Inauguration ceremony of Sailing Arabia - The Tour, in Amwaj Marina, Bahrain. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/Oman Sail.
by Ingmar Jense
With the backdrop of Bahrain’s Amwaj Marina, dignitaries, officials and sailors gathered to cut the ribbon marking today’s start of Sailing Arabia- The Tour. His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Al Khalifia, Member of the Bahrain Maritime Sports Association and His Excellency Abdullah Al Amri, Oman’s Ambassador in Bahrain, joined Oman Sail CEO David Graham in a ceremony to introduce the sailors, the route of the race and the concept of the race.
In the speech David Graham explained why Sailing Arabia-The Tour was such an important event for uniting GCC countries using sport, ‘In the future we hope to see many more boats from all GCC countries as well as further afield sailing under their national flags. Through the event we can show the unity between the countries and develop national sailors to represent their countries. The interest shown by teams and the media has been nothing short of encouraging and next year we expect the event to be much bigger and much more international.’
After the ribbon was cut by His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Al Khalifa, His Excellency Abdullah Al Amri and David Graham cut a ceremonial before taking a tour of the boats and meeting the individual crewmembers. They took the time to talk to many of them individually and wish them luck in the first leg of the race that will take them from the bay near Amwaj marina and around the top of Qatar before heading south to The Pearl-Qatar who will host the teams before they again set out to sea for the longest leg to Abu Dhabi. The rest of the two-week race will see the teams go to Ras Al Khaimah, Musandam, Musannah and the finish in Muscat.
Saleh Al Jabri, skipper of Renaissance was asked how his experience of being captain of the Jewel of Muscat and his training on large, fast racing yachts has helped him in his role as a skipper in this race. ‘I am very lucky to have these experiences to draw on but I also have a very experienced crew to sail with. I have such sailors as Ahmed Al Ma’amari who is an around the world sailor and Mohammed Al Ghailani who has thousands of miles of experience on Majan. It is incredible to look around me and see so many Omani sailors from so many backgrounds sailing alongside us as well as international sailors who have competed in some of the biggest races in the world.’
Sailing Arabia-The Tour will also give massive opportunities for sponsors to engage with a totally new demographic in the region and give business platforms at venues along the way. The first tour has already attracted interest from financial, logistics and lifestyle companies who all see potential in involvement. A trifecta of banks has also taken the unique sponsor opportunity created by an event which involves and unites the region. These banks are represented at three of the stops Commercial Bank in Qatar, United Arab Bank in the UAE and National Bank of Oman for the three Oman stops in the Tour, their team is Team Commercialbank Group. GAC Logistics are sponsoring one of the competing boats as well as coming onboard as the official shipping and logistics partner. Renaissance Services has also continued their support of the Omani race teams with their boat, the same one that took part in the Tour de France a la Voile. Art Marine will use its Pan-Gulf network to leverage the event as a race support partner.
To follow the race there is a live tracker as well much more information at facebook.com/SailingArabia
