Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ador) completed a rare Volvo Ocean Race double on Saturday despite finishing second from last in the Gothenburg in-port race.
It was a poor performance in light winds, but the result was just enough to see the Emirati boat over the line in the 10-part series, beating Dutch rivals Team Brunel by a point.
They become the second team to complete the offshore/in-port double in the 41-year-old, triennial event, following ABN Amro in 2005/06.
The success for Ian Walker’s team followed five days after they won the more important offshore trophy, contested across nine months and 38,739 nautical miles.
Read more:
[ – Abu Dhabi’s Volvo Ocean Race triumph leads to renewed sailing interest in Gulf region ]
[ – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing lift Volvo Ocean Race trophy – in pictures ]
Again, Team Brunel finished second, but five points behind in the standings.
It was tough luck on Brunel, skippered by 52-year-old Bouwe Bekking, who began yesterday’s race needing to win it and then hope Abu Dhabi finished last in the seven-strong fleet.
Bekking’s men did their part of the bargain, sailing peerlessly in light wind conditions, and at one stage Walker’s men trailed the entire pack.
But a shock turnaround in fortunes was averted when Abu Dhabi passed Danish challengers Team Vestas Wind midway through and held their advantage on a tight course.
“It’s not how to start, it’s how you finish,” Bekking said. “We had a shocker start in the in-port race, but we end with a first place.
“The clean sweep goes to Abu Dhabi – congratulations to them. They deserve the in-port series win.”
The all-female crew of Team SCA (Sweden) completed the top three in-port series podium places by finishing second in the Gothenburg race and third overall. Ador also won the overall 24-hour speed record challenge trophy, awarded to the team who complete the longest run during a 24-hour period in each leg.
“It was far closer than we wanted it to be today,” said Walker, who was competing against his old sailing friend in the form of Juan Carlos, the former king of Spain, who joined the Mapfre team for the in-port race.
“But to pull off a clean sweep of the overall, 24-hour record and now the in-port series is extremely satisfying.”
UAE sailor Adil Khalid – the first Arab to win the Volvo Ocean Race – agreed and said yesterday was the perfect way to end nine months of competitive action.
“Winning the in-port race series puts the cherry on top of the cake,” Khalid said.
“Becoming the first team to pull off this clean sweep is a marvellous achievement for the UAE.”
Final VOR race standings (after nine legs)
Team, points
1 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 24
2 Team Brunel, 29
3 Dongfeng Race Team, 33
4 Mapfre, 34
5 Team Alvimedica, 34
6 Team SCA, 51
7 Team Vestas Wind, 60
Final In-port race standings (after 10 legs)
Team, points
1 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 31
2 Team Brunel, 32
3 Team SCA, 35
4 Mapfre, 37
5 Team Alvimedica, 37
6 Donfeng Racing Team, 40
7 Team Vestas Wind, 73
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KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
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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.”
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
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- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
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Rating: 3/5
