Dubai Boating Festival is a sail-away success
26 Oct 2008The inaugural Dubai Boating Festival, which took place on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th October at Festival Marina, Dubai Festival Centre attracted huge crowds eager to watch and take part in an action-packed schedule of nautical activities including the emirate’s first ever ‘bottle boat race’.
Organised by Island Global Yachting, in association with Festival Centre and the Intercontinental Dubai Festival City, the Dubai Boating Festival was a celebration of Dubai’s strong maritime heritage with demonstrations in dragon boat racing and fire-fighting vessel displays.
Visitors keen to experience the high life had the chance to take a bungee jump from a crane positioned over the marina or board one of the many luxury yachts on display for sale and charter.
On Friday the festival hosted the second annual Floating Wheelchair Race which took place in Festival Centre’s Canal, which was raising awareness for children with special needs.
12 teams took part in the ‘Whatever floats your boat’ bottle boat race, with team Dnata taking the coveted first place, following three qualifying heats. The boats, hand built by the individual teams, took on a variety of shapes and sizes all with the main objective to remain afloat! Cheered on by the crowds lining the walkway of Festival Marina the race was held to raise awareness of the importance of recycling waste material, in particular plastic bottles. A total of AED 100,000 was raised which was donated to the Emirates Environmental Group.
Phil Blake, Marina Manager at Festival Marina, who came up with the concept of the festival spoke of its success:
“In a country which boasts such a fabulous coastline and such a rich maritime history it struck us that we should be celebrating this and encouraging people who may not have visited the marina to come down and join in the fun.
“We are delighted with the turnout over the two days and thank all those who took part. We hope that this will become an annual event and put Dubai on the map with the international boating community. Festival Marina proved the perfect location for such an event with its proximity to the Creek and the amenities of Dubai Festival City.”
