Fresh from a successful Krys Ocean Race, Oman Sail’s Multi One Design (MOD70) Musandam-OmanSail is set to take on the sixth edition of the Artemis Challenge at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. The Artemis Challenge has a change of format for 2012, IMOCA Open 60’s and MOD70’s will pair up into teams, with the pairing decided on the morning of the race by way of a coin toss.
Musandam-OmanSail skipper, French offshore sailor Sidney Gavignet, will line up alongside Michel Desjoyeaux onboard his MOD70 Foncia, with Artemis Ocean Racing II and Gamesa skippered by Britain’s Mike Golding completing the IMOCA Open 60 line up. On Thursday 16th August, the two classes will start off Cowes heading west, but after a short leg the MOD70 trimaran’s will round a mark and proceed to race east around the Island. They will compete a 50-mile course around the Isle of Wight, with either class racing in opposite directions.
The crews will be racing for their chance to claim a share of the £12,000 prize money for their nominated charity. Musandam-OmanSail have chosen to support the Al Hayat Association, a non-profit organisation which was established in Oman in 2011 to raise drug awareness amongst young people. It helps the victims of drug abuse in the country through a wide range of mental, physical and spiritual support. This year the prize money will be split between the team’s nominated charities, with £8,000 going to the winning two-boat team and the rest split between the fastest MOD70 and fastest IMOCA 60 yacht.
Amongst the Oman Sail team will be Omani sailors Hilal Al Zadjali and Khalfan Al Athobi, two sailors who were selected to compete in the race through Oman Sail’s innovative training programme, which has inspired thousands of young Omanis to discover and enjoy sailing. This programme has helped to produce a number of highly successful professional sailors including, Moshin Al Busaidi who was the first Arab to sail non-stop around the world in 2009, and has also allowed many young Omani’s to go on to compete in the sport at the highest international levels.
Joining the Omani’s on board for the race around the Isle of Wight will be a host of well-known offshore sailors and celebrities including; British television presenter and historian Dan Snow, his wife Lady Edwina Grosvenor and record breaking round the world sailor Dee Caffari, who earlier this year took part in Sailing Arabia The Tour with Oman’s first all-female crew. Sailing alongside skipper Sidney Gavignet for this event are two of Britain’s finest offshore and inshore sailors. Brian Thompson recently won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in a record breaking 45 days, he will join former Olympic sailor Leigh McMillan who is currently skippering The Wave, Muscat and leading the Extreme Sailing Series 2012.
This will be the last race Sidney and the Oman Sail team will compete in before they head to Kiel in Germany to compete in the MOD70 European Tour at the end of the August.