Katie, Intisar Al Tobi (L) and Raya Al Habsi (R)
Today was another beautiful and warm day in Bahrain. We worked on electronics, performance numbers and then took the girls out sailing. We have six Omani women that we are training, although there will be four of them on the boat racing at one time. That means that there are two who will rotate in and out, and essentially be our back-up team – needing to be ready at a moment’s notice. So today, we rotated in: Epitsam and Asraar. That also meant shifting our regular crew into different positions, to give them practice in other places. Some rust showed through today – but it was light – some things going awry, such as a line being lead incorrectly or a bad gybe of the spinnaker didn’t do untoward damage. However, should we have been racing, the consequences could have been worse. Sailing in light air means inches count. Too much movement can disrupt and kill precious boat speed, and undoing problems sometimes requires movement…
But at the end of the day, the girls learned a lot, and we continued to move forward in preparing for the race. Better yet for me – I am for the most part over the food poisoning, and my appetite returned far quicker than my stomach was able, but that is something I can deal with!
~Katie
