Sailing Arabia The Tour: Dee Caffari returns to women's team
Date
2/10/2016 5:38:35 AM
The Oman Airports- Al Thuraya women's team is back in the EFG Sailing Arabia-The Tour (SATT) with Dee Caffari resuming her role as skipper following a four-year absence.
Caffari who skippered the first women's entry in the SATT in 2012 has more ocean racing miles on her clock than any other woman on the planet having raced around the world five times - twice on her own twice with crew and once two-handed. She is now intent on raising the women's game in the SATT and driving women's sailing forward in Oman and the GCC region. Her crew for the 2016 race was carefully selected for that purpose she explains. 'I have got a team together based on who I feel would be able to help the Omani girls develop while racing' said the sailor who took part in the last Volvo Ocean Race on the all women's boat Team SCA. 'We are coaching and racing at the same time so it can be quite demanding and we want the Omani girls to feel as if they have moved forward in their skills and understanding of sailing by the end of the event.'
A file photo of the Oman Airports-Al Thuraya women's team
Some of her crew have sailed in the SATT before including Ibtisam al Salmi one of the Middle East's first professional women sailors. 'I remember the first event that Ibtisam took part in and she only did the in-port races and not the offshore ones' recalls Caffari. 'Now some years on she is the leader of the group. That shows how far she has come in a short space of time. We also have Marwa al Khaifi and Tamadher al Balushi who work as instructors for Oman Sail so they will bring in fresh ideas.' Joining Caffari as fellow coaching and racing experts are Stacey Jackson from Australia Annemieke Bes from The Netherlands and former Al Thuraya skipper Mary Rook from the UK. With their experience in the Volvo Ocean Race Extreme Sailing Series Olympics Mini Transat and Artemis Academy the girls in the team make for a highly competitive combination but the focus says Caffari will be on developing skills rather than on results. 'It is always testing but so long as the girls continue to learn and try their best all the time I will be happy. Obviously we will be racing to win as there is an incredible competitive spirit within the women's team. 'The women's team is all about changing perceptions of women in the Middle East. These girls are out there doing the same thing as the guys sailing the same boats on the same water in the same conditions.' Caffari's speciality is upwind sailing having completed a record breaking circumnavigation on her own against prevailing winds and tides.
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