After four months of assembly in Oman’s southern most port of Salalah, skipper Paul Standbridge has been stretching the legs of Oman Sail’s new Arabian 100 (A100) trimaran during sea-trials off the Omani coast. Now named Majan, after the ancient name for Oman, Oman Sail’s 100-foot multihull is operational and heading into the Gulf and a tour of neighbouring countries.

SInce putting Musandam – Dame Ellen MacArthur’s world record breaking B&Q/ Castorama – up for sale, A100 has become the team’s flagship project. Based on the proven design of trimaran Sodebo, holder of the solo North Atlantic crossing record, the design has been tailored for the needs of Oman Sail and their objective of training and developing Omani sailors to compete on the international stage.

The launch of Majan is an ambitious addition to the project’s mission to inspire a new generation of young Omanis. The first chapter was started when Mohsin Al Busaidi returned to Oman after successfully circumnavigating the world non-stop on Musandam. From there, success has followed as the two Oman teams took 1st and 3rd in the 2009 European iShares Cup. At the heart of all this success lies the Oman Sail Academy where young Omanis are now taking part in try sailing courses. Their aims are ambitious: by 2015, the project hopes to have seven academies running across the country enabling over 30,000 Omanis to try sailing.

Majan will sail with a crew of seven: 50% of the sailors will be Omani offshore trainees joined by three international professional crew.  The first chapter will be a ‘Tour of Arabia’ starting next week from Muscat, which will include stops in UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar before Majan joins the Dubai-Muscat race back to Muscat one month later.

For more, visit www.omansail.com