issue 3

OutdoorUAEThe first Outdoor Magazine for the United Arab Emirates and the border of Oman

U.A.E. DHS 10

Discover more and visit us online: www.outdooruae.com Issue 3/2011 March

A CHILDHOOD HEROWE GET CLOSE TO AN ACTION STAR

A TRUE HIDE AWAYWE EXPLORE THE ZIGHY RESORT

ADVENTURE CHICKS!TORI INTRODUCES HER MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT

STAIRWAY RESCUEA BRAVE AND SUCCESSFUL RESCUE UPON THE FAMOUS MOUNTAIN HIKE

Win RafflePrizes Worth 10,000Dhs!

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Explore thePossibilities

Glide SeriesFlatwater Touring and RacingWith the Naish Glide, you’ll never look at flatwater the same way again. For everything from recreational paddling and fitness training to competitive racing, the Glide range sets a new standard in SUP.

17’0”

Carbon

Adj.alloy

Nalu SeriesAll-around longboard versatilityLongboard style SUP’s that are easy to ride and offer outstanding performance in a wide range of conditions.

The Nalu series is the ideal choice for first time paddlers, flatwater cruisers, small wave surfers and high-performance wave riders.

14’0” &14’0” AsT

14’0” Javelin &14’0” Javelin

AsT

12’6”Catalina

12’0” AsT

11’6” &11’6” AST

11’4” &11’4” AST

10’6” 9’6” 9’0”

Paddles

CarbonGlass

8” 9.5”CarbonKevlar

9.5”Carbonwood

8”

alanaCArbonGlASS

7” 9.5”7” 8”

naishsup.comOcean sports FZE +971 (0) 55 935 [email protected] kitesurfsup.com

Cover Photo Credit: Stephon Karolus

In Print:

Managing EditorDaniel [email protected]

EditorsKim PerksMarilena Cilta

Graphic & DesignJames Russell

For advertisement enquiriescontact:

Tel: [email protected]

Published by:Outdoor UAE FZEP.O. Box 215062Dubai, U.A.E.Tel. 04-4472701 [email protected]

Distributor:Abu Dhabi Media CompanyP.O. Box 40401, ABU DHABI

Printed at:Al Reyami PrintingP.O. Box 103828Dubai, U.A.E.

© 2011 Outdoor UAE FZEReg. at Creative City FujairahP.O. Box 4422, Fujairah, U.A.E.Issue 3/2011 March

The information contained is for gener-al use only. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this magazine has been obtained from reliable sources, how-ever the publisher is not responsible for any errors. All information in this magazine is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information. In no event will the publisher, its related af-filiates or anyone else be responsible for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this magazine.

All contents are under copyrights and may not be reproduced in any kind without written permission.

© 2011 Outdoor UAE FZEReg. at Creative City Fujairah

P.O. Box 4422, Fujairah, U.A.E.

Editorial[OutdoorUAE]

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Explore thePossibilities

Glide SeriesFlatwater Touring and RacingWith the Naish Glide, you’ll never look at flatwater the same way again. For everything from recreational paddling and fitness training to competitive racing, the Glide range sets a new standard in SUP.

17’0”

Carbon

Adj.alloy

Nalu SeriesAll-around longboard versatilityLongboard style SUP’s that are easy to ride and offer outstanding performance in a wide range of conditions.

The Nalu series is the ideal choice for first time paddlers, flatwater cruisers, small wave surfers and high-performance wave riders.

14’0” &14’0” AsT

14’0” Javelin &14’0” Javelin

AsT

12’6”Catalina

12’0” AsT

11’6” &11’6” AST

11’4” &11’4” AST

10’6” 9’6” 9’0”

Paddles

CarbonGlass

8” 9.5”CarbonKevlar

9.5”Carbonwood

8”

alanaCArbonGlASS

7” 9.5”7” 8”

naishsup.comOcean sports FZE +971 (0) 55 935 [email protected] kitesurfsup.com

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

The great outdoors is often about challenges, and touching or even exceeding set targets. Usually I would say it is all about you, how badly you want something and how hard you are

prepared to work for it; if you face and overcome your fears, you can reach anything. Of course, I don’t think that I can change the world, or anything, but I believe, if I add my small part and help even only one person, it’s a good thing and worth doing.

Give me a challenge and I will face it! But there is one thing, until now, which makes me struggle and question everything. Standing next to the bed of a person, a friend, a loved one, seeing them suffer and knowing you can do nothing about it. Cancer can be a cruel and slow process leading to the final end. Often it seems to be a relief for the person suffering as well as the relatives, no matter which religion or belief. It is so sad, that in our time, we are sometimes simply helpless and all we can do is hope, pray and wish for the best.

