Muscat: Mussanah Race Week got underway in perfect conditions at the Barceló Resort in Al Mussanah Sports City. Running until 5th November with racing every day, fifty young sailors in Optimist, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7 and, for the first time at week, para sailors using the RS Venture Class took to the waters for the first practice round.
Sailors from five countries will compete throughout the week alongside classroom sessions to improve technique and learn from professional sailors and coaches. Alongside a strong home contingent, young sailors from Malaysia, Egypt and Abu Dhabi join the fleet to put their skills to the test.
Mussanah Race Week 2021 has seen the debut of para sailing, which is a big step forward for the event, with eight sailors from Oman Sail’s SailFree programme taking part. This introduction comes in the same week that World Sailing launched its ‘Back the Bid’ campaign to reinstate para sailing to the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, USA. Sail Free was launched in 2019 om partnership with BP Oman, and it is the first of its kind in the Middle East’s for people with disabilities. Prior to the event, SailFree Para-Sailing National Team travelled to Palermo, Italy, to represent the nation at the Hansa World Championships 2021, joining 180 athletes from 25 countries.
Shaima Al Asmi, Mussanah Race Week Project Manager, said, “For more than a decade, Mussanah Race Week has been the proving ground for promising young sailors to develop on and off the water, learn from each other and the coaches and experience the Sultanate of Oman’s famed hospitality. We’re delighted with the depth of the fleet this year considering the challenges much of the world is still facing and in particular with the introduction of sailors from SailFree. Mussanah Race Week is the first step for many towards a successful career in sailing and we look forward to an exciting week ahead.”
The event is supported by a line-up of supported including Oman Air, OQ and the Barcelo Mussanah Resort as official partners, and Be’ah as environmental supporter and Salsabeel Water from the National Mineral Water Company as well as Medical support from the Naval Medicine Said bin Sultan Naval Base of the Royal Navy of Oman.
Al Mussanah Sports City, located 85km north of Muscat, was purpose-built to host Olympic-standard international sporting events with facilities to accommodate thousands of guests, global media and up to 400 boats at its onsite marina. The venue has become Oman’s home of sailing, successfully hosting high profile events including the recent Asian Windsurfing Championships, the forthcoming ICLA Radial World Championships and Youth World Sailing Championships, as well as the opening stage of this year’s Sailing Arabia – The Tour, among others, and is also home to Oman Sail’s sailing school.
