Saturday, Nov 14, 2009

Gulf News

Dubai Thirty rafts and boats made of recycled materials raced each other in the Festival City marina in the second edition of the event known as ‘Whatever Floats Your Boat' (WFYB) yesterday afternoon.

Rafts and boats fashioned out of plastic bottles and cans and paper took to the water, prominently displaying their names and flags.

The races held in various categories were the culmination of two weeks of intense creative brainstorming for the teams in the competition.

The use of wood was kept to a minimum.

The ‘Deranged boys', ‘Pirates' and ‘Flipper' all took to the water trying to outdo each other.

The two teams from Gulf News, ‘Up the Creek' and ‘Paper Chase', kept up gamely.

Up the Creek was captained by Dawn Montgomery, with Kelly Crane, Felice Marcuccilli and Marclino Fernandes as team members.

Carnival atmosphere

Lena Moosa was captain of the Paper Chase team, with Aya Lowe, Alexandra Westcott and Christopher List as team members.

The entire marina was dressed up for the event with a live band ensuring a carnival atmosphere.

With charity being the driving force behind the event, the proceeds will go to the Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG).

The EMEG plans to use the money from this year's races to help protect the critically endangered Hawksbill turtles whose natural habitats in the Arabian Gulf are disappearing at a rapid rate. The money raised will fund studies into the biology, behaviour and population structure of the species.

Along with generating awareness about the initiative, a donation of Dh10,000 has been provided by each competing company, with every dirham raised going directly to the Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG).

Last year's inaugural event raised a staggering Dh100,000 for a campaign to clean up Dubai Creek and organisers are hopeful of better returns this year.

The event is jointly organised by the InterContinental Dubai Festival City, Festival Centre and IGY Marinas in two categories — Schools Division and Corporate Division, and is open to the public.

Rules

The overall winner of each division was determined by a combination of the following judging criteria (in no particular order): Line Honors- The first raft across the finish line receives the maximum number of points, the 2nd receives less points and so on.

Best Dressed Team - The team deemed by the judges to have the best costumes will receive the maximum number of points.

Most Imaginative Boat Design - not a measure of speed, but of pure imagination.

The WFYB raft that is judged to be the most imaginative will receive the maximum number of points.

Particpating teams were required to follow the raft building rules. Those failing to do so faced disqualification.

Winners:

[copy to come]

Making waves for a cause

Corporate division winners are:

Overall Champions:

n Intercontinental Dubai Festival City. The boat is called Flipper.

First runners-up:

n Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG they are also the beneficiary of this event)

Second runners-up:

n Intercontinental Residence Suites Dubai Festival City.

School division winner:

n American school of Dubai. The team was called Message in a Bottle.

2nd: Emirates International School Jumeirah

3rd: Dubai GEMS school

The overall funds collected in this year's boat race is Dh112,000. The funds goes to EMEG.

— S.M.

Costumes contribute to scoring

The overall winner of each division was determined by a combination of the following judging criteria (in no particular order)

n Line Honours- The first raft across the finish line receives the maximum number of points, the second receives fewer points and so on.

n Best Dressed Team - The team deemed by the judges to have the best costumes will receive the maximum number of points.

n Most Imaginative Boat Design - not a measure of speed, but of pure imagination.

The raft that is judged to be the most imaginative will receive the maximum number of points. Particpating teams were required to follow the raft-building rules. Those failing to do so faced disqualification.

rules

winners

By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2009. All rights reserved.