Oman Sails Mussanah Race Week coaching sessions

Oman Sail's Mussanah Race Week offers a unique approach to sailing events, with 2 days of bespoke training sessions, allowing participants to develop and improve their sailing skills in the lead up to the event, gaining top tips from the masters themselves. Experts, Olympians and professional coaches in Laser Standard, Radial, 4.7, F18, Optimist and RSX Windsurfing, from all around the world are on site to provide the sailors with specifically tailored training.

Issa Al Ismaili, Oman Sail Event Director comments: "We are very grateful to the coaches for agreeing to give their time to the competitors of this event; it provides a unique platform for participants to develop and improve their sailing skills which has always been one of the main objectives for Mussanah Race Week: to develop skills, increase awareness to the sport and eventually create new heroes and world champions."

Faisal Al Qutaiti is one of Oman Sail's up and coming windsurfers, he comments on his experience in the coaching sessions: "Today was great, the wind made it difficult, but it picked up towards the end; I managed to win some of the training races, it's a good experience to be able sail against the other competitors from different countries, it was interesting to see their different techniques."

Topics which the coaches have been addressing include: upwind and downwind speed runs, allowing the sailors time to see how their overall boat speed fares against one another, studying the local tides and currents and adapting to the wind strength so that they feel confident that they understand the waters in which they are racing, and starting practice; the start is one of the most important parts of the race, and it is key that the competitors are comfortable with the length of the start line and the size of the fleet. With the coaching sessions in place, the sailors will be able to begin the regatta feeling fully prepared and confident, as they remove the worry of sailing in unfamiliar waters.

Olympic sailor turned professional coach, Hugh Styles comments: "Fantastic to see the variety of people involved in the regatta. There was lots of enthusiasm from the sailors especially in such tricky light conditions. We have already seen big gains for the sailors in this light fickle wind and we hope we get more wind tomorrow."

The Olympic Windsurf class, known as RSX is growing in popularity, and with competitors representing 4 different nations, Mussanah Race Week coaching sessions offer the windsurfers the rare opportunity to compare notes. Koray Ezer, Turkish National Champion and RSX Windsurf coach states: "The sessions act as a great arena to share ideas and techniques in this rapidly developing class. We're also working on shaping the sailors on the water training and fitness strategies, the competitors are using this event as a warm up event to the European Championships, so it is a key learning time for all."

As well as experiencing first class coaching, the competitors are also encouraged to make full use of the first class facilities on offer at the Musannah Sports City, a leading sports venue, which will host the Laser World Championships later this year, includes a fully equipped gym with two specialist fitness instructors on site, a large fleet of safety vessels, top class restaurant, and luxury accommodation, including three swimming pools for the sailors to relax in.

With all of these fantastic opportunities on offer, the sailors are guaranteed a great regatta, whilst improving their skills with top tips from the world's best.