Hello from Doha!

Leg 1- a question of sail choice  

Well – it was a nice day of sailing from Bahrain to Qatar in the end. The day started quite early with an estimated 7:30 am start off the dock. The wind was forecast to be 25 knots from northwest and then drop throughout the day and go right. It did abate – but it didn’t go right as we thought. I am going to try my friend Jon Bilger’s site, PredictWind, tonight for tomorrow’s leg to Abu Dhabi.

The race started with a short upwind,then to a tight reach (where one had to decide between a fractional spinnaker and staying with a jib), then bearing away to a spinnaker to head across qatar and down the side to Doha. Unfortunately it turns out the fleet has been given different shaped fractional spinnakers- there are two types: a reaching flat one and a fatter, bigger one for downwind. We were given the latter which means it was not the good sail for that leg and explained why some got a jump out. There is no changing them (had I known I might have been able to ‘borrow’ one from one of the myriad good Farr 30 teams in U.S.). But you sail with whatcha got so it will be what it will be.

Ouch! First race lesson learned  

The Omani girls were naturally excited and nervous. Apparently so much so that Intesar did not bring her waterproof team issued jacket. That is akin to going hunting without bullets; running without shoes, or hockey without helmet and pads…I gave her a load of sh@$#t and then gave her mine to wear, put a jacket she borrowed off one of the non-sailors to try to protect too much water going down my neck. I thought my shoulders were going to bust that little purple jacket wide open- like the hulk. So if you see pictures of me wearing a purple jacket at the start- that is why! Some thought to let her learn her lesson and get wet, but the fact is if she’d got wet that early, she would become chilled and not very functional and then we would have a person down to manage instead of a crew member. I knew I was tough enough to handle being wet and I had a spare thermal top to change into if needed. Needless to say, I think the lesson was learned.

The Finish

We finished around ten at night, but the fleet had to wait for everyone to make the long motor in with escort vessels. The skyline was amazing- reminded me like Vegas! It took about an hour to get docked, then clear customs. Afterward the teams took buses Andre descended upon the hotel. Needless to say bed wasn’t achieved until after 1:30 am… Phew.

We finished fifth- middle of fleet within striking distance of 2-4 boats. Maybe one or two missed opportunities for a pass but otherwise we were all bunched pretty close. We were encouraged by our speed but it definitely highlighted areas to work on- one being communication. This is always ripe for improvement in any organization, but with a team of five nationalities it definitely is a top priority…

Day 2- racing in the harbor

Today was boat work and a short, for-fun race in the harbor. We treat these as opportunities to bring the reserves on and continue their training. It all is pretty loose so low stress. We took media onboard, furthering the global outreach of the story of the Omani women. Down at the harbor we saw men and women alike in full Arabic dress – covered and head dresses to boot, taking pictures of us and marveling at the women’s team. The message continues to be a fantastic one.

Good news is that the temperature had taken a noticeable turn for the warmer. We have entered med-Iike temperatures! Beautiful.

Tomorrow – the LONGEST leg- 296km dodging oil platforms!

Tomorrow takes us to Abu Dhabi- the longest leg I believe. There will be many oil platforms and various other obstructions to watch out for  as well as scoring gates where we could be finished if the wind dies. Interestingly I was told tonight that the organizers have set it up where they could stop a leg anytime, have all the boats then continue to motor on, then do a restart at any point if the wind picks up! I don’t know how that will work but it will be intriguing to see how that plays out.

Tomorrow off the dock at 9:30 am. Wish us luck!

Sent from my iPhone

Catching Althuraya @BankMuscat_oman in Qatar’s water #sailingarabia twitter.com/OmanSail/statu…

— Oman Sail (@OmanSail) February 13, 2012

Hello!

You all probably saw the press release by the race officials regarding the delay of our start. The wind was definitely in to the 30+ knot range. There were white caps in the protected bays by the hotel and apartments- no small feat! Today was the grand opening and we were very lucky to have royalty come for the opening- Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (born June 30, 1975) is the second son of the present King of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah and his first wife, Queen Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa. (I uploaded a video of his arrival to youtube). He has a white head dress with a complicated folding at the back off it. Very handsome man… It was a well attended opening, with the CEO David Graham speaking about the race and its importance in the region. Each skipper also spoke briefly about their team and their thoughts about the race. Dee Caffari, our skipper, warned the mens’ teams to watch out- the women were coming after them. Our esteemed guest had a good laugh about that and later told Dee to go get ’em.

There is a Saudi Arabian team here competing, largely made up of ex-pats. And of course, their skipper couldn’t help himself -speaking after Dee- that their intention was to beat the women. (!) Really? Did you have to go and actually SAY it? Crikey… If that’s how its going to be played- GAME ON.

