Finished with good End-Sprint

A Good End Sprint brought me the 24th place in this Arabian Tour Sailing Event organised by LiveSkipper

The day started with a good pace and winds that were reasonable stable, and the forecast showed some strengthening and a small shift to the SW for winds at the Finish. My position more south from most other boast was the result of the Southerly course the day before. This lowered my ranking, but I counted on a better speed and the possibility to overhaul a lot of boats. Luckily this did materialize, as I passed 12 boats in the End Sprint.


For the detailed end results you may click on one of the TAB's above, to see either the complete ranking list of LiveSkipper, or only the ranking for the skippers in the English Forum. 
For Flagships, a boat from a club that may be sailed by different sailors in a 24/7, there is a separate competition chart. 


This was an interesting, challenging at times, and exciting Sailing event and I enjoyed it very much. 

Approaching the Finish

Passed Masirah island, a main centre for Sea Turtles. 

Yesterday I had sailed already a little more South then some other boats. Studying the wind forecast and route, I could find the fastest route to go as far South as needed to make one final tack for the Finish. I had to invest deep for this, as the below 20 ranking of the last days, increased to 54 yesterday morning to the 117 in the late afternoon. 
After the tack, luckily, the investment is paying off as this morning I find the boat on place 36 and I believe is better wind conditions as many other boats. So with a little bit of luck I can maybe in the End-Sprint make it to below 25 , or maybe below 20 ???


The wind is towards the Finish backing more to South and becoming stronger, so both factors helping me to sail faster as many other boats more northerly from me. 


Carry on ............


Rank: 36 in a fleet of 754 boats.

Sailing the Gulf of Oman

After the big discussions yesterday on whether yes or no you could sail the channels of Musadam , it has generally be accepted that yes when it is possible to sail, it is allowed. 
So all excitement for the navigation through the narrow channels paid off, some places and about 2 hrs time. 


The sailing in the Gulf of Oman, is going well. Yesterday the wind was mostly NW and rather strong. Most boats made a very good progress and the leaders have passed the Turtle Gate at Rass al Hadd already. 


Those who are still in the Gulf of Oman are now confronted with a variable and very weak wind system for about 9 hrs. After this the  winds at the Oman tip, become SW with the monsoon driving them. 

The tip of Oman has a lot of beaches (mostly quiet) with soft white sand. Many turtles know this and frequent the white beaches like Rass al Hadd and Rass al Jinez for putting their eggs. Some of those beaches are protected and can be visited under guidance. 

Do you know that the gender of turtles is influenced by the temperature of the sand during the breeding period? The warmer it is, the more female turtles are born. 

Many Turtle species are endangered and many nesting beaches are protected. Some countries also have a tracking system to follow the journey that a turtle makes. Most Turtles come back to the beaches they are born for laying eggs. 

This site, SeaTurtle tracking,  gives a view on the turtles with a tracking device and show their travels. 

On the left you can select a Turtle , grouped by area, and a picture will show the track. 

My rank this morning 15

Passed the Straits of Hormuz

this post is 1 day delayed (30June 2011 issue) because of problems with Blogger site, 


The winds were holding fine yesterday in the Arabian Gulf allowing to make a good progress towards the Straits of Hormuz. For a view at the traffic in these narrow waters please see the TAB above this post called MarineTraffic. 


In LiveSkipper a few skippers found a route through the islands and narrows of Musadam, Oman. It is all very tricky as the waters are very small at places, but with a good knowledge of what your boat can do and some experience, it is possible to sail this. 
The corner could be cut off, which saved some 2-3 hrs of sailing time, as I guess.

And as often, some skippers are not aware of these narrow channels and felt the dis-advantage in the ranking and their disappointment made them asking for change of the rules. 


Anyway, now I am sailing the Gulf of Oman, not able to benefit from this narrow sailing during my sleep.


Rank: 16 this morning .