Back to the Middle East

We look at the new Oman Sail campaign that kicked off last weekend on the iShares Cup circuit

While Qatar may have been the buzzword in sailing two or three years ago, over the next few years expect it to be Oman. The giant Sultanate to the east of the UAE, Saudi and Yemen has 2000km of coastline facing the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian sea and at a time when young Omanis seem to prefer spending their money on 4X4s and speedboats, the Sultan, Qaboos bin Said Al Said, and the government are intent on revitalising their country's maritime heritage, creating role models for their youth as well as promoting Oman as a tourist destination. Central to their plan to achieve this is a massive sailing initiative.

And so we caught a first glimpse of this last weekend in Lake Lugano where a red Oman-branded Extreme 40 was competing in the iShares Cup, with a posse of familiar Brits on board - Olympic 49er bronze medallist Chris Draper steering, Team GBR's Athens Tornado rep Mark Bulkeley calling tactics, Pete Cumming and Freddie Carr plus two young Omanis, Abdullah al Busaidi and Ahmed al Maamari who were swapping in and out of the fifth man slot.

Pete Cumming, who we know best as a long term shore crew for Mike Golding's Ecover Open 60 campaign, is effectively managing this OC Group-inspired project, which, incredibly, has come together in just three weeks.

Originally Cumming had teamed up with Chris Draper (the two raced together on Louis Brown's Asterix winning the Mumm 30 Europeans) to campaign the iShares Cup with an undisclosed British owner. They acquired a new Marstrom boat and went out two boating against BMW Oracle Racing in Valencia only for the main forward beam (supporting the mast) to fail.

"The main front beam sheered at the windward hull," recounts Cummings. "We lost the rig. It was a structural failure. It wasn’t up to the job. It was the first one they’d made [Marstrom] and they halted production and had to scrap all the beams they’d made for all the other boats and had to put the build schedule back - that’s why a lot of the boats are a little bit late."

A lot of the carbon fibre components, such as the hull and cockpit moulds, the beams, daggerboards, rudders, rudder stocks, booms and genniker poles, of the first Extreme 40s were made by Heol Composites in France, who have manufactured carbon parts for most of the French trimaran and Open 60 campaigns. The latest Extreme 40s have been built entirely by Marstrom.

Unfortunately with the breakage, the team's plans came to a swift end. "Our backer who was funding the team, got a bit nervous about decided it was too risky for him," says Cumming.

Just when they thought they'd spend the 2008 season watching the iShares Cup on TV, Cumming got a phone call from OC Group boss Mark Turner making another proposition... And so the Oman Sail Extreme 40 campaign was born.

The boat they are now sailing is the original Extreme 40, the first Holmatro, and ironically is also the lightest boat carrying the maximum amount of lead correctors (38kg). Before heading for Lugano the catamaran underwent a very rapid refit in the Areva base in Valencia where it was also rebranded into its present red colour scheme. It has also been brought up to the modern spec of the Extreme 40s with a hydraulic outhaul being fitted, moving the cunningham cylinder on to the rig and fitted a new hydraulic manifold on to the aft side of the main beam.



But back to the Oman side of all this: Oman Sail is a much bigger venture than just the Extreme 40. Katharine Birtwistle, a Brit who has lived in Oman for the last year and has been seconded to Oman Sail from her position at Shell, expands on their aims: "The Sultanate of Oman is looking to reinvent its sailing heritage. It is a sailing nation - Zanzibar used to be part of Oman. It has a lot of coast. Sailing has been a big part of Oman, but increasingly it has been about powerboats and on land it has been about fast cars. Sailing is a way to get back to the maritime heritage.

"The second reason is to create some Omani role models. A new generation is coming through. Universities are increasingly female and we don’t have any Omanis who are standing up there going out and competing in sporting events on the world stage in any sport at all. We have the reserve keeper for Bolton Wanderers and an Omani competing as a Formula Renault driver, but that’s as far as it goes..."

Funded by the government via their Ministry of Tourism, Oman Sail is a two year campaign which will culminate in it being central to the festivities in 2010 celebrating the Sultan's 40th anniversary on the throne. It is a big deal in Oman with the team's activities being heavily covered in Omani newspapers while the Minister for Tourism, Dr Rajiha bint Abdul Amir bin Ali, one of the government's three women ministers, will be attending some of the events.

The Extreme 40 is only part of Oman Sail's activities. "We are doing a whole raft of sailing events between now and 2010 which we’ll explain in weeks to come," says Birtwistle. It is known for example that Ellen MacArthur's 75ft B&Q trimaran will be a more significant part of Oman Sail's activities over this period. A major launch is expected in Oman in November. Beyond 2010 Birtwistle says they hope Oman Sail will become a sustainable business, backed by Omani companies.

And what do the Omanis make of all this? Oman Sail is being run by Lieutenant Saleh al Jabri of the Oman Royal Navy and the team now consists of seven Omani sailors, chosen via a terrifying SAS-style selection procedure on land and on sea, similar to that which has formed part of reality TV shows in the UK. The two Omanis mentioned Abdullah and Ahmed shone out in these selection trials. Abdullah, the taller, is a fireman by profession, is always smiling and incredibly has learned to speak passable English in just one month. Shorter and more wiry, Ahmed is part of Omani special forces and has the sort of intense gaze that suggests you wouldn't want to be on the same continent as him if you happened to be on opposite sides in a war. He put the Brits on board to shame in just how quickly he was able to hoist the genniker.



"I love it," Abdullah told thedailysail. "I am sure sailing will grow up in Oman. There will be more sunshine there! It will be more T-shirt sailing!"

Over the course of the rest of the iShares Cup the rest of the Oman Sail team will get a chance to race the Extreme 40 with the aim that one of them will become a permanent crew sometime this year, whenever they are ready. After the iShares Cup event Hyeres they will continue on with their training, sailing during the day (where the language on board is English) and debriefing in the evening (where English gets translated into Arabic).

Given that the sailors have been recruited from the Omani forces and services, that they have been put through a survival selection process and have acquired Ellen's round the world trimaran, it doesn't take a genius to figure out there might be an offshore component to Oman Sail's program.

So watch this space and if you're looking to go on holiday this winter, add Oman to the list of possible destinations.