Seven years ago this month, a delegation from the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) travelled to Stockholm to meet Knut Frostad, then the chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race.
That year’s race was coming to an end, but TCA’s plans were just starting. They wanted a platform from which to build on an already deep maritime heritage and further tourism figures in the emirate.
The delegation met with race officials and several teams, including one led by Ian Walker and Jamie Boag. A year later, TCA had put together a team – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ador), led by Walker and Boag – as well as a bid for a stopover.
Almost exactly six years after that first trip, now a year ago, there came a remarkable culmination. Azzam, Ador's boat, won the VOR, the toughest ocean sailing race in the world bar none.
Mostly it was remarkable because it was only the second time Azzam had taken part and the first race, in 2011-12, had been a small-scale disaster. But it was also because of how tough the race was this time: one-design boats meant the field was level and the racing closer than ever before.
See also:
• Ali Khaled: Emirati sailing champion Adil Khalid intent on flying the UAE flag at Olympics once again
• Osman Samiuddin: Hard part for Abu Dhabi was winning Volvo Ocean Race – hardest part will be building on it
• Osman Samiuddin: Volvo Ocean Race won, Abu Dhabi now celebrate – and assess future of Azzam project
Azzam were ruthless, finishing on the podium in almost each of the nine legs, as well as the in-port races. For most of the legs, they had Adil Khalid as a key member, an Emirati Olympian and a quiet, shy hero in the Emirati sailing community. Frostad was not wrong when he said the achievement was one of the "biggest" in the UAE's sporting history.
The final culmination of that journey, however, came this Tuesday. VOR announced on its website that the five-year association with Ador and Abu Dhabi had finally come to an end – Abu Dhabi will not have a team or a stopover in the next edition of the race in 2017-18.
One way to look at it is to acknowledge it as a natural end. The original agreement was as a two-race deal. And with the win last year, it is safe to assume that the main objectives of the project were achieved.
But it is only natural to feel a tinge of sadness at the end of what has turned out to be an immense journey. A single VOR creates such a narrative of human adventure and endeavour, of a battle between man and the elements he was born to, but Azzam's ride, over two races, has been a different scale of epic.
Right from the very first night of the first race, in October 2011, when they broke their mast hours into the start and pulled out of the leg, it was clear that this would be no humdrum participation.
"Of course it wasn't without its ups and downs," Azzam's skipper Ian Walker said in a statement, with some understatement. "None of those involved will fail to remember the gut-wrenching disappointment of the mast breaking on the first night leaving Alicante in 2011, or the desperate bid to stay in the race after damaging the boat in the Southern Ocean and retiring from Leg 5."
The highs were incredible, not least winning the treacherous Auckland-Itajai leg, the leg across the Southern Ocean they had not completed in the first year, but the winning of which second time round eventually set them on their way to triumph. Only the very best survive that leg, let alone win it, and in further setting a 24-hour speed record during the course of it.
There was the in-port race triumph in Abu Dhabi in the first edition, but there was also Khaled’s celebration of the UAE’s National Day out at sea, between Cape Town and Abu Dhabi on the Indian Ocean.
He decided to shed normal sailing kit and instead wore the kandura for a few days (making for a memorable photograph). He did it partly because of the heat but mostly as a nod to the UAE’s sailing heritage, to those predecessors who used to go pearl diving on their dhows for days.
Walker’s sweat and blood was evident through every minute of this journey though.
He looked tired and haggard after the first leg win in Cape Town in November 2014, but that was just bluff. He looked like that through the entire race but he was anything but.
He ground his way through both races, overseeing every little decision, every big one, involving everyone on the boat and off it. As he always said, he was running a mid-size company, except he was doing it out of the ocean, battling crazy storms, dangerous waves and freeze-dried food.
“Sailing has grown markedly in Abu Dhabi in the time that I have been going there, and I hope the region will continue to attract more sailing projects in the future,” Walker said. “Abu Dhabi’s maritime heritage is long and the Volvo Ocean Race is a new chapter that has now been written.”
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
CHINESE GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID
1st row
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2nd row
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
3rd row
Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
4th row
Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
Sergio Perez (Force India)
5th row
Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Haas)
6th row
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Esteban Ocon (Force India)
7th row
Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
8th row
Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
9th row
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)
10th row
Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
arcus Ericsson (Sauber)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
