The Oman flag will fly for the first time at the Formula 18 Catamaran World Championships when a young two-man Omani team proudly take on the world’s best in Long Beach, California next week.
Helmsman Musab Al Hadi, 23, from Muscat, and crew Ahmed Al Balushi, 19, from Sohar, will be up against a star studded fleet of 120 entries from 11 countries and five continents at the Global Tech 2012 Formula 18 World Championships hosted at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club from 10 – 15 September.
“The Worlds will be our toughest event so far. Our goal is to finish in the top 25% of the fleet but we will do our best to better this. We are happy to have finished in the top 10 of all the regattas we’ve competed in so far this year and we want to finish the 2012 racing season on a real high,” said Musab Al Hadi.
But the Oman Sail team who have only been racing together for 18 months are well aware of the steep learning curve the Worlds present given the formidable line up of professional sailors, including defending champion Darren Bundock, Olympic medalists, America’s Cup and world champions.
“It’s the best gathering of F18 talent you could wish for. Coen De Konning, Mischa Heemskerk, Olivier Backes, Gunnar Larson, Carolijin Brouwer … to name a few! There are a load of teams who could win. It is wide open. We are just happy to be here and veryproud to be representing our country,” said Al Hadi.
The team together with Oman Sail national catamaran coach Paul Wakelin arrived in Long Beach last week Thursday to allow time to acclimatize, rig, set up and brand their charter boat and try out the local sailing conditions.
“Sailing a new boat could be an issue but this Nacra Infusion is great, especially with its new Oman Sail Graphics, it looks stunning. With our previous tried and tested settings it’s already going fast. We managed 5th overall in local club racing over the weekend but are confident we can still get a little more speed out of it,” said Ahmed Al Balushi.
He said Long Beach’s sailing conditions are some of the best they haveexperienced with steady south westerly sea breezes.
The team’s pre-Worlds daily routine includes gym from 7am, boat work ashore, briefing, sailing and flexibility and recovery exercises with lots of stretching, eating and sleeping. It is their first visit to the USA and say everyone is “super friendly and welcoming”.
A day off on Tuesday gavethem a chance to go sightseeing in Los Angeles.
The sailors are also on a healthy-eating, weight -gain programme as they still about eight kilograms underweight for the F18 class following the fasting of Ramadam.
“Coach's pasta and salmon is our favourite and Ahmed cooks great shrimps! We're not going to be able to make massive weight gains though. Being light we are fast downwind but just lack a little power upwind as it gets windier,” said Al Hadi.
Coach Paul Wakelin said he hoped the Omani team would come away from the Worlds knowing that whatever they achieved was a result of hard work and their best effort. It was important that they fully enjoy the process and learn from it.
Registration, boat measurement and inspection start Friday 7 September. There is a practice race on Monday 10 September. Racing starts Tuesday through to Saturday with a maximum of 15 races scheduled.
