Sixth MOD70 launched

Sidney Gavignet-skippered Oman Sail touches l'eau in Lorient

The sixth MOD70 was launched yesterday in the form of the latest offshore trimaran for Oman Sail.

There has been less than eight months since the commitment of the Sultanate of Oman to the Multi One Championship to the actual launch of Oman Sail's new 70ft trimaran. Helmsman of the new boat will be Sidney Gavignet who represented the Gulf state in the 2010 Route du Rhum. 

The Omani team, that is believed to include Brian Thompson as well as two Omani sailors now have less than three months in which to prepare their boat, train and deliver it to the start of the Krys Ocean Race in New York.

Sidney Gavignet said: "The Oman Sail project is very close to my heart and the support itself is a real honour. The idea of ​​the Sultanate is to create a sailing industry which works in parallel to the business of tourism to develop jobs. Within our team, there are Omani sailors who are opening up to the challenges of the maritime world. Today our story continues with the launch of Oman Sail and here together I see in the eyes of my teammates a lot of emotion. This is a first for us all, a touching, important moment in our history together.

"Oman Sail is undoubtedly the new kid of this fleet as it is the latest and newest boat to be launched before the Krys Ocean Race. We still actually only have a little less than three months of preparation. However, we sailed in Race for Water completed a short apprenticeship, learning the ropes recent weeks. We will now continue this learning aboard Oman Sail. We plan to be training from Port La Forêt with Foncia and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in two weeks and then to follow up with a training week comprising some night sails, all the time logging crucial performance data. Certainly, other teams at the moment are more experienced but our Oman Sail crew are good. Our goal for this first race is to finish it and do our best to be in the best possible place."