Friday morning has seen a dramatic escalation in conflict in the Red Sea with the United States and the United Kingdom launching joint strikes on multiple targets in Yemen that they say are controlled by Houthi rebels.
With the Persian Gulf tittering on an escalation of the Hamas/Israel war after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels drone and missiles attackes on shipping in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, it seems incongrous that the SailGP League will hold their first Grand Prix – the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix – off Abu Dahbi this weekend.
But SailGP expect ten national F50 multihull teams, including British and American teams, to go ‘head-to-head for glory in front of packed crowds’, ignoring the emergency security meetings taking place in London and Washington.
SailGP Grand Prix previously ran an event in December off Dubai without incident, and the America’s Cup preliminary regatta recently took place off Jeddah, they obviously feel that they have a grip on the situation.
That being the case . . . following practice on Friday the racing will start Saturday 13 January, with the first three fleet races kicking off at 10:00 hrs UK time, before continuing on Sunday 14 January with two more fleet races and the all-important, three-boat Final.
