Passion for sailing took him around the globe - Mohsin Al Busaidi just sailed into the record books becoming the first Arab to circumnavigate the world in 76 days. 

Times of Oman - 31/3/2009

MUSCAT — His mesmerising hazel eyes makes you think of the oceanic depths and the serene Himalayan lakes. He is Mohsin Al Busaidi, who just sailed into the record books becoming the first Arab to circumnavigate the world in 76 days. 
 
In a freewheeling conversation with Times Sport at Muscat Intercontinental lawns, the boy from Al Khoud revealed what a simple, soft-hearted and hard-working guy-next-door he still is. 
 
Circumnavigating the planet on a multi-hull is arguably the biggest challenge one could think of; in fact it is difficult to conceive what could be harder, but Mohsin was determined to sail through the freezing cold of the southern oceans to reignite the maritime heritage of Oman. 
 
“I always have had this passion for sailing. While in navy my superior, Saleh Said Al Jabry, introduced me to sailing. It is due to his blessings that I got into the Oman Sail team,” Mohsin said. The rest, as they say, is history. 
 
Mohsin was selected after a vigorous training to join a crew of five. 
 
He felt on top of the world the moment he came to know they were going to sail in the record-breaking 75-foot trimaran owned by Dame Ellen MacArthur. 
 
“I could not believe when they told me I was going to sail on a trimaran that was used by Ellen. 
 
"She is a legend in this form of sport,” Mohsin said. 
 
When the boat came to Oman it was renamed Musandam and was given the proud colours and symbol of the Sultanate. 
 
Mohsin is very close to his mother and gets emotional every time he talks about her, and going for a non-stop tour was something that was hard for him to imagine. 
 
“That (going around the world) was the toughest decision I had ever made in my life. I had never been away from my mom at any point of time and I took that as a punishment,” he said. 
 
Mohsin started missing his mother from the day he left the shores of Muscat and was homesick for about a week. 
 
“Every day after the Fajr prayer, I tell my mom to pray for me and she always does. That was something I missed on board,” said Mohsin. 
 
And when he came back, Mohsin rushed home to see his mother who had taken ill. “Mum felt her soul come back again when she saw me.” 
 
Gruelling journey 
 
The non-stop 45,000-km course took Mohsin and the crew deep into the harsh and hostile southern ocean on the Muscat-to-Muscat course, which circled the bottom of the globe, passing the legendary capes of Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope. 
 
Mohsin battled freezing conditions, the threat of icebergs and whales and waves. On top of this, the crew had to live on a diet of freeze-dried food and sleep only for a three-hour stretch at a time working a shift pattern day and night. 
 
“That was really hard to take initially but there was no other option, so I was forced to do it. In general, the whole journey was a learning experience. A sailing boat is different from an engine boat and I could learn more about navigation. The whole experience was wonderful,” he said. 
 
They faced many technical problems during the course of the journey. 
 
“Well, you start to say, ‘you’ll finish’. That’s the most important thing. You know, you choose to do it, you want to do it, and you want to be out there. 
 
"You know exactly why you’re out there, so you get on with it. And you always try to see the other side of a problem, to look for a solution.” 
 
Does he think of marriage now? 
 
Mohsin is in fact waiting for the right girl. With so much female fan following at the moment, one shouldn’t be surprised about the marriage proposals coming his way these days. Mohsin has however left that decision to his family. 
 
“Who knows, if I find the right girl I will get married,” he said. But Mohsin was not sure when. 
 
“With the amount of work at hand at the moment, it may get delayed.” 
 
This handsome guy, however, believes he came this far on account of a streak of luck. “I could never have imagined reaching this level. I never imagined one day I would be sailing on a boat around the world. I have reached this level because of some other force working in my favour.” What motivates and excites him more, breaking records or winning races? 
 
Special moments 
 
“Pushing myself and working with a team,” Mohsin said 
 
“Being patient and work as a team is something that I have learnt from this journey. You have to know deep inside you that life is not always easy and not always hard. If you work together you can succeed in life,” he said. 
 
During the course of his journey, Mohsin spoke to Rajiha bint Abdulamir bin Ali, the minister of tourism, and it was a special moment in his life. “To be frank, I became emotional when I spoke to her because she was representing the whole people of Oman,” he said. 
 
Asked whether he had known earlier about the reception that had been planned for him, Mohsin said: “One of my friends, Zackaria, sent me an email informing me about a good-luck card greeting me that was doing the rounds in Muscat, and when I arrived in Muscat, they asked me to be on board for a while. I was getting little worried about that, but the moment I saw thousands of people who had gathered to see me in Muttrah, I thought I was living in a dream land.”