After an outstanding result at the Grand Prix Ecole Navale last week where they finished 22nd out of 56 boats with three top 10 results, the Oman Sail J80 girls – and M34 sailor Yassir Al Rahbi who stepped on board to lend some strength to the team – are raring to start the next challenge at The Normandy Sailing Week. Their teammates onboard the M34 will also take part in Normandy Week for their final training event before the start of July’s Tour de France a la Voile.

The ninth edition of Normandy Sailing Week is one of France’s top events and attracts a large fleet for a mix of inshore and coastal racing. The M34s kicked off the competition on Monday 9 June with a practice race, followed by a 200-nautical mile offshore on Tuesday and Wednesday, then inshore racing from Thursday to Sunday.

This regatta offers the mixed Omani and European crew onboard the Oman Sail M34 a last opportunity to train in race conditions for the Tour de France a la Voile (TDFV) and the competition amongst fellow TDFV competitors will be fierce with Groupama Team (Franck Cammas), Courrier Dunkerque 3 (Daniel Souben), Credit Mutuel Bretagne Elite (Nicolas Troussel) all on the start line.

Fahad Al Hasni, a regular on the MOD70 and M34 squad, has enjoyed the intensity of the past few weeks that saw the team win the ArMen Race with the MOD70 then train for a week in Le Havre. He will be on spinnaker trim for Normandy Week:

“We have had some excellent training opportunities so far this season and moving between the MOD70, the M34 and the J80 has really helped with our learning curve, but also with the communication between us. How we communicate will be critical during the Tour de France and we feel that we have achieved a solid base.”

Skipper and tactician onboard the M34, Sidney Gavignet, pointed out that Normandy Sailing Week is another chance to train for the team and given the similarities of the format to that of the TDFV, a good opportunity to rotate the crew to simulate what will happen in July:

“We have been practising our boat handling offshore and will continue to do that during this event and we will put the TDFV offshore crew on for the coastal racing and the inshore crew on for the in port racing to try to simulate Tour conditions. We won’t be chasing a result this week, but will be more focussed on fine tuning ahead of the Tour.”

The predominantly female J80 team will have a few more days to train on the J80 Al Thuraya-Oman Sail as their racing only starts on Friday 13 June. After an outstanding result at the Grand Prix Ecole Navale last week they are excited about the next event which is the final round before the J80 European Championships in Barcelona at the end of the month.

The Normandy Sailing Week J80 fleet will number 250 boats and will be tough racing, but the Women’s Sailing Programme crewmembers Rajaa Al Owaisi, Ibtisam Al Salmi and Nashwa Al Kindi, with British Olympic sailor Mary Rook and M34 sailor Yassir Al Rahbi, hope to be able to step up their performance again this weekend.

“Every time we go out we can literally notice a difference. Our training is slowly but surely paying off and we hope to do as well if not better at this next event as we did at the GP Ecole Navale. Our communications through manoeuvres and when things get a bit hairy are getting more and more smooth and that is really helping,” said Rajaa Al Owaisi who helms the boat.

M34 crew for Normandy Sailing Week

Sidney Gavignet – skipper/tactician
Gilles Favennec – jib trim
Cédric Pouligny – helmsman 1
Damien Iehl – helmsman 2
Fahad Al Hasni – spinnaker trimmer 1
Ali Al Balushi – bowman
Nasser Al Mashari – spinnaker trimmer 2
Mohammed Al Mujaini – pitman
Alexandre Pallu – mainsail trimmer 1
Guillaume Beranger – mainsail trimmer 2
Gérald Véniard – weather and navigator

Oman Sail Elite Sailing Squad Summer Programme 2014
MOD70 programme
• 21-29 June: Kiel Week, Germany
• 2-9 August: Artemis Challenge, Cowes Week, UK
• 10-14 August: Seven Star Round Britain and Ireland Race
• 2 November: Route du Rhum
M34 programme
• 9-15 June: Normandy Sailing Week, France
• 4-28 July: Tour de France a la Voile
J80 programme
• 13-15 June: Normandy Sailing Week, France
• 27 June-4 July: J80 European Championships, Spain