team the year they won the 'Admirals Cup' in the UK, and I think he will be greatly interested in the potential here in Dubai."

Dilworth is determined to improve on his sixth place in the recent overnight third round event. "Our performance to date has been as I expected. Goodrich Serdal is a great boat and the crew are slowly becoming more familiar with how to make it work," he said.

"The low point of the night race was watching the crew pull down the headsail which was in tatters having torn itself to pieces on the 'crosstree', and the high point was catching up with the rest of the fleet after the sun came up."

The 2006 Maktoum Sailing Trophy has represented a learning curve for the crew of Get The Mina Effect, who are down in ninth place in the series but remain optimistic.

"Our performance has actually been quite good considering how inex-perienced our crew is." said skipper Thomas Pratt. "We have slowly improved our performance throughout the series. The boat does need some work doing on it before the last round though and considering how well the young crew coped with the strong winds last time, all we can hope for is more strong wind at the weekend.

"Our aim is to get a top five place in one race. I do hope to be competing next year with almost the same crew, but hopefully but I may have a different boat which will probably give us a better fighting chance at getting some good results."

Enthusiasts can follow the Maktoum Sailing Trophy on the official DIMC website at www.dimc-uae.com/sailing/mst. The final round is being supported by the Mina Regatta, a big weekend of family and corporate entertainment at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina.

1. Paul Dilworth hopes for a strong finish to the Maktoum Sailing Trophy in Goodrich Serdal.
2. The series has represented a learning curve for the crew of Get the Mina Effect.

- Tony LEWIS, Narayana Marar, TOTAL Communications DUBAI