Dubai: While any 12-year-old living in Dubai may be planning an extended weekend with parents during the forthcoming long break from school, Ollie Scriven Baker has slightly different plans.
He will be part of a seven-member crew on Red Pepper, one of the yachts which will set sail at the annual Dubai-Muscat Ocean Race today.
The youngest competitor in a gruelling 400-mile ocean passage race, Ollie now can't wait to join his father Peter and the rest of the crew to compete in Class III of the race.
"This is my first big race and I am delighted to secure a crew place. We might not be the fastest yacht in the race but if we are lucky enough to get the right wind conditions, we will do well," Scriven Baker Jr told Gulf News the other day.
No stranger
A Grade VII student at the school in Arabian Ranches, Ollie had been no stranger to water since he was four — accompanying his father and training on a small dinghies at the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club.
His father, Peter, a banking consultant and a resident of Dubai for last 15 years now, says indulgently: "You can say sailing is in his blood."
Hailing from Cape Town, the AXA Insurance-sponsored Red Pepper will compete in her fourth Dubai-Muscat race.
Twice a past winner of her class, Red Pepper is one of the veterans of this year's fleet and at over 17 tonnes, certainly one of the heaviest yachts to compete this year. For Ollie, who has already clocked over 3,000 nautical miles of sailing experience, much of it in the offshore waters of the UAE, Turkey and Greece, this race will be the real thing. "Red Pepper is a safe, sound, trustworthy and reliable yacht and the perfect vessel to be sailing on when the going gets tough which makes my mum feel a lot happier," he adds.
What would, however, be the role of a 12 year old in such a demanding and macho sport like sailing?
At this point, his father takes over: "Due to his small size, there is the added advantage of using him for jobs that other crew members struggle to do. It is much easier to pull a 12 year old to the top of the mast than another burly crew member and over the years, Ollie has become an expert at fixing mast-head lights or untangling spinnaker halyards."
As a South African kid, Ollie has a fascination for rugby as well — but sailing is very much his first love.
His ambition? "To sail across the Atlantic and may be, pursue a nautical career," he added.
Way to go, Ollie!
