A group of British expatriates set up the first sailing club in Abu Dhabi 43 years ago, when the capital was still a sleepy desert town with only a few tarred roads.
Now, the burgeoning city of steel and glass has been nominated to host the world's most prestigious round-the-world event, the Volvo Ocean Race, at a marina built for royalty. People in the sailing business say Abu Dhabi has a big task ahead to strengthen its sailing infrastructure and culture in time for the arrival of the first 70-foot yachts at the Emirates Palace hotel quay in just 18 months. "It's very exciting that Abu Dhabi is bringing the Volvo Ocean Race to town, but now we have to put these building blocks in place," says Barry Jarman, the commodore of the Abu Dhabi Sailing Club, which now boasts a fleet of 40 sailing dinghies at Port Zayed.
The Volvo Ocean Race, formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Challenge, is certain to raise the profile of Abu Dhabi as a sailing centre when it stops in the capital for a couple of weeks. The event is expected to attract thousands of spectators and represents yet another feather in the emirate's cap in terms of its calendar of international sporting events, along with the Formula One Grand Prix and the FIFA Club World Cup.
But the capital has much development ahead, such as investing in youth sailing and building marinas and yachting facilities, if it is to exploit its natural potential as a serious sailing destination. One UK-based entrepreneur has identified Abu Dhabi's largely untapped potential. Ian Gilmour has a company in the UK called Pelican Racing, which focuses on competitive sailing of sports keel boats as well as training programmes. Mr Gilmour is investigating setting up a branch of the business in Abu Dhabi among other locations.
"Abu Dhabi has the right resources," he says. "It's got a lovely warm sea, it's got great wind which switches on as regular as clockwork. It's got everything you could possibly dream of for a top-rate sailing destination - apart from a critical mass of sailing." Boating plays a major role in the city's development plans. Abu Dhabi will eventually have some 45 marinas, according to its 2030 strategic plan, and in the future there are expected to be about 10,000 leisure boats in the capital. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority has asserted it is striving to position the emirate as a "marine leisure destination", although there are some concerns in the sailing community that many of these marinas are aimed at superyacht and power boat owners.
The few existing facilities are the Abu Dhabi Sailing Club for private members, the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club, and Emirates Sailing School, which is only for nationals. "Abu Dhabi has got the top end of the market with these massive boats with huge corporate budgets, but they've got nothing underneath it apart from maybe some dinghies," says Mr Gilmour. He says his company will start by focusing on the local market to put sailing in the capital on course.
But he adds Abu Dhabi has the natural conditions to become the destination of choice for international competitive sailors, as well as for sailing holidays, during the winter season in Europe where hostile climes and rough seas are a deterrent. Sailing, which fits in well with Abu Dhabi's target demographic of high-spending tourists, would be an effective way of attracting more visitors. "If you do want to build up your tourism infrastructure and you've got such a natural asset as the sea and the wind, the unique selling point would be to set yourself up as one of the top sailing destinations in the world," Mr Gilmour says.
"You've got the airlines, you've got the hotels, you've got some marinas. All you've got to do is then get people locally to be skilled up enough to be able to handle professional and non-professional sailors. "You could then get a much bigger influx of tourists to help balance out some of the bigger events you've got like the Volvo Ocean Race and Formula One." But at the moment, even residents find sailing a challenge. With a limited supply of berths, the cost of keeping a vessel in the capital is prohibitive for many.
Mark Freeman, who runs a successful kayaking business in Abu Dhabi, says he is trying to set up a small sailing club just north of Yas Island. Noukhada Adventure Company has four small catamaran sailboats. "We offer sailing lessons," Mr Freeman says. "If you're certified with us, you can rent one of the boats. We've now got membership so we've got the beginnings of a sailing club." He says the company, which is largely focused on UAE residents rather than tourists, has identified a property that could be used as a clubhouse.
Mr Freeman says another problem for leisure sailing is that there are as yet no charts of Abu Dhabi showing where leisure sailors are allowed to go. "There are great natural islands but the problem that we've faced is there are no charts saying 'out of bounds' for private islands," he says. "Abu Dhabi has to mature a bit and tell the tourists upfront where they can and cannot go. They have got 200 islands but there's probably only 50 you can go on.
"The issue is that the sailing is great but tell us where the destinations are, and that's what makes Croatia and Turkey and Greece and the Mediterranean work." Sailing in Dubai is more established. This year, the Louis Vuitton Trophy will take place off the emirate. Dubai Offshore Sailing Club (DOSC), which was founded in 1974, hosts races such as the Dubai to Muscat that attract international competitors. Keith Mutch, the general manager of the DOSC, says about 300 people come to the club on Fridays during the sailing season. The club has even set up a sailing programme for children with special needs. "There's a very active sailing community in Dubai," Mr Mutch says. "In Abu Dhabi, cruiser racing, keel-boat racing hasn't taken off but once the marinas are put in it's a natural progression."
Sailors in Abu Dhabi say the emirate needs it own equivalent of the DOSC. Mr Jarman says he has been campaigning for a yacht club in Abu Dhabi for several years. "We need a Royal Abu Dhabi Yacht Club so we can host this event," he says. "If we have a yacht club like that supporting the structure of sailing in Abu Dhabi, then we can be a home base for big regattas in the European winter season." There is also still much to be done in the way of onshore infrastructure, including drydocks to repair and maintain boats.
"It's such an amazing destination that once we've found the technical infrastructure I don't think it will be a problem to get customers over to come to Abu Dhabi to go sailing," says Mr Gilmour. "It could be the number one 'go to' destination for Europe." rbundhun@thenational.ae
