Arabian 100 – the
Light wind Round the Island
bits come together
Race bring multihulls to the fore
Oman Sail Masirah led the fleet back to Cowes
in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round
the Island Race as well as taking line honours
in the Extreme 40 class in an elapsed time of
6hrs 39 minutes. It was a nail-biting finish, with
a provisional 29 seconds separating the Omani
boat from Russell Coutts helming Team Aqua. Pete Cumming, skipper of Oman
Sail Masirah said:
"We were behind Team Aqua right up to Yarmouth but once round The Needles
it was true champagne sailing. At St Catherine's we out-gybed Team Aqua and
extended our lead to 22 minutes at Bembridge. We thought we might be able to
cruise back to Cowes but then the wind started to go light. Once in the Solent
The Arabian 100 trimaran is underway
it was even lighter and it shut down completely. We could see Team Aqua and
at Salalah in the Oman.
Team Origin (Ben Ainslie) trying to short tack out of the tide. We decided to stick
in the middle. It was a case of holding your nerve and covering Team Aqua. It's
The hulls, amahs and crossbeams have
always good to have a close race but to go from a 22 minute lead down to a 29
been built in Australia and shipped to
second win, that's really something."
Salalah where the first of what is hoped
will be a new racing class is being
The winning team comprised Olympic 49er silver medallist Chris Draper on
assembled in the Middle-East. The first
helm, Pete Cumming trimmer with Mark Bulkeley, Olympic Tornado sailor on
Arabian 100 trimaran will, when she hits
mainsheet. David "Freddie" Carr and Khamis al Anbouri shared the bow.
the water in the winter of 2009, become
part of a select group of the longest
These two were chased home by Team Origin, Tornado Sport and Oman sail
sailing trimarans ever built. She will in
Rennaisance
fact be 105ft/32m.
The most impressive Multihull on the water really required more wind to show
She will join the Oman Sail Racing Team
her spectacular power. IDEC managed to finish after 7hrs 46 minutes and the
fleet as the largest sailing boat to be
Seacart 30, Buzz finished in 8hrs 21 mins winning the Grand Prix class on
based in Middle-East region and, along
corrected time.
with Musandam, form the embryo of a
fleet of ocean racing boats based in the
Whilst the Harvey Bowden’s Firebird, Orion was the first to finish in 8hrs 48
Arabian Peninsula.
minutes. the F31 Chimera won the MOCRA class on elapsed time having
finished just 3 minutes behind Orion. The new Dragonfly 28 on its first race outing
The spars (mast and boom) of the
finished 30 minutes later and ended up fourth on corrected time.
Arabian 100 are on their way to Salalah
from Auckland, New Zealand. The mast
In the bridgedeck catamaran class the Shionning of Tony Purser took line
(115'/35m) and the boom of the boat
honours in 10hrs 25 minutes but it was the well sailed heavenly Twins of Tony
were designed and manufactured out
Salisbury that won on corrected time.
of carbon fibre by Southern Spars,
a specialist spar building company
A light wind race always throws up surprises but with warm weather, some good
in Auckland, to the very highest
sailing and plenty of fascinating boats to see. This year’s Round the Island race
standards. The assembly of the Arabian
was one to remember.
100 is already a few days ahead of
schedule and the launch of the boat
is planned for late August or early
September 2009.
»
JULY 2009 : MULTIHULL REVIEW 45
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