Despite his limited experience, Al Hasni proved to be a very gifted helmsman.

CNN: Oman sails into history in first transatlantic yacht race

Both Al Busaidi and Al Hasni are part of the "Oman Sail" project, which aims to encourage people across Omani society to take up the sport.

CNN: Oman sails into history in first transatlantic yacht race

Deposed Egyptian president Hasni Mubarak famously cut off Internet and mobile phone service in Egypt at the height of the Arab Spring demonstrations that led to his ouster.

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Al Busaidi, who had never sailed before joining the Sultan of Oman's Navy as young man, was joined aboard the "Musandam-Oman Sail" by his fellow 29-year-old countryman Fahad Al Hasni who has only been sailing for three years.

CNN: Oman sails into history in first transatlantic yacht race

"Our potential in thermal solar power is four times the world's energy consumption, so you can have all the ambitions you want with that, " Tewfik Hasni, managing director of New Energy Algeria, or NEAL, a company created by the Algerian government in 2002 to develop renewable energy, told the Associated Press last year.

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