Danish ship wins Sultan Qaboos award
SEVILLE:THE Ministry of Defence, represented by the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) celebrated the handing over of Sultan Qaboos Sailing Award in Seville in the friendly Kingdom of Spain in coincidence with the Sultanate’s celebrations of the 48th glorious National Day.
The ceremony was presided over by Kefayah bint Khamis al Raisiyah, the Sultanate’s accredited Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain.
The 8th edition of the award went to Skonnerten Jylland, a vessel from the Kingdom of Denmark in recognition of the efforts made by the vessel crew to host a number of youths who have been suffering from some social problems. This behaviour had a positive effect on their life. The sailors also trained the youths using some of the sailing boats of their organisation which was established in 1997. The organisation vessel crew captured the award despite the tough competition by the sailing boats organisation from around the world. Niels Christensen, Captain of Skonnerten Jylland, said: “It is a great honour for us to receive the Sultan Qaboos Sailing Award, and I would like to thank His Majesty the Sultan for that. This award means a lot to us, and all the sailors on our ship will be happy with this achievement that we never dreamed of achieving, it will remain a medal on our chests”
Everyone can clearly notice that we offer a multitude of voluntary works on board the Skonnerten Jylland targeting several society sectors particularly young people suffering from social problems. The award will give us further motivation multiply our effort in the future, he added.
The Sultan Qaboos Sailing Award is supervised by the Ministry of Defence in cooperation with the Sail Training International (STI). The award has been launched for the first time in Norway in 2011 in response to royal orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos.
The Sultan Qaboos Award for Sailing is the world’s most prestigious sailing award. It supports sailing training all over the world. It is granted for organisations, individuals and vessels which provide sailing training. It also provides financial support for 100 youths and disabled involved in this sports and who receive training.
The award ceremony was attended by Commodore Salim bin Saif al Mazine, Commander of Sultan Qaboos Military Academy at the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO), a number of RNO officers, STI Chairman and a number of sailing professionals.
The award ceremony was held at the conclusion of the annual sailing conference organised by STI from November 28 to December 2 in Seville.
About 290 sailors and sailing training professionals, in addition to a number of sailing officials in the Kingdom of Spain participated in the conference.
The Sultan Qaboos Award for Sailing is the world’s most prestigious sailing award. It also symbolises Oman’s maritime glory. It is aimed at supporting sail training particularly for youth and people with special needs as well as fostering love and friendship among the crews of the ships participating in the tall ship races.