Musandam-Oman Sail in the starting blocks for opening race of the season

by Oman Sail 25 May 2016 20:47 BST 28 May 2016

Oman Sail's flagship MOD70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail © Mark Lloyd

Oman Sail's crew on flagship MOD70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail return to the race track on Saturday with their first big race of the season, the 2016 Myth of Malham off the south coast of England.

This English classic, run by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, is a weekend race starting at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes with the top mark set at the Eddystone Lighthouse, some 12 miles south-west of Plymouth and the finish back in the Solent.

At 256 nautical miles, it may be a relatively short course but it will test the team, since the Solent and Channel are amongst the busiest shipping channels in the world and a hub of recreational boating and sailing in Britain with thousands of boats taking to the waters on a nice sunny day.

For the Musandam-Oman Sail crew which features Omani professionals Fahad Al Hasni, Sami Al Shukaili and Yassir Al Rahbi, plus skipper Sidney Gavignet, Damian Foxall and navigator Jean Luc Nelias, the race marks the transition from training to performance.

"All our preparations here this week have been about working efficiently round the clock, morning and evening, on the dock as well," said Sidney Gavignet.

"We want everyone to perform. On our delivery runs, we have spent a lot of time teaching and experimenting but during the race, there will be no time for any of that. It will be time to perform and that requires a completely different state of mind." "It will be good preparation for the Round Ireland race next month." Musandam-Oman Sail, an ultra-fast trimaran, will be one of around 40 boats competing in the Myth of Malham but there is only one other contender in the fleet that Gavignet's team want to beat and that is Team Concise, a rival British-owned MOD70 that recently set a new record in the Round Barbados Race.

"They have done a lot of racing in the Caribbean this year so it will be a very good contest but we have a good crew, and with some intensive training under our belt, we will be trying our best for a win," added Gavignet.

Known as the mini-Fastnet, since it follows the same course through the Solent down to the 49-metre high Eddystone Lighthouse – which is mentioned in Herman Melville's epic novel Moby-Dick – the Myth of Malham was named after the yacht of the same name, a 37'6″ sloop built in 1947 that went on to win the Fastnet race that year, and again two years later.

The Myth of Malham race starts on the morning of Saturday May 28 when the fleet will head west out of the Solent en route to the Eddystone Lighthouse before an exhilarating downwind ride back to the Solent under spinnaker.

"We can't wait to get racing again and are looking forward to getting some speed up on Musandam-Oman Sail," said Fahad Al Hasni, who is likely to be given helming duties.

"This is the first race of the season and we are keen to make an early impression. She's a fast boat and because we have a few records under our belt, we know we can get the best out of her but we also know we will have to be at the top of our game to win."

MOD70 Musandam-Oman Sail Programme