speedboats at Doha

This weekend the Class 1 Powerboats competed in the first race of the season at Doha. Wow, what speed, what power. A member of the Royal Family of Doha, his excellency Sheik Hassan al Thani was the pilot of one of the two Qatar boats entered in the race. The other Doha boat actually won the pole postion for the race, and Sheik Hassan was in third spot. The boats travel around a course which comes into the harbour and back out to sea for 21 laps. (96.5 nautical miles) The boats themselves are about 12-13 m long, weigh about 5 tonnes, and are capable of speeds of over 200km/hr. They are powered by twin engines, either V8s or V12s, and have all the latest technology on board. It's hard to capture on a camera the speed of these things, so I included a video. The quality of the video, taken with a small digital camera, isn't great but it does give a bit of an idea of what we were watching. Carolyn has a press card from the Goderich Signal Star, and it was good enough to get us into the restricted area. She also got a chance to talk to several of the crews, including the Sheik, and has lots to write about for her regular report to the paper. I am on holidays from the College right now and in the coming week we plan a trip to a seaside resort, and a visit to the horse and camel races, with a special trip to the Emir's personal Arabian horse stables. It is never dull here. We are both feeling anxious to get back to Canada however. Only 9 more weeks to go!!