INSIDE THE UIM • Stuart Croxford, UIM Ambassador for Equality & inclusivity • UIM Environmental Award & Special Mentions: Last chance to enter the green competition! UIM RACING • F1 WC, The best is yet to come • XCAT Final Rounds • Aquabike WC closing round in Sharjah 19-20 dec • Out & About
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NEWSLETTER • INSIDE THE UIM • Stuart Croxford, UIM Ambassador • for Equality & inclusivity • UIM Environmental Award • & Special Mentions: Last chance • to enter the green competition! • UIM RACING • F1 WC, The best is yet to come • X CAT Final Rounds • Aquabike WC closing round • in Sharjah 19-20 dec • Out & About UIM NEWS UIM Newsletter December 2015 UIM Equality Committee ‘The race for inclusivity through diversity’ UIM - 1, avenue des Castelans - Stade Louis II - MC 98000 Monaco - Tél. +377 92 05 25 22 - www.uimpowerboating.com Stuart, tell us a bit about yourself I’m a Captain in the British Army. As an Infantry officer I have served on combat operations in both Iraq (2008) and Afghanistan (2010, 2012). I was injured in 2012 while serving in Afghanistan where a Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded under my armoured vehi- cle. I spent the next 9 months in a wheelchair while recovering from injuries to both of my feet. Unfortu- nately in Oct 2014 I had my right leg amputated due to complications in my recovery. After 3 years in the UK Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre I’m looking to change career paths to a management job in the construction industry. I’ve always been an adrenaline seeker in team and individual sport throughout my life and see it as a key part to my rehabilitation as having these per- sonal goals throughout has created some amazing opportunities to make sure my injury never defines me as a person. Could you tell us about the missions/activities of the Team Endeavour racing? Team Endeavour Racing aims to ins- pire, challenge and Develop both injured servicemen and military veterans using powerboat racing as a vehicle to empower and mentor personal and professional skills in order to allow a smoother and rewarding transition into future em- ployment and civilian life. By taking this mission statement we can open STUART CROXFORD UIM Ambassador for Equality and Inclusivity The 88th UIM General Assembly has been the occasion to get to know Stuart Croxford, manager and UIM P750 racer’s for Team Endeavour; specia- lised in rehabilitation of Veterans using P750. Focus on the newly appointed UIM Ambassador for Equality and inclusivity.
Transcript
NEW
SLETTER
• INSIDE THE UIM
• Stuart Croxford, UIM Ambassador• for Equality & inclusivity
• UIM Environmental Award• & Special Mentions: Last chance• to enter the green competition!
• UIM RACING
• F1 WC, The best is yet to come
• XCAT Final Rounds
• Aquabike WC closing round• in Sharjah 19-20 dec
• Out & About
UIM NEWS
UIM NewsletterDecember 2015
UIM Equality Committee‘The race for inclusivity through diversity’
UIM - 1, avenue des Castelans - Stade Louis II - MC 98000 Monaco - Tél. +377 92 05 25 22 - www.uimpowerboating.com
Stuart, tell usa bit about yourself I’m a Captain in the British Army. Asan Infantry officer I have served oncombat operations in both Iraq(2008) and Afghanistan (2010,2012). I was injured in 2012 whileserving in Afghanistan where aImprovised Explosive Device (IED)exploded under my armoured vehi-cle. I spent the next 9 months in awheelchair while recovering frominjuries to both of my feet. Unfortu-nately in Oct 2014 I had my right legamputated due to complications inmy recovery. After 3 years in the UKDefence Medical RehabilitationCentre I’m looking to change careerpaths to a management job in theconstruction industry. I’ve alwaysbeen an adrenaline seeker in team
and individual sport throughout mylife and see it as a key part to myrehabilitation as having these per-sonal goals throughout has createdsome amazing opportunities tomake sure my injury never definesme as a person.
