Dubai, UAE – After three days of racing across 360 nautical miles, two French-flagged boats led the fleet home in the 33rd edition of the Aramex Dubai to Muscat Offshore Sailing Race.
Xavier Bouin’s Tan 3 was first into Muscat, with Julien Monie’s Heaven Can Wait crossing just 16 minutes and 4 seconds behind.
It was an extraordinarily close finish after three days at sea that tested both crews to their limits. For Bouin, sailing the Dragonfly 40C with his wife Tania Bouin as the only double-handed multihull in the fleet, the victory was years in the making.
“We’ve wanted to be first on the line with a trimaran for so many years,” said Bouin. “The first day we started a bit slow – round the buoy was a bit of a mess – but then we caught up at the gap. At the top of Hormuz, we caught a lot of boats there.”
From that point, Tan 3 never looked back. Light winds on Monday morning suited the trimaran perfectly. “The boat loves light wind, so it was good for us,” Bouin explained. “Yesterday was great, lovely champagne sailing. And then for once, the wind stayed in all the way to the finish.”
For Heaven Can Wait, the Beneteau First 53 skippered by Darren Sheppard, the race was a battle of attrition. Near Musandam, the boat broached in gusts of 20 knots and their spinnaker paid the price.
“The kite just disintegrated,” said Sheppard. “That was pretty disappointing. We went without a kite for 10 miles into the gap, which obviously hurt us.”
They dropped as low as 11th on the water, but the crew – most of whom had never sailed together before – stuck to their plan and fought back through the fleet. At the Sohar Gate, they trailed Tan 3 by one hour and five minutes. By the Jazirat Fahl Gate, that gap had shrunk to 33 minutes, and at the finish it was down to just 16.
“Most of the time we were trying to sail the shortest distance, and at the end of the day, that’s what we did,” said Heaven Can Wait’s Abdallah Atie, whose efficient routing saw them sail 28 fewer miles than Tan 3 on the way to Marina Bandar Al Rowdha.
Two French boats, two very different approaches – a husband-and-wife crew sailing 381 miles against an eight-strong team covering just 353 – yet they arrived in Muscat almost together.
“Two French boats at the end is fantastic,” Bouin smiled. “We were controlling them. We made sure they were behind.”
Jan Felton’s Khaleesi, another Dragonfly 40C, crossed two and three-quarter hours behind the first boat to finish in third, also the second multihull home. Simon Reeves’ Notorious I followed 38 minutes later.
The next wave of arrivals is expected through the evening, including Matrix, Nagini and Exodus. For Exodus skipper Phil Ellerby, this marks his 25th consecutive Dubai to Muscat Race – a remarkable legacy in Gulf offshore racing. Sandpiper is currently leading the IRC standings, followed by last year’s overall winner Nagini. The race has seen nine retirements in total.
A steady breeze should help the remaining fleet home, although a forecast lull north of Muscat could yet reshuffle the mid-fleet order.
