Omani sailors are celebrating a clean sweep of class of victories at the competitive UAE Regatta Championship held in Abu Dhabi.
Young racers from both the youth and national teams produced a series of impressive results to top the leaderboard in each of the four classes they competed in.
Oman Sail’s Optimist youth team sailors in particular distinguished themselves, filling seven of the top-10 places in the 37-strong fleet with Mohammed Al Qasmi in first place and Saleem Al Alawi second.
Not to be overshadowed, their teammates racing in the Laser 4.7 class has six in the top 10 places, Adbulmalik Al Hinai leading the way with outright victory.
Oman national team sailors Hussain Al Jabri and Ahmed Alwheibi took first and second in the Laser Standard class, while Ahmed Al Balushi topped the leaderboard in an ultra-competitive Laser Radial fleet which saw the top three racers finish level on points, the outcome only decided on the countback system.
Equally remarkable, Zakariya Al Wahabi finished fourth just a point behind in what was his first ever regatta in the Radial having made the change from the 4.7 just two months ago.
“It was a good regatta for the whole team and we were pushing them for even better,” said Mohsin Al Busaidi, Oman Sail’s Youth Development Manager.
“It is the second year we have taken part in this regatta in Adu Dhabi, and we have been working well together with the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club so they come to our regattas and we go to theirs.
“It is a highly competitive fleet with some very good sailors, and you can see that from the Radial class where the top three all finished with 14 points, with Zakariya only a point behind.”
Al Busaidi also highlighted the performances of Al Motasem Al Farsi, a successful Optimist sailor who finished seventh in the 4.7 fleet after only five days training after changing class, and Mahmood Al Gharbi who came fourth in the large Optimist fleet despite fracturing a finger.
“The Optimist team all did well with most of them finishing in the top-10 after some very good training over the summer both in Oman and in Turkey,” said Al Busaidi.
He added that the UAE Regatta Championship had been ideal preparation for the Optimist Asian and Oceanian Championship in Myanamar, where an Oman Sail team will start racing on November 10th.
