“Nice? It’s the only thing,” said the Water Rat solemnly as he leant forward for his stroke.
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing, absolute nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
You’ve got to wonder what dear old Ratty from the Wind in the Willows, written back in 1908, would have made of 2015’s adrenalin-fueled version, the Red Bull Extreme Sailing event.
Personally I’m betting he’d have loved it.
“Forget everything you thought you knew about sailboat racing,” says Red Bull, well that’s pretty darned easy as I know next to nothing (well actually nothing) but a dose of extreme action is always good for the soul.
The event kicked off today down at the Al Mouj Golf at The Wave, in Muscat, Oman, and is running through until Saturday with up to eight races a day.
Each race will be so close to the shore you can almost touch them and lasts no more than 20 minutes so you won’t get bored. If you do there is also a race village with a whole bunch of entertainment on offer. The village opens from 11am.
To quote Wind in the Willows again I think this sums it up:
“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
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If you can’t make it, you can tune into this live stream tomorrow from 15.30 to 17.00 (3.30pm to 5pm for landlubbers).
You can read more in the pages of the Times of Oman or online at www.timesofoman.com
Scottiehack 