Cries of joy and enthusiasm filled the sails of 60 students who attended the first day of a week-long Try Sailing programme. Sponsored by Renaissance Services, 30 students from Al Zahra School and another 30 from Rashid bin Nadhar School attended.
Teaching 60 students each day from Saturday 30th October to Wednesday 3rd November, the aim is to teach a total of 300 students from various school how to sail in one week. This initiative comes hand-in-hand with Oman Sail’s 5-year plan in teaching 30,000 young Omanis how to sail by 2015. The first Sailing School, at Marina Bander Al Rowdha, has been operating for over a year and has so far taught over 1,500 Omanis of varying ages to sail a boat and enjoy the open water. 12 Omani internationally qualified instructors are now passing on their knowledge in training young children, out of which six have recently completed their ISAF Senior Instructors' course, the most recognized of it’s kind around the world.
"It's all about giving the kids a chance to sail and to bring Oman Sail close to the future generations and to the communities." says Captain Saleh al Jabri, Chief Instructor of Oman Sail. “One of the main messages of Oman Sail is to assure the continuity of the sailing legacy in the Sultanate. Teaching both boys and girls to sail and compete side by side is a great opportunity for these children to build their team work and decision making skills which plays a crucial role in building their confidence level and develop their personalities and character. We would like to thank all the schools who have cooperated with us in sending their students and especially thank Renaissance Services for sponsoring this great initiative and continued support to spread the awareness of sailing and empowering the young Omani generation." Saleh added.
Apart from the first Sailing School in Marina Bandar al Rowdha, Oman Sail is creating a platform for professional Omani instructors to spread their knowledge and experience and inspire the youth. The second Sailing School will come in the new sports city at Musannah after the Asian Beach Games and will be closely followed by a purpose built facility in The Wave, Muscat. Soon after a centre will open in Sur with locations being sourced in Sohar, Salalah and Khasab over the next few years. In line with the long term vision of Oman Sail, all these centres will run and managed by Omani staff, a target already reached in the Sailing School in Marina Bander Al Rowdha.
