Crews struggled to find their sea legs and the fastest route around the northern tip of the Philippines on Tuesday night in what Volvo Ocean Race sailors hoped would be the final hours of a particularly punishing stretch of water.
Meteorologists correctly predicted the upwind push to the east after leaving Sanya, China, on Sunday, would present the most difficult conditions yet in the 2014/15 round-the-world race.
“Finally, we get what we came for: life at the extreme,” wrote Sam Davies, skipper of Team SCA.
Many hands conceded to being laid low by the “super-violent” conditions.
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“I’ve been too seasick to think about anything racing related for the last 24 hours,” wrote Sam Greenfield, the on-board reporter for race leaders Dongfeng. “You don’t have to throw up to be seasick.”
Amory Ross of Alvimedica wrote: “It’s an indescribable feeling of nausea that takes hold, a stomach churn so permanent that it makes you incapable of anything. The group universally feels like crap and it usually lasts until conditions improve.”
Davies said: “We have some crew members struggling to find their sea legs and so we are looking after them. If you get sick, you are allowed a Coke and ginger nuts, so there is a small bonus to the misery of seasickness.”
Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam, said his first objective in Leg 4 was to get through the heavy weather in the South China Sea before the long stretch south-east to Auckland.
Matt Knighton, Azzam’s on-board reporter, said Walker refers to the area between Hainan Island and Luzon as “the Sea of Certain Breakage”, recalling that his boat Green Dragon was so battered in the passage that he stopped for repairs during the 2008/09 Volvo race.
“Most of the tactical choices that will determine the leg will happen after rounding the Philippines,” Knighton wrote. “Right now, it’s a war of attrition to see who will make it in one piece.”
Knighton described hour after hour of boats dropping off waves.
“As soon as there is 10 seconds of perceived calm water the boat launches off a wave long enough to make everything free-fall down below before slamming with a force that shakes the mast above. It reverberates through the entire hull.”
As night fell, Azzam was slightly behind Dongfeng, with the rest of the fleet within 15 nautical miles of the leaders.
Team Brunel on-board reporter Stefan Coppers wrote that one of his boat’s crew, three-time Volvo veteran Jan-Gerd Poortman, said the nine-month competition is not for the faint of heart. “If it were easy, everyone would do it,” Poortman said.
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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.”
