The race is on to book a place for Oman’s increasingly popular Mussanah Race Week as registration opens for the 2018 event in January.

Now going into its eighth edition, the Oman Sail organised regatta has year-on-year since 2011 attracted a growing number of young international sailors to the world-class Mussanah Sports City venue.

The 2017 event saw fierce competition out on the water involving more than 120 youthful racers representing 20 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Peru, Singapore and Sweden. The many Omani sailors taking part distinguished themselves, taking four gold medals from the seven finals held.

With Mussanah Race Week entries limited, competition for a place at the event in 2018 looks likely to be equally hard fought.

Mussanah Race Week will be held from January 11th to 17th with classes for Optimist, Laser 4.7 and Techno 293 windsurfers.

Four days of racing will be preceded by three days of coaching and a practice race, with training camps for each of the classes provided by world-class international professional racing sailors.

The training camps on offer will include on-the-water sessions focused on boat speed, boat handling, starts and race tactics. Lectures ashore will cover race strategy, rules, fitness, nutrition and psychology.

“Following years of hosting successful sailing championships, Mussanah Sport City has become known as an ideal venue for international events, with its perfect wind conditions and world-class facilities,” said Salma Al Hashmi, Chief Marketing Officer at Oman Sail.

“Oman Sail has developed great expertise in putting on events such as Mussanah Race Week to bring young sailors from around the world annually in a competitive and friendly environment where they can learn new sailing skills and put what they have already learnt into practice,”

“We look forward to welcoming these young sailors to Oman to develop successful sailing paths and make great strides in building their future careers.”

Located 85km north of Muscat and 60km from Muscat International Airport, Mussanah Sports City combines a beautiful Batinah coast location with state-of-the-art regatta and visitor facilities. It has been the venue for several international sailing events, including the 2013 Laser World Championship and 2015 Laser Radial World Championship.

Oman Sail, in conjunction with the Millennium Resort at Mussanah Sports City, is able to offer a full Mussanah Race Week event package which covers entry fee, boat charter, airport transfers and accommodation, available to sailors, coaches and supporters. A tailor-made travel package offer by Oman Air will also be available soon.

Online registration for Mussanah Race Week is available at www.mrw.om