Oman’s giant racing boats, Majan and Musandam, set sail today (6 February) on the first leg of the Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race. Majan, Oman Sail’s “Arabian 100” trimaran is trailblazing the course in this inaugural race in order to set a time and route for other racing yachts to follow in years to come. Musandam will follow in her wake and use some of the legs of the course as an opportunity to train more young Omani sailors for future challenges.

The Oman Sail shore team, colleagues from The Wave, Muscat and friends and families flocked to the shore line to wish the crews on board the Oman boats safe passage as the embarked on the next step of Oman Sail’s plans to create international events based from Muscat.

On board Majan is a crew of six sailors as well as an onboard media man who will send back daily news from onboard as well as images and videos. Two of the crew on Majan are Omani, one of them being Mohsin Al Busaidi, our national hero who sailed into the history books in March 2009 when he became the first Arab to circumnavigation the globe non- stop. Joining him will be Mohammed Al Ghailani, a new member of the Oman Sail offshore team and a member of the Majan crew when they did the Tour of Arabia at the end of 2009. Musandam will have a crew of five onboard, two of who are also Omani sailors new to the offshore world; Nawaf Al Gheedani and Haythem Al Ghanami.  As Mohsin Al Busaidi explained “It is great to be going back to the open ocean and helping to trace out new routes with the Oman flag held high and pride. It was just over a year ago that I returned from sailing around the World and I am equally excited by the prospect of tracing out a new race circuit from Muscat. With the success of my team mates Khamis Al Anbouri and Nasser Al Masari yesterday in the Extreme Sailing Series competition here in Muscat, we are putting Oman on the international sailing map.”

Life on board for the sailors will not be easy. There are only three berths (small cot beds) on each boat, there are no toilets or showers on board and each boat only has one simple gas stove where the crew will rehydrate food by adding boiling water – never an easy in the Southern Ocean where each wave can be taller than a house.  

With a total distance of 16,300 nautical miles (30,200km) this new course will take Oman’s new flagship Arabian 100 trimaran via the Indian Ocean’s five great Capes: “Today the Atlantic is the playing field for the sailing world’s greatest oceanic races and all the round the world races start and finish in Europe. The new Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race course is 100% Indian Ocean utilizing the boundaries of the Middle East, Africa, Australia and Central Asia,” said Mark Turner, CEO, OC Group, the race organizers.

As David Graham, CEO Oman Sail explained to the local press watching the departure of the trimarans from the docks of The Wave, Muscat “We have watched Oman dominate the Extreme Sailing Series Asia here in Muscat and we are now looking to show off Oman’s capabilities on the offshore stage as well. Our crews on Majan are heading off today to trace out a potential new course ahead of the first official edition planned for Spring 2012.

There is a great national pride in the project and already other GCC nations are interested in developing similar sailing programmes and we encourage this. Ultimately, if by 2016 we had six big race boats racing on this new Indian Ocean course under the colours of different Gulf and Asian nations, for me, that would be a great achievement. For now, we are here to wish our crews on both Majan and Musandam safe passage and favourable winds on their adventure.”

Majan will be sailing from Muscat through the tropical waters of Oman past Ras al Hadd (literally 'Cape' in Arabic) with their bows pointing towards the Equator. After a stop in the Maldives, Majan will then head down to the tip of South Africa, crossing Cape Agulhas, and Cape Town. The Omani teams will then turn East to race across the frozen and treacherous Southern Ocean, one of the most exhilarating legs of the course, before reaching the warmth of Cape Leeuwin and Australia's west coast. From here the boats sail north to Cape Piai in the Malacca Straits close to Singapore and up to Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India before returning the welcoming shores of Oman and the starting point of the journey in Muscat.