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.
- During training, the Omani girls were drilled on what it would be like to fall into the water in foul-weather gear. Tahira (Behind), Khalood, Intesar and Raiya had to swim around a finger dock to boat, so we could evaluate their swimming skills.
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!
- Although not visible in the photo, we had a person in the water with them, and I
was standing by with the horseshoe. They had full pants and long-sleeve shirts on underneath the foul-weather gear, but they took headscarves off under the hood.
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
