Oryx Quest
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Oryx Quest was the name of a round-the-world yacht race held in 2005, which offered prize money of $1,000,000.
The race, organised by British sailor Tracy Edwards, was regarded as a follow-up to The Race of 2000. 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. The record prize money was donated by the government of Qatar, which hoped to gain publicity as a tourism destination.
On 5 February four multihulled yachts began the route, off Doha. The participants were:
- Doha 2006, catamaran, formerly Club Med (winner of The Race), skippered by Brian Thompson
- Daedalus, catamaran, formerly Enza (winner of the 1995 Jules Verne Trophy), skippered by Tony Bullimore
- Geronimo, trimaran, (winner of the 2004 Jules Verne Trophy), skippered by Olivier de Kersauson
- Cheyenne, catamaran, formerly Playstation, (holder of the world record for circumnavigations at the time of the start of Qryx Quest), skippered by David Scully
Geronimo was the first elimination on 2 March, as a result of hull damage following a collision with flotsam. De Kersauson returned to Australia to have the boat repaired, and to break the record for the circumnavigation of the continent in July. A week later the mast of Cheyenne broke just after the boat had rounded Cape Horn. 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.
Because of the early exit of two contestants and the domination of the winning boat, the race was not seen as dramatic or exciting. Media coverage in the UK and France was weak, raising questions about the future of round-the-world races.
Organiser Edwards was criticised by Bruno Peyron 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 which had previously been held by Cheyenne.