Could you tell us about themissions/activities of the TeamEndeavour racing?Team Endeavour Racing aims to ins-pire, challenge and Develop bothinjured servicemen and militaryveterans using powerboat racing asa vehicle to empower and mentorpersonal and professional skills inorder to allow a smoother andrewarding transition into future em-ployment and civilian life. By takingthis mission statement we can open
STUART CROXFORD
UIM Ambassador for Equality and Inclusivity
The 88th UIM General Assembly has been theoccasion to get to know Stuart Croxford, managerand UIM P750 racer’s for Team Endeavour; specia-lised in rehabilitation of Veterans using P750.
Focus on the newly appointed UIM Ambassador forEquality and inclusivity.
up opportunities into entry level power boat racing withminimal experience and knowledge to create a suppor-tive and challenging experience to support transition.
Why did you chose Powerboat racing ?How did you get into it?I got into powerboating after first being injury in 2012when I managed to start walking again. I’d previouslyseen a photo of the P750 racing when serving in theArmy and always wanted to give it a go. I saw this as anopportunity to get back into competitive sport postinjury. We started Team Endeavour Racing into thissport due to the great accessibility for novice racers andthe friendly and supportive community from the racersto officials to help support our racers.
How does it make you feel when you are onboard? What does it mean for you?Racing onboard the boats throughout the season is afantastic experience. Post injury you go through aperiod of not knowing or doubting what you’ll be ableto achieve after your rehabilitation. To be able to havethe opportunity to compete at a competitive level postinjury in the P750 series which offers full inclusivity forracers with both physical and mental injuries is ama-zing. A lot of sports require you to have your injuryclassified and to compete at a separate level away frommain stream events. Getting in the boat on thestart line when the flag goes down sees thelimitations of my physical injury disappear andallows me to compete on a level playing fieldwith all other competitors.
What message would you give to injuredservicemen and military veterans aboutpowerboating as a sport?Powerboating through Team Endeavour Racinghas been a great opportunity for a number ofinjured servicemen and veterans during 2015.Finding a sport that provides equality regardless ofinjury in a supportive community is key to helping
with transition post injury. Empowerment through sportis a key rehabilitation tool to build confidence,understand limitations of injury and change percep-tions and understanding in the wider community. Wehope that this concept of equality and inclusivity canbe supported and mirrored in other series and sports topositively support people coming back from lifechanging injuries.
UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
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WHAT ARE THE UIM ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD & SPECIAL MENTIONS?This award recognizes outstanding environmental leaders, whether indivi-duals or organizations, that have excelled in inspiration, vision, innovation,leadership and initiatives to the benefit of the Environment.
WHO CAN ENTER? UIM Member Federations, racing teams, boat builders, engine manufacturers,universities, research centers, scientists, Non-Governmental Organizations(NGO’s), event organizers, companies and individuals are all eligible for the2014 UIM Environmental Award and Special Mentions.The Awards can be won through positive and proven actions and effortsfavoring the protection of the environment which result in a reduction of theenvironmental footprint in all types of motorboating activities.
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF THE RECOGNITION? The 2015 UIM Environmental Award Winner and the Special Mentions will beannounced early February through a press release presenting the company/organisation and the winning projects. The winners of the 2015 Environmental Award and Special Mentions will beinvited to attend the 2016 UIM Awards Giving Gala and will be presented witha personalized trophy in presence of 450 international guests. The winners will also be offered the opportunity topresent their projects at the UIM Gala pressconference, attended by international pressrepresentatives, televisions, photographers and theUIM TV Production.
HOW TO ENTER ?Simply complete the Entry Form for the 2015Environmental Award incl. terms and conditions forapplication available on the UIM [email protected] and return it no laterthan 20th December 2015.
UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2014
UIM - 1, avenue des Castelans - Stade Louis II - MC 98000 Monaco - Tél. +377 92 05 25 22 - www.uimpowerboating.com
We at the UIM, make it a pointof honor to raise environmentalperformance of powerboating andmake our sport a vector of environ-mental protection and sustainabledevelopment. We will continue topromote the optimal use ofresources and materials, efficientlogistics and transport, continuedreduction of polluting, discharges towater and emissions to air. The Environmental Award is thereflection of the values we hold. Forthis reason we continue encoura-ging all our stakeholders to show-case their most original initiativesand their most successful innova-tions in terms of sustainableeco-friendly technologies. I believe that together, we can takeup these challenges. Together, wecan ensure a bright future for ourSports.
Raffaele Chiulli
Encouraged by the success of past editions, the UIM is proud to launchthe 2015 UIM Environmental Award and Special Mentions.
The 2015 UIM Environmental Award andSpecial Mentions brochure
If you want to be part of the UIM “Green” adventure orsimply learn more about the UIM Environmental Award &Special Mentions, do not miss the 2015 EnvironmentalAward brochure. Main infos, conditions of eligibility,former winner’s projects, Sponsor opportunities…everything is included in the brochure.
You can read it on the UIM website or directly log in here http://www.uimpowerboating.com/files/6814/4077/6486/The_2015_UIM_Environmental_Awards_and_Special_Mentions.pdf
For more info please contact UIMTel: +377 92 05 25 22Email : [email protected]
As expected all eyes will be finely focusedon a four driver battle for the covetedhonor of being named UIM F1 H2O WorldChampion with the start of back to backGrand Prix's heading to the Emirates high-lighted by first on the calendar at the al-ways challenging Grand Prix of AbuDhabi on the 10th and 11th of December.With forty points still up for grabs in thechampionship season, most experts be-lieve that French pilot Philippe Chiappe ofthe CTIC China Team, who is the defen-ding race winner and World Championfrom a year ago, is the strong odds on fa-vorite to once again take the title with acomfortable 16 point margin 55-39 overAmerican driver Shaun Torrente of theVictory Team.But here is where the drama comes in:Young second year racer Erik Stark who'svast racing resume includes a plethora ofworld titles, including four F2 champions-hips, is arriving hoping to "spoil the party"on the "status quo" in the run for the title,coming off two months of rehabilitationfollowing a massive qualifying crash inLiuzhou, China back in early October. Thedriver with the hometown Emirates Teamhas really put on a show in 2015, runninghis boat on the raged edge most of theyear and earning podiums in each of thetwo races he's finished this season. Is heready to come back and "spoil the party" inAbu Dhabi? "Yes, it's been the longest twomonths of my life as my left hand has hea-led remarkably quickly," stated Erik. "I'vebeen doing a lot of rehab training every-day to get my strength and movementback as much as possible in my fingers." "Ithink my strength is maybe 60% while themovement is around almost 80% and myplan is to win my first F1 race in Abu Dhabisince I've come close twice with a pair of
second place finishes in the last two sea-sons."Erik will be in the Emirates for threeweeks before the Abu Dhabi event and runa preliminary event to judge his handstrength before tackling a true full GrandPrix event.As for the driver from Rouen, Chiappe hashad a strong second half of the year win-ning back to back events in Porto, Portu-gal and again in Liuzhou, China rocketingto first in the points chase heading intoAbu Dhabi. The race will mark his 13thevent there in his 13th season as an F1pilot. Philippe, has started 12 previousevents in Abu Dhabi since joining the cir-cuit back in 2002 and last year marked hisfirst ever pole position of his career in AbuDhabi. He's hoping for a repeat to lock upthe championship with a repeat victory thistime around.Meanwhile, for the Florida driver Torrente,he had been the points leader in thechampionship for most of the year, despitebeing forced to change teams after hislong time racing organization the QatarTeam disbanded in early April. This leftShaun without a ride until he approachedthe very successful racing group fromDubai who have been known chiefly fortheir offshore success rather than in F1.Shaun, since hisopening season winin Doha, has strug-gled with an olderboat hull he has usedfinishing fourth, fifthand eighth in his lastthree events.Torrente knows he'sgoing to have towin in Abu Dhabi tohave even the sligh-test chance of win-ning his first worldtitle after finishingsecond and third in
the championship the last two years.Not far behind the Miami driver,in third, is Kuwaiti star Youssef
Al Rubayan of the GC F1 Atlan-tic Team who has a strong and
steady season, winning for the firsttime in Evian, France in early sum-
mer and who is coming off a fourthplace finish in China more than a
month ago to keep his hopes alive forhis dreams of capturing his first crown.
