Aqua-fine

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As an amateur, Ben (standing, back to audience), earned his place onboard during the Jumeirah Regatta and has since toured Europe with the team. (Photography: RC44 Association)

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This is not a sport for the weary, hiking hard being the name of the game. (Photography: RC44 Association).

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Smooth carbon finish of the removeable stern (luckily removeable after Team Aqua was rammed by a V130 during the Maktoum Sailing Trophy!). (Photography: RC44 Association)

Over the last six months, Boat Owner has carried quite a large amount of coverage on the successes of the Dubai-based Team Aqua, the international yacht racing team competing in the RC44 one design World Championship Tour. The team was formed through the months of January and February earlier this year and since then has gone from strength to strength during the season's European regattas. Coming out strongly from the first race, they are currently keeping their first overall lead in the debut season of the RC44 Championship Tour standings, with Russell Coutts' Team Omega trailing by six points. With just one more European regatta to go in Trieste, Team Aqua stand a great chance of rounding off an excellent first season in the class with an overall win if they can keep their form through Italy to the home turf final in Dubai. Not bad for a team that merely set out to dip their toe in and test the waters at the beginning of this season!

Team Aqua was the brainchild of Dubai-based businessman and DOSC sailor Chris Bake. According to Chris "When I first saw pictures of Russell competing the RC 44 in Dubai last year, I almost immediately decided that I would love to get the boat." That was the inaugural RC44 match race at the Dubai International Boat Show 2006, when Coutts won over Jes Gram-Hansen. Following a couple of test regattas sailing with Russell Coutts, Chris was well and truly hooked, ecstatic when he took delivery of one of the first boats from the builder, Pauger Carbon in Hungary, when it arrived in Dubai in mid-December last year.

America's Cup (K-Challenge and Team New Zealand) helm and match race veteran Cameron Appleton, came aboard as team tactician and to manage Chris' program at about the same time as the boat arrived. After two weeks of training and crew selections (which included competing in both the Jumeirah Regatta and the Maktoum Sailing Trophy) the team was settled on and the boat was shipped back to Europe ready for the start of the season that they are currently leading.

The RC44 is a low displacement, high performance, 13.35 metre (44 foot) one design yacht class that is attracting some of the top sailors from around the globe to compete in its seasonal championship. Many of the same world-class sailors will be coming to Dubai for the RC44 Gold Cup (effectively the World Championship for the RC44 class) in December. Some of these sailors will also stick around for the Maktoum Sailing Trophy in late February, which will be followed in Abu Dhabi by the season opening regatta during March. From there the boats will restart the tour circle by returning to Europe.

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