(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- More than 80 young sailors are part of the Oman Sailing Championship, the most important national youth event in the 2017 calendar.

Held at Oman Sail's state-of-the-art Sur Sailing School, which was funded Oman LNG, the event has sailors aged 10 to 17 years compete in three classes: Optimist, Laser 4.7 and Techno 293.

The competing youngsters have been drawn from the Omantel Youth Programme and all four Oman Sail sailing schools, Sur, Marina Bandar al Rowdha, Musannah and Al Mouj Muscat, along with three UAE sailors invited to compete in the Laser 4.7 fleet. Racing will end on August 22.

The event was immediately preceded by an intensive four-day training camp in Sur. Apart from providing opportunities for the competitors to test their skills, the training camp also allowed the race management team to prepare for their vital organisational role through a workshop conducted by World Sailing international race officer Jerrold Wei from Singapore.

'The Oman Sailing Championship is a great platform for our young sailors to match their skills against their contemporaries across the sultanate,' said Rashid al Kindi, sailing development manager.

He added, 'We are delighted by the increased number of sailors participating, as it reflects the increasing popularity of sailing as a sport in the sultanate. The event is an excellent platform for our sailors to demonstrate what they have learned at their sailing school and at the training camp, and gives them the chance to shine and perhaps be crowned a National Sailing Champion.'

The awards ceremony will follow racing on August 22.

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