Omantel Youth Sailing talents gather for Oman Sail Ranking Race event
The intensive two days of racing on Friday and Saturday is designed to test the skills and assess the progress of the sailors, all aged between 10 and 17 years and part of the Omantel-supported Youth Sailing Programme
MUSCAT: Talented young Omani sailors will gather this week at Al Musannah Sailing School for Oman Sail’s third Ranking Race event of 2017.
The intensive two days of racing on Friday and Saturday is designed to test the skills and assess the progress of the sailors, all aged between 10 and 17 years and part of the Omantel-supported Youth Sailing Programme.
Competitors come from all four of the Oman Sail sailing schools — Al Musannah, Sur, Marina Bandar Al Rowdha and Almouj, Muscat — and will be racing in Optimist, Laser 4.7 and windsurfing classes.
“The Ranking Race events al- low us to monitor and measure the development of the skilled sailors in our Youth Programme as part of the on-going project to identify promising Omani sailors with the ability to compete internationally,” said Oman Sail’s Youth Manager Mohsin Al Busaidi.
“It is also a great opportunity for the sailors to test themselves against friends and rivals from all the other sailing schools in a competitive and sportsmanlike environment.”
Among those competing at Al Musannah are five sailors who have been selected to represent Oman at the International Optimist Dinghy Association 2017 Asian and Oceanian Championship, which starts in Hong Kong at the end of the month.
The five — Al Moatasem Al Farsi, Alla Al Omrani, Mohammed Al Qasmi, Mohammed Al Alawi and Samiha Al Riyami — won their place in the team at the Oman National Championships earlier this year.
The Ranking Race event marks their final get together before they head for Hong Kong where they will be racing against 127 other sailors from a range of countries including Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
“The Sultanate team heading to Hong Kong for the Optimist championship event have all come through the Youth Programme and are a great example of what the Oman Sail initiative represents, and everyone in Musannah this week will be wishing them good luck,” said Al Busaidi.
The IODA 2017 Asian and Oceanian Championship in Hong Kong will be held between September 29 and October 7.