It was on November 5, 2011, that Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s voyage to Cape Town, as well as their Volvo Ocean Racing victory hopes, effectively ended.
Their boat, Azzam, splashed down from a wave, and as skipper Ian Walker later recalled, the mast “kept on going”.
The power conduit of their sailing machine broke into three pieces only six hours into what should have been a journey of nearly 6,500 nautical miles.
The shocked crew cut the mainsail free from what was left of the mast, a dangerous mass of wreckage over the side, motored back to Alicante and bravely spoke of re-entering the race, of chasing the fleet south through the Atlantic Ocean. But five days later, Azzam pulled out of Leg 1, after Walker made what he called “one of the hardest decisions of my life”.
How sweet, then, it must have been for Walker and Simon Fisher and Adil Khalid and the rest of the Azzam veterans to arrive in Cape Town yesterday – exactly three years after their abortive 2012 effort – at the head of the fleet.
The crew had gotten there first, and not via jet plane, as in 2011. Azzam crossed the line with wind in her sails, and not tucked in the belly of a container ship.
Abu Dhabi had won a leg before this one. That came in the spring of 2013, when a navigational hunch by Fisher found a powerful breeze that allowed one of the slowest boats in the fleet to win Leg 7, from Miami to Lisbon.
This victory is far more significant. In a fleet of seven identically prepared Volvo 65 boats, the Abu Dhabi crew showed it was best. If this is a race that will be decided by sailors, rather than builders, Walker’s crew just struck the first blow.
The Volvo Ocean Race route
Not all of it was plain sailing. Azzam moved ahead by taking the traditional route north of Cape Verde’s islands while others made a mid-channel gamble that failed. Then, hoping to extend the lead, Azzam sailed south-west down the coast of Brazil while others remained further offshore. This move was not a success; it cost Azzam about 60 miles that took days to make good.
When they finally turned east and a bit north, while in the Roaring 40s, south of Cape Town, they resumed a pattern that had begun north of the equator.
Opponents would come close, chopping their lead to a mile or two, but Azzam nearly always responded by stretching the lead anew. Only three times over the final 12 days were they headed, mostly briefly, and generally by a boat on a different path.
Azzam and the Chinese boat, Dongfeng, went nose-to-tail for nearly 1,000 fast and wet miles, ahead of Cape Town, and Walker’s men led for all of it.
The race, of course, has just begun. Eight more legs and some 30,000 nautical miles remain to be traversed.
Leg 2 will take the fleet up the coast of Africa, perhaps veering toward the Maldives, before racing into the Gulf in mid-December and finishing in Abu Dhabi, where the fleet will celebrate the new year.
We are yet to see what sort of toll this new sort of Volvo race will take on crews. One reporter called it “inshore racing without the shore”, a race that had the enormous distances of offshore racing but the minute-to-minute calculations and physically demanding tacking moves of a two-hour race in a harbour.
Historically, over the course of 6,000 miles, fleets scatter. One boat might be stronger on that point of sailing, this one on another.
In Leg 1, the leaders remained bunched, in their cookie-cutter boats, and the crews could see their nearest competitors.
The primitive impulse of every skipper to be out front led to day after day of ragged and insufficient sleep while matching wits with the boat five miles aft.
The videos from the past 10 days seemed to show grim, exhausted crews, barely holding together body and soul.
Let the healing begin.
Another reward for being first into Cape Town is the longest recovery period. Azzam will not set sail until November 19.
Lots of bunk time, leisurely meals and the warm glow of early success should make for a very pleasant stay in South Africa.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at SprtNationalUAE
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.”
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Jebel Ali card
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
The National selections
1.45pm: Cosmic Glow
2.15pm: Karaginsky
2.45pm: Welcome Surprise
3.15pm: Taamol
3.45pm: Rayig
4.15pm: Chiefdom
4.45pm: California Jumbo
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Results
5pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner No Riesgo Al Maury, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner Marwa W’Rsan, Sam Hitchcott, Jaci Wickham.
6pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner Dahess D’Arabie, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi.
6.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m
Winner Safin Al Reef, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 2,200m
Winner Thulbaseera Al Jasra, Shakir Al Balushi, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
7.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh 80,000 2,200m
Winner Autumn Pride, Szczepan Mazur, Helal Al Alawi.