This years event will mark Youssef's fifthstart in Abu Dhabi and he has had littlesuccess thus far looking for his first top-five finish but knows he also has to win tohave any chance for the crown.Right behind Youssef is Swedish veteranJonas Andersson with 29 points and fourthin the title chase and also dreaming ofwinning his first title as he enjoys his 10thseason of F1 racing. The driver from Fruvi,has a second place finish in Evian after justmissing the podium at the opening roundin Doha back in March. He'll need a littlemore than a lot of luck as he races at a cir-cuit that isn't his favorite with only one po-dium and crashing out or havingmechanical problems in half of his startsalong the corniche.So, Erik Stark, the 28 year-old driver fromStockholm, in his second season and whosits in fifth place in the championship with27 points, is going to do his best to "upsetthe apple cart" as he chases fame and gloryalong the corniche in the center city of oneof the worlds most exciting cities AbuDhabi, on the 10th and 11th of Decemberat the sixth and final round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship series.Let's see if the newly named "ScandinavianShark" can take a bite out of the title chasefrom his fifth place position in the driverschampionship.This story believe me is just one of themany sidebar stories at this years 2015Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.
F1 World Championship,the best is yet to come…
UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
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Boat TotalPos No Driver Nat Points
1 1 CHIAPPE Philippe FRA 552 4 TORRENTE Shaun QAT 393 9 AL RUBAYAN Youssef UAE 364 14 ANDERSSON Jonas SWE 295 51 STARK Erik SWE 276 5 AL QEMZI Thani UAE 207 6 CARELLA Alex ITA 198 12 ROMS Filip FIN 199 11 SELIO Sami FIN 1910 50 STROMOY Marit NOR 13
China GP Liuzhou Podium1-Philippe Chiappe 2-Thani Al Qamzi 3-Sami SelioThani Al Qamzie, Team Abu Dhabi, Liuzhou GP
Sami Selio of Finland of Mad Croc Baba Racing Teamat UIM F1 H2O Powerboat Grand Prix of China
Philippe ChiappeLiuzhou GP Winner
The fifth round of the UIM XCAT Po-werboat Word Series held on 19-21November saw the introduction of thenew Mercury Racing four-stroke en-gines which were officially launched inthe USA early november. The UAE’sonly female XCAT driver Fatima AlZaabi and Italy’s Gianpaolo Montavociwere testing the environmentallyfriendly engines in the #NewBoss boatto give the Dubai crowd a sneak peak ofwhat’s to come when the XCAT Seriesmake the switch to the new enginesnext year.In the meantime, UIM XCAT Dubai GPwas packed with elation and despairwith the Italian team, Videx, eventuallyemerging as the race winners onSaturday.Joakim Kumlin and Alfredo Amato out-lasted a field that diminished at a rapidrate as half of the 14 teams didn’t makeit to the finish line thanks to the mas-sive waves and rough conditions.Fellow Italian team T-Bone Station(Giovanni Carpitella and Luca Fendi) fi-
nished second with Team Abu Dhabi(Rashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Man-soori) overcoming initial problems and
overtaking a heartbroken Swecat team(Erik Stark and Mikael Bengtsson), whobroke down on the final lap, for thirdspot.Overall Series leaders and defendingchampions XDubai, who started therace in Pole Position, succumbed to agear casing fault in the sixth lap of therace, meaning they could not continue.
