EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour 2014, the region’s only long distance offshore sailing endurance race hosted an exclusive art exhibition in Muscat, to coincide with the fleet reaching its final destination of The Tour.
This event, held under the supervision of Alia Al Farsi – one of Oman’s most prominent, award-winning artists, marked the end of an intense three-day art workshop organised by Oman Sail in association with Ba9ma – a voluntary group, which supports children with special needs.
A total of 15 children were selected to take part in the Oman Sail workshop from 16-18 February held at Oman Sail’s headquarter in Muscat. The workshop venue, with its views over the beautiful setting of The Wave, Muscat Marina, provided the children with the inspiration needed for the ‘Sailing and Boats’ theme to produce some stunning pieces of work.
Commenting on the children’s artistic talents and how she feels the children progressed over the three-day workshop, Alia Al Farsi said: “The workshop was a learning experience for me as much for the young kids. They are gifted and they have strong capabilities to be creative with colour choice and depth of expression. The outcome of their ideas has been so unique and thorough and can reflect something they miss in their lives.
“Sometimes, it can be difficult to illustrate an idea using sign language but I tried to pick and learn the way they communicate to be closer to their world, to the extent that I am now planning to take courses to learn sign language.”
The exhibition for sailing team and guests was held in Muscat at the closing ceremony, which marked the end of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour 2014. The ceremony was attended by H.E. Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidi, Minister of Interiors, H.E Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardhouf Al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs, H.E Ahmed bin Nasser al-Mehrezi Minister of Tourism, H.E Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Maitha bint Saif Al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary at Ministry of Tourism and Chairwoman of Oman Sail.
EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour 2014, which started on February 9 and finished on February 24, is now in its fourth year. Competitors enjoyed 15 days of intense sailing, which tested the skills of not only the region’s best sailing talent, but also a selection of elite world-class sailors.
Six international teams sailed a 760-nautical mile course spanning over four countries from Bahrain to Muscat, Oman, with eight of the region’s premier marinas playing host as stopover venues during the seven legs of the course.
