Line Honours for Oman Sail’s Extreme 40 Massirah
On a day of variable conditions ranging from dead calm to 15 knots, Khamis Al Anbouri and Mubarak AlBattashi lined up on Oman Sail’s Extreme 40s Masirah and Renaissance with thousands of other boats at sunrise to race around the Isle of Wight, UK. An annual event, this race is now the largest sailing race worldwide and teams come from across the world to have the honour to race here.
The start was a slow affair but the class in which the Omani sailors were competing, the Extreme 40 catamarans, was possibly the most competitive on the water with Olympic medalists, World champions and Americas Cup superstars. Amongst them was British Olympic multiple medalist Ben Ainslie who was set to take the glory from the rest of the 1,776 strong fleet of boats, ranging from 100’ carbon racing yachts to 20’ weekend pleasure cruisers.
Both Team Origin and Team Aqua underestimated the determination of the Oman team, spurred on by Khamis Al Anbouri who was racing for the first time as a full member of the Oman team. Masirah, was hot off the start line and immediately made it clear that they were not considering anything less than first place. The battle raged the full way around the Isle of Wight with all three boats jostling for first place for a full six hours. At one stage Masirah was 22 minutes clear of her nearest challenger and victory looked like it was in the bag. Unfortunately for them, Americas Cup defender, Russell Coutts and his crew had other ideas and challenged Masirah all the way up the Solent but their last push was just not enough and Masirah crossed the line 29 seconds clear to take line honours.
Although the victory was sweet for all the crew of Masirah, it was an especially proud moment for the Omani sailor on board, Khamis Al Anbouri. Khamis has been following a training programme initiated by Oman Sail, a government based project in the small Sultanate, to bring Omani Sailors up to an international standard. To do this, Khamis and his fellow countryman, Mubarak, who sails on the second Oman Sail Extreme 40, have been partnered up with some of Britain’s star sailors who have risen to the top of their game in Olympic classes and world standard regattas and races.
‘To come here today and be part of the winning team whilst representing my country is a very special feeling. We have been training hard and the guys on the boat have been very patient but I know they had faith in me and I made sure I did everything I could to help them gain this win on their home waters’, said Khamis when they got back to dry land.
Pete Cumming is their head coach and mentor and he is joined on Masirah by Chris Draper, Mark Bulkeley and David ‘Freddie’ Carr, all of whom have international titles to their names. Pete has trained Khamis and Mubarak since last year when they were new to sailing and had only experienced a sailing course at the UKSA (UK Sailing Academy) and some small boat sailing in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Since Pete started coaching them they have been heavily involved with the Extreme 40 programme which takes them around Europe on the iShares Cup circuit which puts them on the same course as many of the world’s best sailors. When asked what Pete thought of his Omani crew members; ‘It has been a very sharp learning curve for all of us on the boat, not just Khamis, and we are very proud that he was with us today when we crossed the line. To be on a boat like the Extreme 40 and competing on an equal basis with some of the world’s top sailors like he did today is a nerve-wracking experience and he showed today that he is an integral part of the team and I would happily have him on any boat I was on!’
Mubarak was one of the first to congratulate Khamis and told him how proud he felt that it was an Omani boat that won and looks forward to next year when he hopes to be in the same position!
From here the Oman Sail team will pack up their boats and head to the Hyeres in the South of France where they will compete in the second series of the iShares Cup circuit between 3-5 July. The first leg was held in Venice and the Oman Sail team took third and fourth place overall and are looking strong.
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Check out our Oman Sail Massirah Case Study!