From Rower to Boatbuilder: Reem Alhassani’s Olympic Boat Project

Reem Alhassani remembers the day her training course was withdrawn. For years she had rowed there, first as an athlete, then as a coach, building a small club around the promise of a national rowing culture. A water stretch had been officially allocated to her club; a designated area by the sea where rowers could train and compete. Then, without warning, the permission was revoked. “It felt like the ground had disappeared under my feet,” she shares with SceneTraveller. “Overnight, everything stopped: the club, the programmes, the dream.” For most, that might have been the end. Instead, it was the beginning of something more: a decision to manufacture Olympic-standard rowing boats in the UAE from scratch. And, in the process, become the first Emirati woman to do so. “When you’re a woman in this industry, people assume you’re here for decoration,” she says. “The only answer is knowledge and persistence.”
Rowing has long been dominated by imported equipment, mostly from European manufacturers. Boats are expensive, fragile, and subject to the delays of global shipping. “We were dependent,” she says. “And dependency limits ambition.” Her company, MR Marine Sports, was born in 2019 with the idea of cutting that cord. Working with composite materials and 3D design, she and her team began producing the first prototypes, testing them on the same waters where she once trained.
The shift from athlete to manufacturer might seem improbable, but in the Gulf, the sea has always been more than sport. “It is identity,” Alhassani says. “Pearl diving, fishing, trading, every family has a story connected to the water.” In her telling, building boats locally is not only a technical achievement but also a cultural one: proof that a sport considered peripheral could carry Emirati fingerprints. Olympic boats require millimetre precision; the slightest miscalculation in balance can decide a race. Materials such as carbon fibre are imported, but design and assembly happen in-house. To bridge knowledge gaps, Alhassani sought advice from international experts, bringing in consultants from Europe, while training young Emiratis in the craft.
Challenges come not only from engineering but also from perception. “The hardest part was convincing people this wasn’t a vanity project,” she says. Her answer was results: boats that passed international testing, and athletes willing to race in them. The venture has already spun into unexpected directions. She pioneered “mountain rowing”, a hybrid sport adapted to the rugged landscapes of Ras al Khaimah, between sea and stone. She has also developed a neuroscience-based training model—RNPD-PRO™—to test how athletes perform under stress. “Rowing teaches you how the mind and body negotiate pressure.”
Though the project is still young, and the world of Olympic rowing remains stubbornly small, Alhassani insists the UAE is well-placed to become a regional hub for marine sports. “We have the geography, the infrastructure, and the will."