Sailors set off on pearl diving voyage
Pearl Diving Families, friends and well-wishers bid farewell to sailors
KUWAIT CITY, July 28: Families, friends and well wishers of the pearl diving teams were at the Kuwait Sea Club Thursday at an official sendoff ceremony as the teams weighed anchor and prepared to sail to Khairan.
The Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al Sabah and Chairman of the Public Authority for Youth and Sports Sheikh Ahmad Mansour Al-Ahmad Al Sabah as well as other state officials were there to see off the diving teams.
The weather on Thursday morning was hot but pleasant and kept the spirits of the sailors and their family members high. The fleet of thirteen boats is heading to Khairan, where they will be anchored till August 1.
The club had an archaic charm as the wooden dhows were brought close to the shore and the supplies of food and drink were loaded onto their decks. Booms and masts breached the quaint horizon lost in a gloom of dust. The hustle bustle of loading and unloading and the milling crewmembers in their white banyans and black shorts transported the beach to the past. It was like a scene at some medieval harbor where mercantile boats had come for trade.
Along with the supplies the trainees also loaded their luggage on the decks. They were excited about the voyage. There was also an 11-member team from Bahrain taking part in the festivities.
Family members and friends of the crewmembers had come to bid farewell to them. Overcome by the pain of separation, mothers smothered their children with kisses and hugs. Some sailors smiled sheepishly discomfited by the emotional outpour. But soon they regained their composure, as if suddenly aware that they were not the namby-pamby mama’s boys anymore, but tough seamen.
Receive
Veteran diver Khalifa Rashid Abu Adnan led a team of divers to receive the Kuwaiti flag from the minister to be hoisted.
Following hoisting of the national flag and the playing of the anthem, the teams lined up to shake hands with the minister and undersecretary, and the other dignitaries present there. They wished them good luck. The skippers then ordered their crewmembers to the boats.
The sails rose up, billowing out in the wind. The dhows set sail disappearing like apparitions into the horizon, as many hands on the shore continued to wave.
The captain of Shoui Gasri Saif, Ganim Husain Al Qallaf was ordering his charges around. Some captains were dressed in dishdasha. Their weather beaten faces testified to the hard work they have exerted in the past many days.
The thirteen boats and the captains going to Khairan include: Boom Gulf Bank captained by Fahad Ahmad AlSaihan, assisted by Nasser Ali AlAsfour; Bateel, captained by Ali Mubarak Al Mubarak, assisted by Mohammad Yousef Burasli; Sanbook Hashab, captained by Ali Abdulrazak AlRoumi, assisted by Mohammad Bassam Bubashit; Shou’I Azraq, captained by Halifa Yousef Burasli, assisted by Faisal Mushari Rashid; Sanbook Kabeer, captained by Fahad Faisal Al Kandari, assisted by Issah Nasser Al Failakawi; Jalbook Kabeer, captained by Saleh Ali Al Abdulhadi, assisted by Ali Nasser AlAbeed; Mashuo, captained by Mishal Ahmad A l Sadoun, assisted by Khaled Sabah Al Khaledi.
The rest are Shou’i Aswad captained by Sa’ad Faisal Al Kandari and assisted by Abdulrahman Al Fadli; Sanbook Shaab captained by Sabah Abdulmahdi Al Shimmari and assisted by Yousef Issah Al Failakawi; Shou’i Gasri Saif captained by Ganim Husain Al Qallaf and assisted by Bader Khaled Al Asfour; Shou’i Dasman Gulf Bank captained by Nafil Adnan Buyabis and assisted by Oman Jassim AlBaghli; Sanbook Messeillah captained by Ahmad Abdulrahim Rajab and assisted by Athbi Khaled BuBashit and Shou’i Dar Salwa captained by Firas Ali Al Hashti and assisted by Ali Aloush Al Kandari.
Hamed AlSayyar, the organizer of the event, told the Arab Times, “Every member of the diving teams is confident of making the journey. They have a good hang of sailing after all the training. They are used to the ways of seafaring by now. I hope this will be an enriching experience for the first timers.”
Al Shuoi Dasma’s skipper, Nafil Buyabis, was busy organizing things for the ceremony. He is a well-heeled sailor, and exudes a spirit that inspires his crewmembers. He is very confident and said he is happy with his crewmembers.
The word Mujaddami loosely means a helper or assistant. But in its real essence the post is more important than what it sounds.
A Mujaddami is the interface between the captain and the crewmembers and has to be a jack of all trades. Sanbook Shaab rocked gently in the water as its captain Ahmed Rajab and crewmembers fed loads of supplies into its belly.