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INDIAN OCEAN FIVE CAPES RACE 2009
www.indianocean5capesrace.com - Übersicht
12th February 2010
INDIAN OCEAN FIVE CAPES RACE & TOUR OF ARABIA
FIRST CAPE, FIRST LEG
NEXT STOP CAPE TOWN
Oman Sail's new A100 'Majan' left Muscat (Oman) last Saturday (6
.2.10) to begin the journey of tracing out the route of the new
Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race course that links together the Middle
East, Africa, Australia and Central Asia, ahead of the first
official edition planned for Spring 2012.
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Foto: www.indianocean5capesrace.com
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Alongside the 105-ft
A100 multihull was Oman Sail's 75-ft multihull 'Musandam' a
boat that has already circumnavigated the globe under the Oman
Sail banner.
It was a relatively short first leg, only 1400 miles from Oman to
the Maldives, but included passing the first of the five great
capes Ras Al Hadd. Literally meaning 'the cape' in Arabic, it
is the easternmost point of the Arabian Peninsula and Oman is
very proud that this is the point where the suns first rays
touch land on rising. Just short of 5 days of sailing Majan's
crew, skippered by Paul Standbridge, and Musandam reached the
island of Male, capital of the Maldives, on Thursday (10.2.10).
The Oman Sail multihulls received a great send off from Muscat
and were rewarded on arrival in the Maldives by a small armada
of boats flying Omani flags. The first leg of this challenging
new course proved to be testing for both crew and boat: "Over
the next six hours we sailed under eight different sail
combinations to cope with the wind's fickle mood. We saw as much
as 26 knots and as little as zero. Why is it in so many races
and crossings the first night at sea, Mother Nature and King
Neptune gang up and tries to catch you out?" wrote Mark Covell
after the first day at sea. Navigator Thierry Douillard
commented: "The weather for this first leg was not really ideal
with High Pressure on the direct course, but we managed to cross
and for the last two days, we were downwind with full index and
gennaker - good fun."
As the 105-ft multihull sped towards its Leg 1 destination, Mark
reported: "Like a fast train on a downhill run, we are coming in
with pace! The boat hums and whistles to the key of "C", it's
like she's on that train but listening to her own iPod, nodding
her head with the beat and smiling from hull to hull." The brand
new A100 trimaran designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret
endured a bit of a shakedown in the difficult sea state: "We
knew about a small crack in the deck just behind the mast rotate
pad eye. There was also a small grub screw to hold it all
together that was also dipped in Loctite. It just goes to show
that our night of shaking, rocking and rolling took its toll.
The shock loads that shudder through the hull and rig are huge.
If the outriggers were solid the boat would break up, but like
an aircrafts flexible wing, we bend and bow with the moving
waves".
The 'Majan' crew led by Paul Standbridge includes two Omanis
Mohsin Al Busaidi, who became the first Arab to sail non-stop
round the world on 'Musandam' and Mohammed Al Ghailani, who as
the pseudo-apprentice, continues to impress: "He wears the medal
for best-improved crew. He has spent a lot of the time on the
helm being coached by Michael Giles. As I type this, he is on
the helm pushing consistently good speeds and making the most of
the dropping wind pressure."
The Oman Sail crews will look forward to some rest as the shore
team get to work to ensure the A100 is ready to depart for the 4
,200-mile second leg from the Maldives to Cape Town, starting on
the 16th February the next chapter in the Indian Ocean 5 Capes
Race and the infamous Cape Agulhas.
ABOUT THE MALDIVES
The Maldives or Maldive Islands is an island country in the
Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of 26 atolls stretching in
a north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands. Winner
of the 'Indian Ocean's Leading Destination' at the World Travel
Awards 2008. The atolls of the Maldives encompass a territory
spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres. It is also the
smallest Asian country in both population and area and the
lowest highest point in the world, at 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in).
Majan's media crew, Mark Covell who stands at 2m tall, expects
to be see most of the 1,190 coral Islands from standing on the
deck of Majan!
For more information about the Maldives, please visit:
www.visitmaldives.com [http://www.visitmaldives.com/]
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