6th GCC Sailing Championships - Day 1
by Icarus Sailing Media 13 Mar 2014 07:55 GMT
Welcome to Qatar and the city of Doha, the economic powerhouse of this country and region. Time has stood still in the traditional markets but step into the city streets and the skyscrapers and modernization of Qatar takes your breath away. Growth has to come from the ground up, and to that aim the Gulf Cooperation Council, the GCC – which is Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain – is putting on its 6th GCC championship.This is a multi class sailing event to encourage some of the best young sailors in the region, and these keen youngsters were welcomed at the opening ceremony to kick things off in good spirit.
Day one was for team racing in the Optimist class. Three countries took part, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, and four sailors represented each, racing twice against their opponents. Whoever racked up most wins would be crowned the champions. The windy conditions made it pretty demanding, but these young guns got stuck in to enjoy the quick pace. Sunshine and warm temperatures always help.
The Qatari team showed their skills in these windy conditions with consistent speeds all around the course. This is a great result after hard training and a good build up over the past few months at the Qatar Optimist Cup and Sail the Gulf regattas. They were competitive and they fought till the end but from the first race the team was one member down and that made the battle harder. They took 3rd place but showed promise for the rest of this regatta and upcoming events.
The team from Bahrain had two wins during strong battles. They won twice against the Qatari team and lost twice against the Omanis. This team had the skills to battle with the winner, and the Bahrain sailors will definitely feature on the podium at the end of the regatta, but the tricky weather was tough for them.
The team from Oman had a great day and took a commanding lead from the beginning. They showed great skills in windy conditions and racked up four strong wins. Teamwork was the key to this event, and the Omani sailors demonstrated this best.
Tomorrow the rest of the classes are joining in at the 6th GCC sailing championships and the conditions are set to be as good as today. Stay with us for that and more.