Kiel Week - Oman’s flagship campaign Musandam-Oman Sail to fly flag

by Oman Sail on 5 Jun 2014 Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) 2014 is being held from from June 21 to 29. Oman Sail’s magnificent MOD70 racing machine Musandam-Oman Sail will be flying the flag for the Sultanate of Oman in Germany next week when the mixed Omani and European sailing team takes pride of place at the world’s largest sailing event and Northern Europe’s biggest summer festival.

Over nine days from June 21-29, the Baltic Sea port festival is expected to attract around three million visitors, guaranteeing some high volume exposure for the Omani boat which will be supported by a special shoreside exhibition to promote Oman as a premium tourist and sailing destination.

Mr Salim Al Maamari, Director General of Tourism Promotion at the Ministry of Tourism of Oman said Kieler Woche offers a valuable opportunity to spread the country’s message: 'Kieler Woche is one of the most important European sailing events, and one of the biggest with three million people expected to visit during the week-long event, in which 4,500 crew members and 1,800 boats will be competing.

'The presence of the Ministry of Tourism Exhibition Pavillion and also Musandam-Oman Sail, our flagship sailing campaign, during this festival is an unparalleled opportunity for Oman to speak directly to its target tourism market.'
As well as representing the Sultanate, the crew onboard Musandam-Oman Sail will be focussed on setting a new record in the 28 nautical mile Welcome Race from Kiel to Eckernfoerde with a target of 2 hours 6 minutes and 50 seconds set by the SAP Extreme 40 in 2013 to beat.

Ireland’s greatest sailor Damian Foxall will skipper the Oman Sail flagship in the absence of Sidney Gavignet (who is training with the M34 team for the Tour de France a la Voile) with the help of one of Oman’s star sailors Mohsin Al Busaidi who in 2009 became the first Arab to sail around the world, plus two Omani sailors new to MOD70 racing Sami Al Shukaili and Yassir Al Rahbi.

Two of Germany’s leading offshore sailors Anna-Maria Renken and Tim Kroger will also join the team for Kiel Week lending some key local knowledge to the team.

'It will be very nice to sail the MOD70 again,' said Mohsin Al Busaidi. 'We are very much looking forward to returning to Germany.

'Aside from Damian, our team does not have much MOD70 experience, so we will be learning the ropes a bit in the absence of the wider squad that includes Fahad Al Hasni and Sidney Gavignet,' he added. 'But having said that, we will be trying our hardest. We are all looking forward to it!'

Shoreside, the Oman Sail team will be having their own race, to see how many visitors they can introduce to Oman at the Exhibition Pavilion, which was extremely popular when it was last in Kiel two years ago.

With regular direct flights between Germany’s Frankfurt and Munich to Muscat in Oman, interest levels were high in 2012 as representatives from the Ministry of Tourism talked guests through a range of unique experiences in sailing, adventure and nature activities illustrated in images throughout the exhibition and treated them to traditional Omani hospitality that included strong Omani coffee and succulent dates.

The Pavilion hosts are expecting another surge of interest in 2014 as the word about Oman’s appeal starts to gain momentum.