Oryx Quest was the name of the first round-the-world yacht race to start and finish in the Middle East and was held in February 2005 in Qatar. The race, organised by British sailor Tracy Edwards, was regarded as a follow-up to The Race of 2000 and was designed to complement existing Multihull races. It was hoped that the size of the prize and the potential speed of the participating boats would make it the most-exciting round-the-world race to date. Record prize money of $1 million was offered by Qatar Sports International which was headed by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Heir Apparent of

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, which hoped to gain publicity as a

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

destination. The prize money however, along with the £6 million sponsorship was never paid by Qatar Sports International. On 5 February four

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one Hull (watercraft), hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, wi ...

ed yachts began the route, off

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Entries

The participants were: *'' Doha 2006'',

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

, formerly ''Club Med'' (winner of The Race), skippered by Brian Thompson. *''

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

'', catamaran, formerly ''Enza'' (winner of the 1995

Jules Verne Trophy The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding t ...

), skippered by Tony Bullimore. *''

Geronimo Gerónimo (, ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands the Tchihen ...

'',

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recrea ...

, (winner of the 2004 Jules Verne Trophy), skippered by

Olivier de Kersauson Olivier de Kersauson de Pennendreff (born 20 July 1944) is a French sailor and sailing champion. Kersauson was the seventh child in a family of eight. While he was the only Kersauson not to have been born in Brittany, he was born on 20 July 1944 ...

. *''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

'', catamaran, formerly ''PlayStation'', (holder of the world record for circumnavigations at the time of the start of Oryx Quest), skippered by David Scully.

Results

Race

'' was the first elimination on 2 March, as a result of hull damage following a collision with flotsam. de Kersauson returned to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to have the boat repaired, and to break the record for the circumnavigation of the

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

in July. A week later the mast of ''Cheyenne'' broke just after the boat had rounded

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

. With two remaining boats, ''Doha 2006'' won the race, finishing with an overall time of 62 days, 21 hours and 1 minute. The more-than-20-year-old ''Daedalus'' crossed the finishing line some 13 days later.

Media coverage

Media coverage in the Middle East, Far East and Asia (Qatar's key target markets) was valued at $46 million and the weekly race programmes by APP were seen in 600 million homes, making it the most widely watched race in yachting history. The website made by Sycamore including the children's 'Ali the Albatross' education pages received over 20 million hits. Tracy and her team also put together Qatar's first Sports Education Programme to which over 10,000 Qatari school children signed up.

Financial fiasco

HSBC paid £3 million towards the event and Edwards personally borrowed £8 million to pay suppliers, her team and each of the competitors was paid between $1 million and $2 million each to enter (the first time a yacht race has managed to do this). However, Qatar Sports International reneged on the £6 million sponsorship deal and $1 million prize money and Edwards was consequently forced into bankruptcy and lost her home. She was discharged in September 2005. Edwards' legal team in Qatar won the first stage of her legal action in Qatar on 31 January 2006. Legal action to recover monies owed to Quest, its suppliers and Edwards herself is still ongoing.

Criticism

Organiser Edwards was criticised by

Bruno Peyron Bruno Tristan Peyron (born 10 November 1955) is a French yachtsman who, along with his crew on the catamaran '' Orange II'', broke the outright round-the-world sailing record in March 2005. He was the first winner of the Jules Verne Trophy in ...

for splitting the field of potential participants by insisting on her own event, so that as a result Peyron was not able to recruit enough participants for his own event: a second edition of The Race. He won the 2005 Jules Verne Trophy instead, improving the record for

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnaviga ...

which had previously been held by ''Cheyenne''.

References

External links

* {{Offshore sailing races 2005 in sailing Round-the-world sailing competitions 2005 in Qatari sport Sailing competitions in Qatar