Oman Kitesurfing

This trip is definitely one out of left field…..
So it all began with an email that was almost immediately deleted as spam or some sort of phishing scam.  It turned out to be the cultural experience of a lifetime.
It turned out that the government of Oman wanted to build an amazing event that would “bridge the cultures of the world” .  Australians have a reasonably unique culture that represents some intrigue worldwide.  Part of our culture is our love and use of our beaches.  The organisers wanted an Australian beach experience and kitesurfing was it.  They sent an email to the Australian Kite Surfing Association, of which I was president at the time, requesting a contingent to attend their festival.  It became my task to select a team of 5  trustworthy skilled, entertaining  and friendly kiters from Australia’s best.

And so it was… We were off to Oman in the middle East on a paid journey to perform for thousands of spectators.   We stayed in luxury, had our own guide and driver and experienced some vastly different middle eastern cultures.

One of the most surreal experiences was in between our performances, we were asked to rest and land our kites on the beach to make way for another show of skill from the countries best horsemen.  Teams of about 6 horsemen, took turns to gallop at small strips of bark to spear them at full speed.  There was the national team, the army, and the royal stables and the kings team.  The kings team won.  We were positioned by our kites between the track and the return course.  There were about 10,000 people watching and I felt very strongly that I would probably never have this experience again.

Another highlight was the evening cultural festival.  We wandered the show to picked up the nuances of different cultural subtleties between Middle Eastern nations.  We played a game on one leg.  A circle is drawn in the sand.  Two contestants enter holding one foot up behind them.  The rules are simple – push the other guy out of the circle and don’t put your foot down.  We were eventually outgunned by the local teams but it was played in good spirit.

Many thanks to the organisers of the Muscat festival and to Aaron Jarman, Phil McChonachie, Stuie Martin, and Daniel “Beaver” Bevan for making the trip a great one.