As the Sailing Arabia – the Tour fleet set sail from Doha in Qatar on the 15 February, a different type of sailing was taking place just meters away, where four of Oman’s dinghy teams went head-to-head at the Sail Qatar International Regatta. For two these sailors, the event was their debut in an international sailing event.
The teams competed in the double-handed Hobie-16 catamaran over three days (12-15 February) and Qatar threw some extremely challenging conditions at the teams – with over 25 knots of wind to contend with over the first two days, compared to a more subdued 15 knots over the final two.
11 races were sailed over the course of the regatta, and it come down to the final race for the winner to emerge. It was a nail biting finish for the top ranked pairings of Musab Al-Hadi/Ahmed Al-Balushia and Akram Al-Wahaibi/Abrulrahman Al-Mashari, who went into the final race on joint points at the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately for Akrim and his crew, they were too keen off the mark, crossing the start line before the start gun, resulting in a penalty turn. Their error paved the way for Musab and Ahmed to sail to overall victory, leaving Akrim and Abrulrahman in a very close second.
Sail Qatar forms a crucial part of the national teams training for the forthcoming Asian Sailing Championships, one of the key events on their 2012 calendar, which takes place in Langkawi, Malaysia from the 19-25 February. The team’s coach, Paul Wakelin commented:
“Sail Qatar was a great opportunity for the teams to get in some competitive sailing before the Asian Sailing Championships. It is a good warm-up event for them and will start to get them thinking about what they need to do to excel in Malaysia.
“They really pushed each other at sail Qatar and that was reflected in their performances. We are expecting some strong performances at the Asian Sailing Championships.”
The event also saw the international debut of two of Oman’s youth sailors, Nasser Al-Ruzeiqi and Mohammed Al-Wahaibi, who had the opportunity to learn from a more experienced fleet. Due to the challenging wind conditions, the pair teamed-up with more experienced members of the fleet; Nasser Al-Ruzeiqi sailed with Suleiman Al-Wahaibi, while Nasser Al-Ruzeiqi paired up with Ahmed Al-Hassani. Despite not sailing during the first two days of the event due to the strong winds, the final day provided a great chance for the teams to get out on the water, and test themselves against their fellow country men.
Both Nasser and Mohammed are vying for a place on the Omani Hobie 16 team that will compete in the 2012 ISAF Youth Worlds – considered the pinnacle of youth sailing. The ISAF Youth Worlds takes place in Dublin, Ireland, between the 12-21 July, and with only one boat per class allowed to compete, competition for the places is going to be tough.
The sailors will now head to Langkawi in Malaysia to challenge for the Asian Sailing Championships, alongside their team mates Ahmed Al-Mashari and Haithem Al-Wahaibi who will compete in the Laser class. Teams from 24 nations in Asia will gather to do battle across 14 classes of boat for the Asian Championship titles, with Oman representing in two classes – the Laser and the double-handed Hobie 16.
