Coronavirus in the UAE: Some information on this website is out of date as a result of measures taken in the UAE to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Confirm with official or authoritative sources.

Ras Al Khaimah Sailing Association RAKSA

The Ras Al Khaimah Sailing Club, or RAK Sailing Association (RAKSA) is a small yachting club with a clubhouse and beach near the RAK Hilton Beach Resort in the Al Mairid (Ma'areed) area of Ras Al Khaima. One of the last bastions of the old school UAE expat communities.

07 June 2011 - The RAK Sailing Club will be demolished to make room for a new property development. But a new one will be built 500m down the road with a donation of AED 1 million from Sheikh Faisal Bin Saqr, Chairman of the RAK Finance Department and the RAK Free Trade Zone according to a report in The National. Timeframe of reconstruction / relocation not available yet.

• Sailing club has a small harbour area (or "Khor") with collection of sailing dinghies. There's also a dhow building yard in the same area.
• Clubhouse hosts pub quizzes and other social events for expats in RAK
• Founded in 1977 (or thereabouts)?
• Boating facilities include boat ramp, boatyard, storage shed, workshop, club sailboats (Lasers, Optimists, and Wayfarers), and rescue boat
• No berthing facilities (it really is quite a small club - think of a small hut on the beach rather than the Cannes Marina on the French Riveria)
• Club facilities include BBQ area, outdoor entertainment area, beach shelters, changing rooms and showers, bar and lounge area (rustic rather than sophisticated)
• Private beach is calm and safe for swimming (mind the the jellyfish in summer)
• The clubhouse hosts some exotic wildlife - a previous commodore, Reg Furlong, was bitten by a poisonous snake (a saw-scaled viper reportedly) in September 2008 that resulted in a hospital stay (for the commodore, not the snake).
• Commodore is Daniel Zeytoun Millie (September 2010 information).
• Club might be moving at some point in 2010 ... 2011 ... 20?? if/when new road in the area gets built.

RAKSA contact details

• Clubhouse tel +971-7-2237376, email raksa.sailing@gmail.com.

La Hoya Bay Yacht Club and Marina

• La Hoya Bay is a new development on the Marjan Islands in Ras Al Khaimah which includes a yacht club (completion perhaps by 2011?).

America's Cup Ras Al Khaimah

The America's Cup yacht race was planned for Ras Al Khaimah in February 2010 (announced August 2009). But not hosted by RAKSA, instead a new island was being constructed in the Al Hamra Lagoon with facilities suited to the international event. However, reminding sailing fans around the world that the America's Cup is a court battle, not a yacht race, the event was taken away from RAK after Team Oracle complained about the location and took the matter to court.

• In October 2009, Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court upheld the rules that say the America's Cup must be held in the Southern Hemisphere if the date is between November and May.
• So the 33rd America's Cup was held in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain. Which isn't in the Southern Hemisphere the last time we looked at a map but there was another bit of fine print somewhere that said Valencia could be temporarily moved to below the equator. Or below the poop deck. Or something.

Last update Thursday 14-Jul-2011

---

www.dubaifaqs.com/rak-sailing-club.php (PDF and print version).

Abu Dhabi AUH ABD ADB, Ajman AJM, Al Ain AAN, Dubai DXB, Fujairah FUJ, Ras Al Khaimah RAK, Sharjah SHJ, Umm Al Quwain UAQ

DubaiFAQs UAE information guide. Copyright © 2004-2024 www.dubaifaqs.com, Dubai, UAE - United Arab Emirates | blog | Facebook | Twitter |