The cutting edge of sailing

The haunting silence of the Bladerider - with only the thin carbon foils in the water - is another appealing attribute. There is no noise as it passes, no slap of water on the hull and with the hull flying cleanly up to a metre over the sea's surface, it flies over the sharp chop we often get inshore in the UAE.

So how does the Bladerider sail? "Basically you have to start to learn to sail again," says Richard Palmer, marketing manager for Seaquest Yachts in Dubai and a new Bladerider owner.

"You can't compare it to any other type of dinghy - it is completely different. It's a real athletic work-out too as there is never any let up - you have to be constantly reacting as if you're in a racing environment. It's intense, you're working your body position, mainsheet, trim and foil height just to keep sailing!"

This ‘back-to-basics' was echoed by Ben Graham, who is more used to grinding on Team Aqua's RC44 campaign, but often steals his brother's boat whenever he has the opportunity.

"You have to throw everything you have learned out of the window to get the Bladerider to really fly," Ben explained.

It is so responsive you have to be at one with the wind, anticipating how it will affect your speed. If you get it wrong and don't correct the ride height, that's when you see the spectacular nose dives!"

"It's the ease of the Bladerider that appeals in my opinion," said Chris Graham. "The simple construction means you can go sailing whenever you want; you don't need to organise crew or a launching vehicle.

It just takes 15 minutes to rig, you can launch it single handed. Plus it is perfect for the Gulf as you only need six knots of breeze to be foiling. But it is not a boat for everyone - you have to be physically fit, an experienced dinghy sailor and less than 80 kilos. The Bladerider is all about agility and positioning."

The potential of Dubai, as both a new market and sailing venue, is not one any of the current Dubai Bladerider family are keeping close to their chest. Last year the undisputed Bladerider and Moth world champion, Rohan Veal, came out to foil around The World in just 1hr 29min 37seconds.

This was then followed just before the summer this year with a get-together of six of the world's best Bladerider sailors - they all flew out of DOSC to test the waters ahead of Dubai being awarded the hosting of the 2010 Moth World Championship - credit there goes to Chris and Glenn.

While looking forward to the 2010 World Championship, and building a large UAE contingent to compete in them, Glenn has a slight reservation. "The only problem with it being two years away, is you never know what construction will be built off the coast.

Construction projects could potentially affect courses and venues, and a lot happens in Dubai in two years! We certainly want to keep strong relationships with all the venues in Dubai, particularly the Mina Seyahi Sailing Club and DOSC, as these are the locations we hope to be launching our race campaigns from."

With more boats on the water and a class association in the pipeline, Glenn and Chris have also arranged the first Bladerider regatta - to be held in February, after the Maktoum Sailing Trophy when interest in the sport of sailing should be on a high in the area.

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