The morning is here – its the final leg for Sailing Arabia The Tour. Today the third place finish is up for grabs between us and the TU Delft Dutch Team. A better spirited kind group of wonderful young men I have never met. Whoever prevails, its been an honor and a pleasure sharing this tour with them and sailing against them. The tour has been quite a journey. We have seen the pro-team EFG Bank find their footing early on, and dominate the race as expected, and as I have previously mentioned our team’s results already achieving the goals I had personally set for this event. Today we will be match racing against Delft, but our maneuvers and nuanced trimming simply are not equal to theirs, as we have four very new sailors who still are learning the roll tacking and gybing.
Headed into Mussanah
Yesterday was Leg 6B ~ of what ended up being a two-part leg from Dibba to Mussanah. The wind was forecast to be a light sea breeze, but then to die all night, making arrival to Mussanah impossible on the timeline we needed for todays start. The amended plan was then to race the afternoon through the parked ships outside the Strait of Hormuz, and make our way down the rumbline until 6 pm. Then motor all night and reach Mussanah. After a quick rest, we then would have a day race. Which we did. Unfortunately, during the amending on the water, the race committee unfortunately transposed a number on the way point of the first afternoon finish – although at the finish it affected no one because it was clearly stated again and again over the radio that we were to finish leaving the committee boat to port. We all did.
Khaloud steering into Mussanah
It was a line up going in. Messr Frankfurt, led by skipper Marcel Herrera and navigator Cory Rousselle caught the mistake on the paper, and instead of going straight headed up after finishing. Since we were on his tail, literally, we thought it was to avoid us. Well, although they weren’t prejudiced by the paper mistake, their plan was to protest the committee and get everyone thrown out – which is what happened. It doesn’t change their position overall but it did knock us to fourth place. And left bad tastes for many in the fleet. We and Delft had asked about the protest flag enroute to Mussanah – unaware of the technical mistake on the amendment, and they denied that it was about anything.
Inport racing: The afternoon race found the Delft team loosely match racing us, going into their epic high mode off the start line and getting a small jump on us. This pretty much stayed the positioning through the race, and they finished ahead of us. We looked for opportunities to take a passing lane to attack, but when the wind shifted far right we had a parade into the finish line again, and it was pretty much done. The Omani women were still happy to beat their brother boat, Team Renaissance, and are very happy with what they have achieved.
Raham enjoying the ride!
What’s next? Our two Oman Sail instructors, Huda and Khuloud, will continue to teach sailing to guests and kids, although I believe they will remain available to race on occasion. Huda really showed promise as a trimmer, and I told her yesterday how pleased I was with her progress, and hoped she would continue. Ibtisam will continue to race on the team, and will continue to take on a boat captain role. Raaja- who was not with us and was to have skippered the team – apparently will come back to the program to do more sailing. Raham, from the Oman Navy, will go back to her duties in the Navy but will occasionally race with the team. Raja, who missed SATT because of emergency surgery on her wisdom teeth, will also continue racing. Oman Sail has plans to reach out and develop talent in young women, and try to identify those in athletic programs already to see if they will give sailboat racing a try. Their commitment to the program, and their efforts are extraordinary and are such a gift to the region. It is an honor to be a part of it and see their work. Small steps, but incredible opportunities here.
After the finish and today’s prize giving, there will be a dinner with the event sponsor at Muscat’s Opera House. I hope to be able to thank him personally for his vision and support. It will be a nice way to end this year’s Sailing Arabia The Tour.
Leg 7 Results ~ TU Delft Dutch Team raced ahead, for an exciting first place finish! This victory resulted in an overall third place for them, and put the Omani Women’s Team into fourth place for SATT 2014. Read more about Leg 7.
What an amazing journey! More to come.
