L' enfant terrible

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Celebrating five years at Duboats, Christophe Vanek shares his outspoken views on the local sailing scene.

To what extent should yacht brokers, dealers like yourself and event organisers be shaping and pushing the industry?

The future of sailing is in the hands of boat owners, not the dealers. They are the ones spending the money and investing in their boats. That we have some very passionate and competitive owners is great - just look at the sponsors that are now getting involved with sailing because of the passion of the owners.

BMW, Lloyds bank, Mina Seyahi, Carrera, Pal Zileri, Societe Generale, Club Perdomo... and those are just the names that have been on the Beneteaus! Sailors of all yachts are making a huge effort to have a professional attitude towards racing, successfully pushing up the bar of the amateur level.

Do you see as much development coming from boat owners?

Look at Chris Bake and his RC44 campaign with Team Aqua. He went from Dubai and around Europe with Dubai amateurs onboard - and returned after winning! That was probably one of the best advertisements for Dubai there has been in high-profile racing.

Talking of advertising Dubai, the 2008 MST certainly brought in a huge pool of international celebrities...

This year's Maktoum Sailing Trophy built on the support of last year's format to be a great success. It was good to see such a high level of racing, mixing World Champions, America's Cup and Olympic sailors with local amateurs in all divisions.

As I predicted last year, Division 3 is becoming the most competitive class as it is the easiest to enter and the biggest risks can be taken. It is a class that must be promoted as it is often where first-time yacht owners and racers start out.

Is there a large enough pool of eager sailors in the region?

We live in a very small community in Dubai, and the yachting scene even more so.

While there is undoubtedly a great mix of personalities, all the respected sailors in the industry want the same goals: good competitions, well-laid courses, facilities for their sponsors and families, press coverage organised by the event organisers, and to be treated with respect as a competitor.

We now have a good base of experienced race officers who know how to make a great event; the experience of an international jury providing clarification to competitors in the last Maktoum was fantastic.

How do you see the future developing?

Now we have passionate owners who have worked hard to secure high-profile sponsors, we need to secure an exciting and consistent racing calendar for the next season.

This way racers, organisers, sponsors and the press have all got something to write in their calendars and look forward to. We have to keep the momentum up so we have a proper sailing season, not simply one event to the next.

This is where all event organisers need to work together. Our goal is to be working with all the different event, race and club organisers and sailing authorities to help develop sailing and racing at all levels.

We have the trust of our owners and the reputation of the Beneteau brand to bring to any table.

As a professional yourself and used to sailing with the best, what is your take on mixing professional in 'amateur' events?

Professionals are an important inclusion in competitive regattas as they raise the bar and give everyone more drive to raise their game. You cannot deny you would rather racing against a celebrity sailor than simply in your normal fleet. Besides, what can you call an ‘amateur' event?

But what about professional crews arriving to obliterate the opposition and collect all the silverware? Is that fair?

The majority of racing is amateur, but it is amazing to sail with professionals. We have some very successful and talented amateurs in Dubai, but what separates out a professional is their speed of reaction.

Sailing and analysing your sport, day-in and day-out, means that you will automatically react to the smallest change - whereas a good amateur will take slightly longer to register.

If that slight reaction is to every gust you can easily lose a number of boat lengths by the top mark. I always find it amazing to sail with pros - they make everything look simple and smooth.

Do you think pros also encourage people to join the sport?

Like in all sports, young people and those new to the sport should also have personalities and performance boats they dream about racing with. Sailing can be an adrenaline-filled sport - if you want it to be.

Children progressing up from smaller dinghies have to be offered the thrilling side of keelboat sailing, only that will keep their attention.

What are the major challenges for sailing in Dubai as you see it?

We do need more support from the press, especially newspapers and television. Worldwide the mainstream press is taking more of an interest and that is something we need to cultivate in the Middle East.

Watching sailing for spectators has always been the big issue, and this is where the appeal of match racing has grown: all the action happens inshore and on a very small 'pitch'.

But these aren't Dubai specific problems, is everything else progressing well?

Yes, we are happy and it seems the industry is going in the right way, but we need to keep working hand-in-hand with proactive owners to ensure we are all sailing the same course.

Yachting is growing and we must all look to see how to nurture and cultivate the attractive aspects of sailing to encourage more participation and interest.

Mina Seyahi has done a fantastic job by consistently supporting sailing initiatives and has great plans to use its two new Archambault 35s to promote team racing and corporate events.

Any final words?

Thank you to all the boat owners, both Beneteau and others, for trusting Duboats and racing against us. For us all to develop ourselves, the sport and the community we must continue to work together to push the standard of racing and sailing opportunity.

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