Omani Optimist sailors qualify at Mussanah Race Week

by Times News Service on 24 Jan 2015 Six young Omani sailors between the ages of 8-15 have qualified in the top fleet at Oman Sail's Mussanah Race Week 2015 after the first two days of racing were dominated by the world's foremost Optimist sailors. By the end of six races on Thursday, contested by 112 sailors representing 19 countries, the largest Optimist fleet ever to be hosted in Asia outside the official International Optimist Dinghy Association championships, the fleet was divided into a gold and silver fleet with six of Oman's contingent of 39 fledgling sailors flying the Sultanate's flag in the gold fleet and gunning for overall victory.

This year's edition of Mussanah Race Week takes place over seven days and includes both indoor and outdoor activities aimed at equipping the young sailors with valuable team building and communications skills and providing them with quality racing.

Amongst the contestants are sailors from Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Great Britain, Germany, Malaysia, Mozambique, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Singapore and Switzerland.

The young sailors from the Omani National Squad, selected from the Omantel Youth Programme, have demonstrated exceptional performances. Marwan Khalifa Al Jabri, aged 14, was the leading Omani with two top 10 results while Oman's first ever Optimist National Champion Zakariya Suleiman Al Wahabi posted the best result of the week so far with a sixth place on Wednesday.

Top Omani girl sailor Samiha Al Riyami had also qualified and like her teammates will now focus her efforts over the remaining two days on claiming one of five Omani squad places up for grabs for the upcoming GCC Championships.

At the top of the overall leaderboard is Muhammad Fauzi Shah from Malaysia who is dominating the race track with five wins from six races while Singapore's Daniel Ian Toh and Jodie Lai are close behind, all three visitors enjoying the light shifty winds in Mussanah and the superb conditions.

The level of racing has been impressive but everyone, especially the less experienced Omani sailors were benefitting from their participation, said Abdul Aziz Al Shidi, Oman Sail's Youth Pathway Coach. 'The Omani youngsters are improving fast and absorbing the entire experience through their contact with other sailors both on the race track and in the boat park. Everyone is racing at a different level so for Zakariya and Samiha, for example, it is an opportunity for fine tuning and copying specific techniques. Our sailing school sailors on the other hand who have only ever competed in ranking events here in Oman, get to see that the Omani sailors who are leaders in the ranking events are not the leaders in the world because there are sailors here who are much better.'

'They also see sailors of different sizes and nationalities with different habits and customs but understand that they are the same. They are all here to enjoy their shared passion for sailing, share their different points of view and have a good time. So everyone is benefitting irrespective of the level at which they are performing.'

The young sailors, their coaches and parents were clearly relishing the conditions at Mussanah, added Al Shidi. 'The feedback from the sailors and coaches about the facilities and conditions here in Mussanah has been superb. The management of the event both off and on the water as well as the accommodation has been applauded which bodes very well for our chances of hosting big international events such as an IODA championship in the future.'

Racing in the gold and silver fleet continues through until Saturday with a grand prize-giving ceremony set to bring the curtain down on Mussanah race Week 2015 after racing on Saturday.