Experienced sailor and media man, Mark Covell, has joined Oman Sail’s ‘Majan’ crew to report from onboard the A100 trimaran on this inaugural Tour of Arabia to provide the inside track to this new adventure.  Mark will also stay with Majan for the inaugural Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race that starts in February 2010. His colourful reports are worth a read and Mark is also providing some great photos too, see the Image Gallery.

‘Race You Home’ email update 10/11/09
I have been lucky enough to have sailed many different types of boat from a tiny Mirror Dingy to a mighty J Class giant, but I have never sailed a big Trimaran. So when Paul Standbridge called and asked me to join Oman Sail on board the new Arabian 100 “Majan”, it was an immediate and very excited yes. I switched on my computer and headed straight for the Oman Sail website. There she was, 105 foot long, screaming across the waves, proudly displaying the word “Oman” on her needle like outer hulls. It wasn’t long before I was dusting off my dry bag and boots and heading out to join the team.

Oman has led the way in offshore multihull sailing. Oman Sail’s Mohsin Al Busaidi become the first ever Arab to sail non-stop around the world in March this year. It was therefore an obvious migration to head north and explore Arabian waters. And so Kuwait, at the end of the Arabian Gulf, is a logical starting point in a five-leg “Tour of Arabia” which will link together the GCC countries. As the tour travel southwards it will stop in Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and finally, home to Muscat and the Oman Sail project.

As I flew up the Gulf, I looked down on our intended route back to Muscat. I was struck by the majestic beauty of these waters and the twinkling lights of the oil-rigs dotted off the Arabian coast. It was a very visual reminder of what was behind this amazing transformation of the region. I can’t quite fathom the pace of change that has swept through the Gulf in comparatively little time.

The area has naturally still got very strong ties with the sea. Kuwait once had a prosperous pearl industry, now the heavy wooden dhows trawl long nets, fishing for hamour and king fish. Dhow racing is popular and taken very seriously, with large numbers of crew swinging down the windward rail. They look more like a Lake Garda Chentimeilia race skiff then an traditional wooden hulk. 

The region has a long history in discovery, adventure and pioneering sea travel. It’s said that Sindbad the sailor was from Oman. I like to think that hundreds of years ago, he and his crew came this way in their wooden Dhows, challenging other sailors as they navigated back down the Arabian coast. That’s a race in my book. So who best to open that route up again and lay down the gauntlet than Omani sailors?! Be it in strong dry winds blowing off the Saudi desert or heat shimmering lighter airs.  Once again it’s a challenge to other sailors; it’s a proud glance back at a historical trade route, but most of all it’s an opportunity to bring back a race course long forgotten. Now the only three headed giant, prowling the rejoin is the majestic A100 trimaran, “Majan”. So come on Sindbad, we’ll race you home to Muscat!


‘Let’s Go’ email update 12/11/09
Punctual as ever, we slipped off the dock at 6am and slid quietly out of the marina.  Kuwait was still and so was the wind. Our aim was to sail to Bahrain laying down the gauntlet and a time for others to beat. We had a boat, we had a start and a finish line and a keen crew ready and poised for action. The water was so still you could see the mirrored reflection of the sleeping city behind us. On this occasion the wind didn’t want to play sailing. We agreed to hold until midday because by then we were committed to make our way to our next port of call Bahrain.

At about 1pm enough wind had filled in to get us under way. The skipper Paul Standbridge called the compass course to our first way point as Jean- Sebastian called boat lengths to the start line just off the lighthouse. “Let’s go!” was exclaimed “270 miles to Bahrain, we’re racing!” The new Omani recruits Haitham, Mohammed and Hussain were wide-eyed and full of anticipation. They’ve come along way in their brief time with Oman Sail. Every manoeuvre, tack or jibe brings new learning opportunity. Even in these very light conditions the rope-loads can be high. The two seasoned professionals, Jean-Sebastian and Nick (Hooch), coach them well. The learning curve is sharp and steep, but this does not seem to hold these enthusiastic lads back from throwing themselves at the task. Today they are being taught a new lesson in racing in light airs: you can only control the controllable!

The heat rose, the wind sunk and along with it went our deadline. Time and tide waits for no man so on went the engine and off we went. The next set back was when Jean-Sebastian broke the news that we were down to our last tea bag. “I’m French-Canadian and we drink coffee not tea” he said with a resigned shrug. Jumping to his feet, our nimble skipper Paul instinctively took firm control of the situation. With quick thinking and an expert flick of his wrist, he grabbed his knife and skillfully fished out the boiling tea bags as if he was defusing a ticking bomb. Two strides later and he was at the rail tying a knot only a seaman of his calibre would know. Proudly he hung the two steaming bags up to dry. “That was close” he said wiping the tea stained blade across his leathery palm. The tea drinkers on board breathed a sigh of relief. We are in good hands!

The rest of the trip was not so eventful. We did roll the sails out again for some light air training, but it wasn’t long before the iron horse was back on again. We sailed past fishing dhows waving at us to stop and buy fresh fish, not that we had anything to cook them on. We dodged an oil rig being towed. We were visited by a small pod of dolphins who came for a look and we were even radioed by a 20,000 tonne US coalition war ship patrolling the Gulf. They asked lots of questions not quite knowing what to ask of a world class racing tri!  Our efficient skipper came straight back at them and put them to good use by asking them to report their weather predictions; our numerous identification footprints were working 100%.

We arrived into Bahrain on the morning of 12th November to the sad news the King’s uncle had passed away and the country was in mourning. In respect to the Bahraini royal family we canceled all our PR engagements promising we will be back one day to showcase Majan to the newly formed Team Bahrain sailing team.