The Oman Sail Women's Sailing Programme has been in place for just one year and yet three sailors on board Al Thuraya bank muscat became joint recipients this week of an excellence award for the highest achieving women in sport for 2012.

The Oman Sail Women's Sailing Programme has been in place for just one year and yet three sailors on board Al Thuraya bank muscat became joint recipients this week of an excellence award for the highest achieving women in sport for 2012.

The novice Omani woman sailors, Intisar Al Tobi, Raya Al Habsi, and Tahira al Yahyai won the prestigious Al Mara Excellence Award in recognition of their participation in the annual Sailing Arabia – The Tour yacht race as members of the first ever all women sailing team on board Al Thuraya bank muscat.

They had only just started learning to sail when they joined the multi-national crew and finished an impressive fourth, just shy of a podium place after 15 days and 760 miles of intense racing down the Arabian Gulf from Bahrain to Oman.

Al Tobi, a graduate in physical education from Muscat’s Sultan Qaboos University, said winning the Al Mara Excellence Award for sailing was a proud but unexpected honour.

“It gives us more reason to celebrate Women’s Day today. But the award is not just for me; it’s for all three of us, for all women. It’s about girl power and the sport of sailing and the ability to achieve something big in a short period. It is a good beginning for us, for the Oman Sail Women’s programme and for our country.”

“Competing in Sailing Arabia - The Tour on board Al Thuraya bank muscat was a big challenge for us. It was our first time sailing overnight offshore and we were a bit worried about our ability to do it. But as soon as we started it was awesome, and also tough at times. To finish fourth was a big achievement for us,” said Al Tobi.

The three award winners plus four new recruits form the Oman Sail national women’s racing team are training hard for the upcoming Muscat regatta, match race championships in Bahrain and the 2013 Sailing Arabia - The Tour.

They were among the first 75 women recruits to participate in an Oman Sail women’s open day in July 2011. The Oman Sail Women’s Sailing Programme was officially launched on 10 October 2011 and in May this year 21 women successfully completed instructor sailing programmes accredited by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

Oman Sail’s director of marketing and communications Salma Al Hashmi said celebrations held in Muscat this week in honour of Women’s Day and the Women’s Sailing Programme one-year anniversary represented a major milestone.

“We still have a long way to go in terms of building more women role models in sport to inspire more young girls to lead active healthy life styles.  But this week’s awards point to a promising future for women in Oman, not only for women in sailing, but for women in sport in general.”  

About the Al Mar’a Excellence Awards

Al Mar’a Excellence Awards is a platform to recognise the achievements and entrepreneurial zeal of women in the Sultanate. The awards recognise and encourage Omani women who have conquered the odds and have reached challenging positions in diverse areas like business, government, industry, education and other relevant fields.

Editors note

Oman Sail is a national initiative established in 2008 to contribute to the development of Oman and Omanis through the sport of sailing. The equal opportunity project runs sailing programmes for thousands of young Omani men and women, inspiring a new generation to discover sailing. It encompasses a national sailing squad and high achieving inshore and offshore racing teams, all of which benefit from world-class coaching and whose ultimate objective is to win an Olympic medal for Oman. The programme has pledged to teach 30,000 Omani children to sail by 2015 at seven sailing schools to be built along the coast. The goal is to rekindle Oman’s maritime heritage while raising the country’s regional and international profile as a high-end tourist and foreign investment destination, through competitive sailing at home and abroad. Oman Sail seeks to instil confidence and to teach valuable, transferable life skills to a generation of Omanis.

Daphne Morgan Barnicoat

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 October 2012 )