Majan starts "Tour of Arabia"

The first Arabian 100 (A100) has now been launched by Oman Sail, and officially christened Majan (the ancient name for Oman). After four months of assembly in Oman's southern-most port of Salalah, Majan has been carrying out sea trials off the Omani coast under the watchful eye of skipper Paul Standbridge.

Designed by Nigel Irens, Majan is a development of the proven design Sodeb'O, the single-handed record breaker designed for Thomas Coville. Image © Sail Oman, used with permission.

Majan first kissed the water back on August 23rd. She has since been rigged and fitted out ready for sea trials. Image © Oman Sail, used with permission.

Her first official outing will be a 'Tour of Arabia' starting today from Muscat, which will include stops in UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar before joining the Dubai-Muscat race back to Muscat at the end of November.

First Arabian 100 coming together in Salalah

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

Trimaran Cool has been following the exciting trimaran activities of Oman Sail for a while. Following their team's round-the-world voyage on Musandam (the former B&Q/Castorama), they are now working hard to create a new class of maxi-racing trimaran, the Arabian 100. Following construction of the first boat at Boatspeed in Australia and then shipping via India, the Oman Sail team are now assembling the un-named trimaran in Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman. The previously unreleased cell-phone shot above shows the progress made as of yesterday - she is really starting to look like a fast machine!

Some more details come from Oman Sail: The first Arabian 100, a new class of 105’ trimaran, has arrived in Mina Salalah for final assembly. Built by Boatspeed in Australia, the three hulls and connecting beams were shipped on deck to Salalah via India. On Saturday the 2nd of May, the parts were transferred to the only shed in Salalah that could accommodate what will be one of the biggest racing trimarans in the world. Salalah was chosen not only because of the facilities available, but also because the project that Oman Sail has undertaken spans the length of Oman’s coastline and includes all cities, towns and villages of Oman. The project is already a few days ahead of schedule with the beams and amas (the shorter outer hulls), having been connected.

Over the next three months the spars will arrive from Southern Spars in Auckland, New Zealand whilst the Harken deck gear and winches have already arrived from Italy. Before the trimaran is launched near the end of August, during the annual Khareef, for sea trials, a full set of North Sails will arrive from France. Originally designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, the Arabian 100 is a close sister ship to the very successful and very famous Sodeb’O campaigned by Thomas Coville. Sodeb’O has set many records around the world and her design was a perfect platform on which to develop a new class of racing trimarans that also offer optimal training platforms.

Here are the amas being unloaded in Salalah:

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

Here is what she will look like when complete:

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

The Nigel Irens design influences and her family likeness to sister-ship Sodeb'O is very apparent. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project... that's Trimaran Cool!

First Arabian 100 trimaran heading for Oman (by freighter)

Now that Musandam (former B&Q / Castorama) has crossed the finish line in Oman, the Sail Oman team are concentrating on the delivery of their first Arabian 100 class racing trimaran. Constructed by Boatspeed in Australia, the first boat is now complete (although not yet assembled) and is now on the deck of a freighter en-route to Muscat. You can see the final stages of construction at the Boatspeed webcam. If this first boat is joined by others in the class, it will be a spectacular sight to watch them racing!