power-full boats

Gisteren weer even op de Corniche uitgewaaid en genoten van het geluid en de snelheid van de boten.
Het blijft een fascinerend gezicht: snelle boten die over het water scheren met op de achtergrond de wolkenkrabbers van de Westbay.

stukje uit de krant:

His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and British throttleman Steve Curtis MBE managed to switch race boats in time to take a sensational second position in Saturday’s Qatar Grand Prix, round one of the 2008 Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, following their dramatic crash in qualifying on Friday.



The UAE’s reigning World Champion Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and team mate Nadir Bin Hendi clinched a start-to-finish win in Victory 1, but Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Matteo Nicolini were an excellent second overall in Qatar 95 until engine problems pushed them down to an eventual fourth place. The excellent result capped a weekend of high drama for the Qatar Team.



“After the dramas we had on Friday, this was a fantastic result for the entire team,” said Sheikh Hassan. “I never in my wildest dreams expected to finish on the podium in this boat, never mind in second position. When we managed to pass Negotiator into fourth that was a bonus and then Jotun stopped and Qatar 95 had a problem with an engine and we were second.



“This boat is, maybe, 10-12 mph slower than our normal boat, but we managed to get into a good rhythm later on and began to set some 1m 40s range lap times. We’ve only given five points away now to Victory at the start of the season and I am confident that we will have our boat back up to full speed in time for the race in Budva in May.”