Oman’s star F18 helmsman Musab Al Hadi, who made headlines this week after he and his crew Ahmed Al Balushi won the opening race of their first ever world championship, has been forced to withdraw from the event because of a hand injury.
The Omani team is still to decide whether they will resume racing Thursday with a substitute helmsman in this week’s fiercely contested 2012 Global Tech F18 World Championships. A total of 118 entries from nine countries and five continents, many of them Olympic medallists and world championship title holders are competing in the event hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club off Long Beach, California.
“The news is Musab can't sail any further in this World Championship. We are all gutted. He woke this morning after a poor night’s sleep in a fair amount of pain and is certainly unable to sail. He is still in good spirits though,” said Paul Wakelin, Oman Sail’s national catamaran coach who is travelling with the team.
Al Hadi was injured when his trapeze line failed in the second race of the event at a time when the Omani team was leading the fleet to the windward mark.
While he was being treated in hospital Al Balushi was quick to find a substitute helmsman and was heading out onto the race course for the start of Race 3. But it wasn’t going to be a good day for the Omani’s all round when they collided with another yacht before the start and snapped their spinnaker pole. Once again they were forced to retire.
Wakelin said they had worked flat out through Wednesday to successfully repair the boat and had been back out on the water testing it.
“Ahmed and I had a great training sail this afternoon and it is going well. All is good. It is frustrating for Musab. He was so determined to try and sail again this week but sadly it is impossible for him,” said Wakelin.
“This is Oman’s debut at a F18 World Championship and the first for Musab and Ahmed. They are so proud to be here and representing their country. They have been fantastic ambassadors. As a team we are exploring all options and will decide Thursday whether we will continue racing or not,” said Wakelin.
The Swiss team helmed by Billy Besson is leading the F18 World Championship fleet after six races and two days of racing. This concludes the qualifying phase of the event and the fleet will now be divided evenly into Gold and Silver groups for the last three days of the event which ends on Saturday.
