‘The vision was to win the race’: Six years later, Abu Dhabi’s Volvo Ocean Race dreams realised

Osman Samiuddin recounts how Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing went from a nascent project in 2009 to the pinnacle of off-shore sailing on Thursday in winning the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race.

Members of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team celebrate on Thursday in Lorient, France, after clinching a Volvo Ocean Race victory with a third-place finish in Leg 8. Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race / June 11, 2015Show less

Once he had hugged and congratulated his crew on crossing the finish line in Lorient, the first thing Ian Walker did was go below deck to shoot off an email. Azzam had finished the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in third place.

But Walker and his men had sealed an historic overall triumph, one of the greatest in the UAE’s sporting history.

The email was to the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA), to thank them for standing by him and others in Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ador). After a disappointing finish in the 2011/12 race, it was conceivable that Azzam could have been shelved.

It was not. And because it was not, it was now a winner of the world’s toughest, most-prestigious sailing event. From not existing to this triumph took just six years.

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Exactly six years ago, in June 2009, a delegation from TCA (known as Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority then) went to Stockholm to meet Knut Frostad, chief executive of the Volvo race. The 2008/09 race was in its final stages, at the second-last stopover.

As a TCA official at the time would explain to The National, Abu Dhabi was looking to build on a maritime tradition. The emirate's 200 natural islands and coastline were ideal for sailing activities; the idea was born in early 2009 at the highest levels within TCA to leverage these attributes.

Tourism targets of 2.3 million hotel guests by 2012 and 7.9 million by 2030, as set out in the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan, meant an entry in the race and a stopover made complete sense.

Faisal Al Sheikh, director of Events Bureau at TCA, said chairman Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon “has always supported new avenues of strategic marketing”.

The authority’s foray into sports, with the World Rally Championship, had opened the possibility of further engagements. Sailing and the Volvo race was a natural fit, given that “development of the emirate as a waterfront destination” was a key tourism objective.

Frostad was not surprised at an approach from Abu Dhabi. He was aware of its growing presence as an international sports destination: the capital was to hold its inaugural Formula One race that winter, as well as the Fifa Club World Cup.

The surprise lay elsewhere, in “discovering the sailing history” of the UAE. “Emiratis have a very good knowledge of sailing, more than people think,” Frostad said.

After that meeting, the TCA put together a bid proposal and, in March 2010, Abu Dhabi was chosen from more than 80 cities as a host city. Abu Dhabi’s “willingness to meet our requirements” and its “long maritime history”, according to Frostad at the time, secured the event.

The work was only just beginning.

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Once selected, TCA began looking for a management company. During their research in the 2008/09 race, they encountered Jamie Boag and Ian Walker, who were managing the Green Dragon team in the race and had run a successful Volvo race stopover in Galway, Ireland.

“I had been to the region and had some good friends working here,” Walker said last year.

“We’d been a little involved when Abu Dhabi were looking at the race. They had done a tour of our boat, so we had a small connection there. When they began looking for a management company, we pitched for the job and were selected specifically with me as skipper.”

Walker’s credentials, as a two-time Olympic medallist, were impeccable.

Boag and Walker moved to Abu Dhabi in October 2010 and began putting together Ador; they stayed for six months, and the team was born in the capital.

One of the key objectives, as Al Sheikh pointed out, was to develop world-class sailors in the UAE. Everybody was agreed that there would be an Emirati presence in the crew.

“We wanted to make sure this wasn’t just a sticker going on a boat,” said Boag, now Ador’s commercial director.

“When we look at a project like this, representing a nation, both TCA and ourselves thought it was crucial to have that.”

A rigorous recruitment drive began and in January 2011, Adil Khalid was selected from among 120 candidates.

In June, TCA launched a competition to name the boat, the winner receiving a VIP holiday for two in Abu Dhabi during the scheduled New Year stopover. Over 2,000 entries flooded in, from 73 countries.

Luis Aguilar, of Spain, won the prize suggesting "Alazan" as a name. He was close, but Azzam was ultimately chosen on the same day the team received ownership of the boat in Italy.

"Azzam is a very meaningful name as it reflects determination," Al Sheikh said. "The motif or icon for the team is the falcon, which has strong attributes in terms of determination, vision and ability. These are the traits we wanted the boat and team to have."

The logo on the main sail, of the falcon stretching its wings, came directly from one of Sheikh Tahnoon’s favourite images. Both the naming competition as well as the recruitment were designed for public engagement said Al Sheikh, to “get the nation behind the project, so that they become the nation’s heroes”.

Meanwhile, a week later, the first paving stone – of 873,000 – was being set at the Corniche breakwater, of what would become the Destination Village for the two-week stopover at the end of the year.

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Despite some promising moments, the 2011/12 race was a difficult entry into the competition, never more so than when the boat’s mast broke hours into the first leg.

The stopover had been a huge success, however, and according to officials, sparked interest in sailing within the country. According to Al Sheikh, there was no realistic chance that Azzam would not continue beyond that first race.

“The vision was to win the race,” he said. “We had a long-term vision. We reviewed our performances, looked at the opportunities and decided to do it again because it is the right product for us. Everyone is proud of how the event contributes to the economy.”

Everyone was on the same page, endorsing the belief, as one official put it, that “it’s like building a new football club”.

“We’re entering the Premier League. Let’s not think we can go in Day 1 and win the championship. It’s going to take time.”

Intensive preparations for this edition began almost immediately. The core of the previous crew was maintained. More on- and off-shore support was brought in for Walker. Race organisers’ decision to shift to a one-design boat helped, but not as much as an internal drive for better results.

Greater emphasis was put on health and fitness. Calorie counts and weight changes were monitored. There was no major shake-up. Instead, the team took to heart the ideas of British cycling coach Dave Brailsford, of the “aggregation of marginal gains” as “the one per cent margin for improvement in everything you do”.

Into each member of the 25 people who made up Ador was instilled the idea that everyone on the team makes a difference, from the sail-maker to the logistics personnel who arrange food.

And ultimately, each one did make that difference.

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