Hello Everyone!
Hope your New Year was fantastic and all your resolutions come true. It is time for another update from Oman. After a brief respite in the U.S. and being in Sacramento for the start of the next legislative season (already proving to be busy), it was time to come back to do more training here in Oman.
Part of the 29 hour trip took me from Frankfort, Germany via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Muscat, Oman. Normally a stopover wouldn’t give me a second thought but there were a couple of notables about that flight. Firstly in Frankfurt I would guess 80% of the flight was male. I did see a couple of U.S. passports, but all men. Then when we arriving, the flight attendant over the loud speaker told us that all printed material (magazines, books, ect) that had graphic or nude images and all alcohol had to be in a sealed container- not just in duty free bag and nothing could be left in the seat back pockets. (!) Finally when passengers went to disembark, all the women who had boarded the plane in normal clothing or even with a long dress/robe on had done the full change into max coverage of burka or abaya. Looking out the window it was completely desert… I was very glad to be heading onward to Muscat.
Arrival into Muscat felt like old hat- so much nicer to be experienced this time! Knowing which line to go to in order to get a visa, then where to go for customs, and expecting the throng of men on the other side of the arrival doors… My driver was there waiting and off we went to the hotel. Back to training up in Mussanhah again in the still-under-construction marina. The training has and continues to be stepping up in seriousness and urgency with the start of the race in one month. There are things that have been very frustrating, for example needing parts that either no one has any idea about or has been ordered and no one knows when it will arrive. An often answer to a question that has no answer is “Inshallah”- which is like “manana” in Spain and for us westerners means- god (insert your god) willing it could be any time/ will happen/won’t happen….
We have selected two out of the four Omani girls to race on the boat with us. The other two will be back-up and at the physicality, demands and likelihood of wear and tear- I am confident we will be using back-ups. We will continue to train all four- both on the boat and on land. They have come such a long way! There is a proudness and confidence they now exude. Pushing them in the gym and getting them to be out of the comfort zone still is progressing as well as getting them to have more protein in their diet.
It is evident on the boat when concepts and lessons learned go in one ear and right on out… There is so much to learn and added with the physical drain, it can be difficult to process it all. The gloves have come off as well far as teaching- they are told when a maneuver is unacceptable, we are now pushing to speed up and show urgency in maneuvers and I instituted the rule if I have to tell them to hike more than a couple of times on the boat, then the entire team does 20 pushups in the gym the next morning for every time thereafter that I have to tell them to hike. (hiking is the act of having people lean their bodies over the lifelines as far as possible to help level the boat when it leans over due to increasing wind. There is an optimum angle boats carry for speed and this boat is very sensitive) These boats are very sensitive to weight on the rail, or body movement around the boat so getting that awareness of this concept is hugely important.
On a serious note, clearly everyone is watching the news. Things in the Gulf in terms of politically are heating up but in terms of our race and for us – appear to ok. This event and our team is here under the auspices of the Sultan and their government, and Oman has a good relationship with everyone. It would be improbable that anyone would from a political perspective would worry about a little sailboat race.
I was told to NOT worry about the smugglers we will see at the Strait of Hormuz- they aren’t coming for us. LOL! However, my attention has been drawn to the piracy issue and it is real. We are going to be looking further into this but I know the last thing that anyone would want was to have some criminal act derail this great event. This aspect does reaffirm our decision to ship our boat to Bahrain, instead of sail it there…
Tomorrow is our first offshore practice-which means going out racing overnight. In light of the activity south of Muscat, our discussions are about a course heading north. I have seen a military ship hanging around out in the distance so maybe we will invite it to come along…
Have a great day!
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