Open Water Swim at Fahal Island

Open water swimming is one of the best sport activity. I always look for open water swimming events near me. Oman is one of the most popular open water swimming destinations because of it’s location and water temperature. Sea swim is perfect choice for residents and tourists in Oman. 
Every year there are many organized swimming events in Oman, and one of the events is at Fahal Island.

Fahal Island, Oman

Fahal Island is one of the most popular Islands of Oman, it is also called shark island. The island can be clearly seen from Qurum Heights, Qurum Beach, Azaiba, Ghubra, Ras Al Harmra and nearly all the costal area from Muscat.

The distance from PDO RAH Club is almost 4.2km. Many people go for snorkeling there, though Island is very small around 2.5 sqkm but many people visit this every year.
Wavesummit organizes kayak trip to Fahal Island and they also offer snorkerling.

Fahal Swim
This is a challenging 4.2km swim that starts from Fahal Swim and swimmers have to head back to the PDO Club. 
The Event RegistrationMy Race Day
My kayak support buddy and I moved to the shore to ensure he leaves for Fahal Island via kayak to reach their before the swim starts. He left and I headed back to the briefing area.  Where swimmers were divided in various groups to ride the speed boat to reach the Fahal Island Swim Starting Location. I was in boat # 5 with 9 other swimmers. Below is the timeline;

• 7:10 – Boat started towards Fahal Island
• 7:25 – Reach Fahal Islanad
• 7:40 – Kayaker located me and joined me within 200 meters.

PDO organizes Annual Fahal Swim every year since 1989 and this year was 30th Edition of Fahal Island Swim.

140 Swimmers (male and female age 10 to 80 years) participated in this swim, every swimmer was joined by a paddler (kayaker) to make sure swimmers reach the destination safely.

Swimmers are asked to register for the event via the an online registration form, they need to look for the kayaker who will remain with the swimmer throughout the swim course, once both are ready and  they are required to register, and on confirmation from organizers they are asked to make payment via PDO Club member. All the information regarding race timings, venue, sea condition, directions and race details are usually published on the fahalswimblog. 

I reached the PDO Club and parked my car outside in the main parking and called the kayaker who was ready with all his gear. We entered to the club where many swimmers and kayakers were already there. We registered at the registration desk, got our Fahal Swim 30 Years t-Shirt with my race number on my arm. 

For most of the swimmers it is not possible to swim the straight line because of various conditions (swimming techniques and current) 
I recorded this swim using Garmin Fenix 3, after synchornizing it to strava, below is my swim summary. 

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