Heading off tomorrow to Dubai with an early start at 7 am. Last year some of the most iconic photos came from a dawn start out of Abu Dhabi. The forecast is for light, upwind reaching, with some upwind work. The models are a bit mixed about how far to go offshore, but there are fishing nets and waypoints to handle so that will be determinative. Last year we had to navigate through the fishing nets at night, and it was a very difficult! Ugh. It is a shelf and miles of fishing nets… Allegedly, if you flatten the boat it will eventually “pop” up over the nets and get through, but while racing there last year felt like running aground and in one case we definitely didn’t get off, and had to have the local fisherman help us. Cutting nets away is a crime so this is serious business.

Today was inport racing. Light and weird helicopter puffs off the skyscrapers made it difficult. We had good starts, but sometimes didn’t take the immediate risk to grab a temporary puff. In the end we did alright, but not great. The Omani women had fun, and today’s big lesson was learning about the importance of weight movement on the boats. I wish we had had more time to train before dropping them into racing, because it is hard to learn while in the middle of a race. Explanations get shorter, time and opportunity for trial and error get small, and focus on more specifics limits the big picture learning.

Tonight, two of the women missed the briefing (that we always have) for the next leg. I was pretty displeased, as our briefings are a basic requirement. It was puzzling and uncharacteristic of these two women. They tracked me down in my room late tonight to say how sorry they were. They had gone out, and ran into bad traffic (happens here), and couldn’t get back. They felt so bad; they weren’t going to be able to sleep without speaking to me. I appreciated that – we all muck up – and I have felt bad like that too. With a stern warning, we are good to go tomorrow. If that’s the worst of it, I think we can deal!

Today we were on the podium to receive our prize for 3rd place overall in the race. With many legs to go, its anyone’s game. It was absolutely fantastic to be able to have our team on the podium, and let the Omani women feel their rightful place to be in the mix with the best. Everyone deserves to know that feeling, although not without some sacrifice and hard work.

Click to track the race from the Sailing Arabia The Tour website!

The first leg from Bahrain to Qatar of Sailing Arabia The Tour (SATT) 2014 was delayed. Katie Pettibone shares how she and her crew used the additional time before the race began:

More race delays = More time to train

Well, I didn’t envision on this chilly and windy night writing a blog from – well- Bahrain. Here we are though, and as an aside it is the right call, delayed on our leg from Bahrain to Qatar. The Race Committee boat was finally allowed out of customs and was put into the water this evening. As it had a bunch of needed safety gear and it is our escort vessel, it was the right call. We took advantage of the day as well to get a new boat GPS because we had been having electrical problems. Additionally, taking this new crew out on a windy sleigh ride in what will be a race during daylight hours instead of a cold night is simply much more enticing! I am really looking forward to heading south down to Doha and the warmer climes. Maybe living in California has softened me, but I do like my warmth!

Debriefing the unexpected breakdown

We took the chance to do some practice in today’s 20+ knots. While out sailing, the tack clip on our new jib blew up. It had been sadly underwicked (to small for the loads) so it was bound to happen and it turns out it did happen to another boat. We got into the dock and quickly fixed it with the help of our hard working shore crew so that we will be able to use it tomorrow. These things go with a loud bang and lots of flapping so it seems all more the dramatic than it is, but it was really good training for the Omani women. Learning that the boat cannot move without the main sail being eased and what to do when something unexpected happens was a good learning moment. After we got to the dock and had the jib being sorted, we talked through what had happened and going forward how to better handle the situation with some taking the jib down and others getting the new jib ready.

Equipping for the future

The act of handling, accessing and planning for the unexpected is a trait that sailing is particularly adept at honing and is why sailors do well in all areas of life. By the end of this race, these Omani women will be able to take this skill forward and use it in whatever industries or adventures they pursue.