The rest of the day was spent by the teams taking care of little boat jobs, looking at weather, team briefings and packing. Tonight we will make the food for tomorrow’s journey, have one last look at the weather and then go to bed. Currently, it is forecast for 20 knots from the northwest and it will slowly drop throughout the day. The trip from Manama, Bahrain to Doha, Qatar should be around 11 hours. We were warned about a huge fire in the sky by a large natural gas plant as we get closer to Doha, i.e. don’t be alarmed. Because we will be arriving late in the evening, the in-port race will be short. Incidentally, we were also told that the in-port races did not count for points, that they were about taking esteemed guests out – so a pro am race which helps garner excitement and interest in this event. I believe at one of the UAE stops we will be taking out the first arab woman to climb everest, which will be quite cool.

On another topic- I was having a look at international news and I found a piece that clarified why I was held up in Bahrain customs seemingly over the fact that I was an American lawyer…

2 American women arrested during protest in Bahrain

By the CNN Wire Staff
February 12, 2012
The two American women, Ms. Arraf and Ms. Sainath, had entered on tourist visas and attended illegal protests. “The advocacy group Witness Bahrain said both Arraf and Sainath are human rights lawyers. They were in the Middle Eastern country as part of an effort to have more civilians from different nations on the ground to monitor the situation.”…

Hmmmm- well I believe they were able to look up the sailors and find out that I in fact was going sailing and not going to be getting involved in the political goings-ons and so I was able to go through. I did have a moment though, where I thought “Huh- what if they won’t let me enter? That will really be a bummer. More the point- I can’t believe that I will have to fly all that way back after just getting hear!” It was an eye-opener, however, as were all the police check points we had to go through to get to the hotel. And no- they weren’t DUI stops! This a dry country….

It will be a very early morning. Up at 5:30, to the boat by 6 am and off the dock by 7 am. Currently the plan is to start by 8 am. Wish us luck!

From the Detroit Free Press, my hometown newspaper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you think of the Straits of Hormuz, you may have a picture of Iranian torpedo boats buzzing like horseflies around huge American warships, or tankers steaming to and from oil ports in one of the busiest waterways in the world.

So what’s a woman from Port Huron doing in the middle of all that on a 30-foot sailboat?

If you’re Katie Pettibone you’re racing with an all-female crew in the second annual Sail Arabia, a 900-mile race along the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula from Bahrain to Muscat.  Continue reading…

Hello!

The start of the Sailing Arabia race has been postponed by one day due to weather. It was forecast to be 28 knots with sizable waves. Fun for downwind run, but very on the edge for these boats. Carnage would have been certain and with the night factor (ie honing downwind in the dark) the risk ratcheted up quite a bit. There is the added factor that this a traveling event so support gear is very limited. They don’t have machines available to fix the sails that would break, enough rope to replace halyards, nor are there enough spares for broken rigging. Today was a taste of the weather at 25+ knots and big waves. There was some damage that will keep the shore crew busy tonight!  One boat broke it’s spinnaker while another broke a D2 (which is a piece of metal rigging that helps stabilize and hold mast up) I think delaying was a very smart decision and I applaud the organizers for it.

We will have good wind on Monday and it will be daylight which makes things that little bit more easy as well. Crash gybing and losing someone over the side of the boat in the dark is a nightmare to deal with.  We went for a sail- smashing around in the waves. It was really good to take our race and reserve Omani girls out as we never have had them out in that much breeze or waves. The Tour isn’t normally like that but it is good for them to experience how difficult it is to move around a wet, bucking bronco. The octaves of the voices indicated the surprise but then they seemed to get a little bit more used to it. It isn’t easy when the boat is heeled over on it’s ear!

One interesting note- I arrived very very late because of the disaster started by United Airlines. When I finally got here to Bahrain it was 2 am. Every country is different so after hunting arou d a bit and watchibg others, I figured out where to find landing cards to fill out. One of the sections asks for occupation, of which I wrote “lawyer”. Figured it was easier to understand than lobbyist… Nevermind that I am coming in to sail or am leaving by boat so I don’t have a return ticket- the thing that bothered customs was that I was a lawyer! I had to write and swear I wasn’t going to be working as one here. Now it should be remembered that Bahrain did have some activity from the Arab spring and apparently there is still some activity. I am guessing there may be concern that an American lawyer was going to get involved in that? After I finally got through customs I headed to the hotel. Sadly my roomates locked me out and so it took awhile to rouse them to let me in… A wee bit tired today! Can’t say I am sorry to have one more day to catch up on sleep, which I am going to do now…

Tomorrow- more tweaking of boat, route checking and team briefing.

Till then”
Katie