Arab nation's first ever all-female crew gets top British skipper
Dee Caffari, the only woman to have made three non-stop circumnavigations, is joining the all-women crew of Oman Sail to compete in Sailing Arabia – The Tour in 2012.
Oman Sail’s Women’s programme was launched in 2011 to develop Oman’s first professional women sailors and this will be the first event in which the team compete.
By the end of this year Caffari’s four crew members will have been chosen from those winnowed down from the 70 who started the programme in July.
The crew can expect an exciting first race on their Farr 30. Caffari has already had record-breaking success with an all-female crew in 2009, when she lead the team that broke the mono-hull speed record for sailing around Britain and Ireland in just six days.
‘I am delighted to have been chosen to skipper Al Thuraya Bank Muscat in SATT as part of the Oman Sail Women’s Programme and am looking forward to spending the winter months training in Oman as we prepare for the Tour’ said Dee. ‘It is a fantastic opportunity for the women. I believe that we can do more than we think we can and hope that I can facilitate all the crew to realize their potential.’
Image: Dee Caffari / Oman Sail