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Omantel Youth sailors meet inspirational sailing family

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Muscat: More than 20 members of the Omantel Youth Sailing Programme have met with renowned French sailor Philippe Poupon and his family during a stopover on their seven-year voyage across the planet to highlight marine pollution issues and the effects of climate change. Having travelled up the coast from their first port of call in Salalah, the Poupon family arrived in Muscat aboard their 60-foot ketch Fleur Australe on April 21st. As part of their Muscat itinerary, the crew met with the young Omani sailors, 15 of whom are part of the Oman Youth Sailing Squad which is currently ranked first in the GCC after successfully defending their title in March 2017.


The event was attended by Ministry of Tourism and Oman Sail representatives and members of the media for ‘Philou’, as Poupon is affectionately known as in France, to present his findings, share the eco-mission of the Fleur Australe project, and tell the young sailors tales from the journey so far and the importance of marine conservation.


Mohsin Al Busaidi, Youth Programme Manager, said, “The opportunity for our young sailors to meet such an experienced sailor and be inspired by his achievements, as well as his environmental mission, will become an invaluable component of their development on and off the water. We are privileged to see some of the planet’s most wondrous sights through sailing and the sailors are now even more motivated to compete in new waters, and do all they can to preserve these areas for future generations to enjoy.”


Zakariya Al Wahabi, one of Oman Sail’s highest ranked youth sailors, said, “We all loved the presentation. He has achieved so much with his family by his side and everyone in the Omantel Youth Programme would love to have such successful careers and exciting adventures.”


The Omantel Youth sailing programme is an equal opportunity programme starting at grassroots level and preparing talented young sailors for elite competition, as well as focusing on their personal development, health and transferable skills. Operated at Oman Sail’s four sailing schools at Marina Bandar Al-Rowdha, Sur, Musannah and Al Mouj Muscat, children from schools in the local area are taught how to sail and closely monitored in ranking races to find candidates for the National Youth Squad who represent the country at events all over the world.


The opportunity to meet legendary sailors and inspiring figures from the world of sport and beyond is one of the many ways in which Oman Sail aims to enrich the Youth Programme experience and motivate the nation’s promising talent to reach the next level and fulfil their ambitions. Sixty-two-year-old Poupon was a member of the legendary Éric Tabarly’s crew in the 1977-78 Whitbread round-the-world race, and went on to build his own reputation as a solo sailing star in the Vendee Globe, Route du Rhum and Solitaire du Figaro, which he won three times. Using this experience, his French-flagged yacht set sail on this project in 2010 from Alaska and has travelled across the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, into the Southern Ocean, and to both Polar regions, as well as navigating through the islands and arctic waterways of the Northwest Passage during an earlier voyage.


The project has grown from his family’s shared desire to travel the world by sea and record their real-time own observations of the state of the oceans while raising awareness about the need to protect the environment.


Poupon, his wife Géraldine Danon — a well-known film and theatre actress, producer and director in France — and their four children will remain in Oman until 4th May where they will also visit Duqm, Masirah Island, Ras Al Jinz, Muscat, Damaniyat Island, Nizwa and Musandam to share the message of conservation, as well as taking part in a beach clean-up event and environmental awareness festival on Masirah Island, organised by the Environmental Society of Oman.


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