Wednesday, Jan 25, 2017

Dubai: Omani teams Renaissance and Al Mouj are hoping for home water advantage in the EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour from Muscat to Dubai from February 14 to March 1.

Team Renaissance skipper Fahad Al Hasni said: “We have consistently finished in the top half of the fleet, with a fourth last year. So it would be great to be on the podium this time. I have always found EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour challenging and with a 90 per cent Omani crew, it will be even more of a test of our skills.

“I like pushing the guys to the limit since I know we are good as a team and we can get the most out of each race, whether we are inshore or offshore.

“We train very hard to be ready to face any challenge, but the main reason for doing EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour is to improve our overall sailing skills and get to be on the podium.

“It would be great to win, but with our knowledge and experience, we are aiming to go one better than last year and finish on the podium in third place. Most of all we intend to enjoy the sailing, represent Oman with pride and have some fun.”

Al Mouj skipper Christian Ponthieu said: “With the changes to the Tour de France à la Voile, EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour has become one of the only events in the calendar where we can test our offshore skills in the long legs and our match racing skills in the in-port races.

“This is a very interesting and varied regatta which rewards the best all round crew. We scored a lot of points in the in-port racing last year and felt we could have done better offshore so we will work hard at improving our performances on the long legs to get more points. Plus, the sunny weather in the Gulf also means we can keep up our racing and training through the winter months, which is a real bonus. We get to visit places in this race that sailors don’t often see and we really enjoy that aspect of the event.”

The seventh edition of the race starts on February 14 with the first in-port races before the fleet heads north to Sohar and around the tip of the Musandam Peninsula to Khasab.

Competitors must tackle the congested Strait of Hormuz before racing to Abu Dhabi and then on to Doha for the second round of in-port races. The last and longest leg to Dubai with the final round of in-port racing will provide a defining test for the champion.

For more information, visit http://sailingarabiathetour.com

Staff Report

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