Not only did that mean disappointmentfor Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendiin front of a home crowd, but also thatthe Series were remaining up for grabswith the final race of the season in AbuDhabi. Team Abu Dhabi were just onepoint behind XDubai going into thatrace.Meanwhile, Saturday’s race in Dubaialso saw the Six team of Tomaso Polliand Matteo Nicolini taking an under-water dive while leading the race on lapnine but still managing to keep the en-gines running and making it to the pe-nultimate lap.That meant they still could have clai-med 12 all-important championshippoints, which kept them in third spotoverall. Had they avoided the dip andheld their lead to win the race, the Ita-lians would now have been leading theSeries heading into the final race.But the day belonged to Videx in theend and Kumlin was thrilled with thevictory. “It was a really tough race. We
started very well from the beginningand then Fazza had a problem, AbuDhabi had a problem and we just kepton going,” explained Kumlin.“After they dived we had a chance totake boat Six and we were leading therace right after that.”It was far from smooth sailing fromthere, however, as the Videx boat’s en-gine cowling came loose in the closinglaps. Had that come off and the enginetaken in water, it could have spelled theend of their chase for the race win – thefirst for an Italian team in two and a halfyears of XCAT racing.T-Bone Station’s Fendi was equallythrilled with second spot after a hair-raising start to the race.“These were theworst possible conditions for our boatbut Giovanni is so good at managingthis.”
X Dubai power to Abu Dhabi GP win forfourth XCAT title The XDubai team of Nadir bin Hendiand Arif Al Zaffain wrapped up the2015 UIM XCAT World Series with amasterclass in powerboat racing,leading the Abu Dhabi GP from start tofinish to take the overall title for thefourth consecutive season. Heading into the sixth and final race of
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UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
Fifth round of the UIM XCAT World series Dubaï GP
Al Zaffain & Bin Hendi 2015 champions
Podium Dubai GP
Dubai GP Six
the year, and starting in third positionafter a number of problems in Pole Po-sition, Bin Hendi had admitted to a fewbutterflies, with the Abu Dhabi team ofRashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansoorijust five points behind them in the ove-rall standings. But the massively experienced defen-ding Series champions mastered therough conditions on the start lap toreach the first buoy, and the safety ofthe flat water, in first position. The T-Bone Station team of GiovanniCarpitella and Darren Nicholson, whostarted in second spot, had come closeto challenging them when taking a tightline into the first turn, but could just notedge ahead and stayed in second spotfor the remainder of the race. -Al Zaffain explained there were a fewnervous moments in the boat when hethought they were experiencing gearproblems at the start. “At the start we saw the Abu DhabiTeam doing a big jump and we didn’twant to do the same so I put my fingeron the right engine trim,” he said. “But then we pushed again and it was
good to finish the race without anyproblems,” he added. Bin Hendi said there was much elationin the boat once they crossed the finish
and the successful defence of their titlewas secured. “It was a feeling we can’t express. Wescreamed in the cockpit very loudly. Wewere so hungry for it. Thank God wegot it,” he said. Meanwhile, Carpitella explained that heknew beforehand the start would bevital. “We had to do everything we couldat the start because the rest of the racewas flat and weknew we couldn’twin it in thoseconditions,” hesaid. “Once we rea-ched the flat waterthe race was overand then it wasn’tworth it to take anyrisks so we just
aimed to keep our position in second.” As for just missing out on an overallSeries podium spot (they would haveclaimed third had they won Saturday’srace but eventually finished in fourthplace) the Italian was not particularlyconcerned. “I was just racing to win this race andwasn’t really thinking about third placein the Championship,” he said. XDubai’s closest challenger in theSeries, Abu Dhabi Team, whose onlyrace win of the season came in theopening round in Fujairah, eventuallyfinished in third place in Saturday’s raceand settled for second spot overall inthe Series. The Italian duo of Tomaso Polli andMatteo Nicolini in Six held on to third
spot overall in the Series despite adisappointing 12th place finish onSaturday after losing power in one ofthe engines. Mathematically the paircould still have claimed top spot in thechampionship but it was not their day. The Dubai team of Salem Al Adidi andEisa Al Ali, who started in Pole Positionin Saturday’s race, had a horrible startand were well back by the first turn butmanaged to recover to finish in thirdspot. XCAT racing will take a short break nowas the 2016 season kicks off in Marchwith some exciting new venues on thecards. The official 2016 calendar will beannounced in the coming weeks.
UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
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Boat TotalPos No Driver Points
1 3 FAZZA-XDUBAI 1802 5 ABU DHABI TEAM 1663 6 HOORSENBUHS-SIX 1264 10 T-BONE STATION 1225 2 SWECAT RACING 1016 7 DUBAI 92
Dubai GP - Abu Dhabi Team
Dubai GP winner Videx
T-Bone Abu Dhabi GP 1st turn
Pole Position - XDubai
DDF Speed Cat Run - semifinal
Rok versus Nac for FreestyleWorld Title In the extraordinary inside out upsidedown topsy-turvy aerial world of Free-style the world title will be won by a‘Florjancic’. The question as to whichone, will be answered in the much an-ticipated season showdown in Sharjahin December [19/20] between brothersRok and Nac. After three events inQatar, Italy and China just six points se-parates them, Rok moving to the top ofthe standings after Liuzhou and aftertrailing his younger brother all season.The two brothers from Maribor in Slo-venia have made the sport of Freestyletheir own inter-family battle field andhave dominated the sport since theirUIM-ABP championship debut in Chinain 2011, Rok winning both heats to takethe GP title, Nac finishing second twiceto take the runner-up slot.China signalled the start of an incredi-ble run by Rok going unbeaten in 24
heats to claim 12 consecutive GrandPrix titles, winning the World Cham-pionship in 2013 and 2014. His absencefrom the final round in 2012 opened thedoor for Nac to go on and claim his firstworld title. But the momentum changedthis year and after finishing second inheats to his brother 19 times, takingcountless second step podium slots andjust one GP title, Nac hit a purple patchwinning both titles in Qatar and Italy.The title will stay in the Florjancic trophyroom but whose name will be on it thisyear will be decided in Sharjah.
Can Emma-Nellie hang on towin world title or will Jennifersteal it Out of all the titles that are up for grabsin the final Grand Prix of the year in Shar-jah on 19-20 December, the closest isbeing fought out in Ski Ladies.Just three points separates Sweden’sEmma-Nellie Ortendahl and France’s de-fending world champion Jennifer Menard.Both have claimed a Grand Prix win this
year, Ortendahl has one race win, Menardthree and seems to have the momentumafter the last round in China and goinginto the decider.If the 17-year-old from Alvangen is tobecome the youngest champion she isgoing to have to show the same steelydetermination and fierce competitive spi-rit that handed her first race win and mai-den GP title in very tough conditions inItaly, after taking third overall in the sea-son-opener in Qatar.In China she was clearly still feeling theeffects of a protracted summer illness,her points lead eaten into after two thirdplace finishes.Menard on the other hand is now fully fitafter an operation to fix and ankle injurythat plagued her mid-season and sho-wed she was back to her very best lasttime out winning twice. But should the27-year-old fail at the final hurdle she willrue the DNF in Qatar in race 2, breakingdown on the penultimate lap whilst lea-ding easily and after winning the opener.What both Ortendahl and Menard need tobe wary of are the three behind them, Es-telle Poret, Beatriz Curtinhal and JonnaBorgstrom, who could well play a part inthe title outcome if they can take pointsaway from either of them.
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UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
UIM - ABP AQUABIKE CLASS PRO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPCLOSING ROUND19 - 20 DEC GRAND PRIX OF SHARJAH
Rok and Nac
Emma Nellie Jennifer Menard
UIM NEWS DECEMBER 2015
UIM - 1, avenue des Castelans - Stade Louis II - MC 98000 Monaco - Tél. +377 92 05 25 22 - www.uimpowerboating.com
