Oman Sail gears up for the start of the Tour de France a la Voile

by Oman Sail on 2 Jul 2014 Tour de France a la Voile - On Friday 4 July, the Oman Sail M34 squad will line up against some of France’s leading offshore sailors for the 37th edition of the eight-stage marathon race around the coast of France starting in Dunkerque on the English Channel and racing 733 nautical miles to finish at the end of July in Nice on the Mediterranean. This will be the fifth time that Oman Sail competes in the Tour de France a la Voile and the 11-man squad is aiming for a podium finish.

The 11-man Oman Sail Tour de France squad made up of mixed French and Omani crewmembers has been training for this event since February when they raced the highlight of the Gulf sailing season, Sailing Arabia-The Tour. Spi Ouest in the North of France was next on their race card, then the Grand Prix Guyader during which they raced the M34 and the MOD70 and then most recently Normandy Sailing Week.

Driven by Oman Sail’s goal of creating a generation of sailors, the project has been focussed on giving the Omani crewmembers the widest and best possible learning opportunities by training them on the 70ft trimaran as well as the M34 and the final Tour de France squad includes four Omani sailors, some of whom are on their fifth edition of the Tour.

At Normandy Sailing Week the team was able to measure its performance against two Tour favourites, Franck Cammas on Groupama 34 and Daniel Souben on Courrier Dunkerque 3, and while hopes run high for an Oman Sail podium finish, with Nicolas Troussel on Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite and young talent such as Baptiste Choquenot also fighting for a top spot, the event is going to be a battle to the very end.

'We have been building towards the Tour de France a la Voile since the beginning of the year, I see the event as another phase of our progression,' said French skipper and tactician Sidney Gavignet who is also preparing for the Route du Rhum at the end of the year. 'We have a good team and the human element will play a critical part during the intense three weeks to come. We will need to be confident, vigilant and focussed and will need to avoid errors and seize every opportunity to gain points. We will need to get into the game immediately and remain there to the end.

'I am delighted to return to the Tour, having spent a lot of time on big boats it is good to get back to close quarters racing against top sailors,' he added.

Sidney Gavignet, winner of the Tour in 1996 on E.Leclerc, has raced three editions, his last in 1998. Well-known French match racer Damien Iehl, on his twelfth Tour, including three wins (2003, 2004, 2010), will helm. Mohammed Al Mujaini (two Tours), Fahad Al Hasni (one Tour) a regular on the MOD70, Nasser Al Mashari (three Tours) The Wave, Muscat Extreme 40 bowman, and Ali Al Balushi (five Tours) along with Alex Pallu and Gilles Favennec, both from France and both Tour regulars – complete the crew. Teammates Cedric Pouligny, Guillaume Beranger and Gerald Veniard will rotate in throughout the three-week long event, providing much needed respite.

'Having a fresh new team and having approached the event with a lot more preparation this year, we have hopes of doing well and winning a podium for Oman,' said Mohammed Al Mujaini who can’t wait for the start. 'This will be my third Tour and I am as proud as it is possible to be to have been selected to represent Oman again at such a renowned French sailing event.'

The nine-boat fleet will race a combination of offshore, coastal and inshore legs starting with a prologue on Friday, followed by a two-day inshore regatta in Dunkerque before the fleet heads to Dieppe, Granville and Roscoff before being loaded onto trucks for overland shipping to Roses in Spain from where they will race to France’s Gruissan, Hyeres and the final weekend in Nice from the 25-27 July.

M34 squad for Tour de France a la Voile
Damien Iehl (FRA) – helmsman
Sidney Gavignet (FRA) – skipper/tactician
Fahad Al Hasni (OMA) – spinnaker trimmer
Ali Al Balushi (OMA) – bowman
Nasser Al Mashari (OMA) – spinnaker trimmer
Mohammed Al Mujaini (OMA) – pitman
Gilles Favennec (FRA) – jib trim
Alexandre Pallu (FRA) – mainsail trimmer
Cedric Pouligny (FRA) – helmsman
Guillaume Beranger (FRA) – mainsail
Gerald Veniard (FRA) – weather/navigator

Tour de France a la Voile 2014 – stages
1. Dunkerque 4-5-6 July: Start
2. Dieppe 7-8-9 July
3. Granville 10-11 July
4. Roscoff 13-14 July
5. Roses 17-18 July
6. Gruissan 19-20 July
7. Hyeres 22-23-24 July
8. Nice 25-26-27 July: Finish

Oman Sail Elite Sailing Squad Summer Programme 2014

M34 programme
4-28 July: Tour de France a la Voile

MOD70 programme
2-9 August: Artemis Challenge, Cowes Week, UK
10-14 August: Seven Star Round Britain and Ireland Race
2 November: Route du Event website