Thinking back some decades, a cancer diagnosis was worse than nowadays. Depending on the stage and type, the chances of fight-ing cancer and winning are really good. Therefore cancer aware-ness, regular preventive checkups and support to cancer research is so important. Fighting cancer is not and should not only involve patients, it should involve all of us. Showing support and sympathy with the sufferers might be only a drop of water on a hot stone, but can develop to a huge wave across the whole world – see what the young Terry Fox achieved (see Page 39).

With the many egoistic and personal goals which we focus on, it is important that we not forget that we are blessed with good and healthy lives. Don’t turn your back on cancer and close your eyes. Do what you can do, even if it is just to run 5km or be there for someone in need.

The OutdoorUAE Team will always do its best to support all kinds of charity and environmental initiatives. If you think OutdoorUAE can help, don’t hesitate to contact us – [email protected]

Daniel.

3OUTDOORUAE.COM March2011

Your Best Shots - 5Some great shots of the month

Event Schedule - 6

Musandam - 8John Basson tells us about his dive trip in Musandam

World of the Bedou - 10A camel trek through the desert

Location - 12We take a peek at the Hatta Hills and the Zighy Beach resort

Products - 14

Adventure Chicks - 18New for this month, Tori shares her wisdom of adventure

Outdoor People - 22We meet Alex, Fiona and happy boat owner Hany

The Perfect Storm - 26Ziad describes his stormy boat adventure

Wadi Galilah Rescue - 30A brace and successful rescue

News - 32

Event Reviews - 40We cover skateboarding, surfing, an air show, sailing and

some running.

Naturally Connected - 48Clint Moore goes Kayaking

The Fishing Kit - 50Our favourite fisherman joins us again

ME4x4 - 36Mike Nott brings us the ultimate off-road guide. Part 1.

Tips and Tricks - 53Gaffa tape and harnesses!

Outdoor Photography - 54Our advice continues with a look at filters

Results - 56

Directory - 58

Contents[OutdoorUAE]

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4 OUTDOORUAE.COMMarch2011

EaglesREAL ACTION HEROESThe legendary Tony Hawk

performs at the Yas MarinaCanon 1000D

Sigma Wide AngleISO 200 12mm f/6.3 1/640s

Some of the best photographs taken by us and the readers over the past month

Your Best ShotsTara AtkinsonRAS AL KHAIMAHA window to the soulCanon EOS 500D RebelCanon 24-70mmISO 100 24mm f/4.5 1/60s

Tara AtkinsonRAS AL KHAIMAH

Tired trees*Canon EOS 500D Rebel

Canon 24-70mmISO 100 24mm f/4.5 1/60s

*There are many theories to the cause of this phenomenon. Locals believe that it’s the weight of the date fruit that is

simply too much for the trunks, or possibly due to the salt water absorbed from the ground. If you feel you know what

is causing this rather odd but beautiful peculiarity, write in to us ([email protected]) and you may be featured

in our ‘Letters’ section for next month!


Kayaking, Bike, PaddleTours running daily apart from Sundays

Kayaking tours in Abu Dhabi and in Umm Al Quwain. Kayak fishing tours in Abu Dhabi, Sailing tours and lessons in Abu Dhabi, all terrain bike tours in Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates, Stand up paddle board tours and lessons in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabiwww.noukhada.ae+9715 0721 8928

CampingDaily

Camping at Umm Al Quwaim Marine Club. We refer to the club as the best kept secret in the UAE, but that identity is history now as it has become popular knowledge that it is one of the best recreational outlets that offers overnight camping.

Umm Al Quwain www.uaqmarineclub.com

[OutdoorUAE]

ABRAS HATTA CROSS-COUNTRY RACE

11th March

Venue: Hatta Fort Hotel, HattaThere are separate men’s and women’s races of around 8.4k, that will climb the ‘Hatta mountain’ three times. The ‘Hatta

mountain’ is a short, but steep and rocky climb that will test your mountain goat abilities! As an incentive to make it up the hill, there are Hatta Fort Hotel

prizes to be won for the 1st overall male and female.

There is also a junior race for those aged under 15, of around 3k, over a

slightly easier route. Medals will be awarded to age group winners. Juniors

over 15 should enter the adult races and will be placed in a separate age

category for medals.

www. abrasac.org

Big Boys Toys 2011 16 - 19 March

Venue: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center

Big Boys Toys brings together the latest technologies and the biggest brands along with high impact entertainment features, all packed into four days of non-stop action and sheer excitement. Picking up from the unprecedented success of our inaugural edition in 2009, the 2011 edition has much more in store for every visitor!

www.bigboystoysuae.com

Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship 17-19 March 2011

Venue: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre

The Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship is a competition for Purebred Arabian horses, showcas-ing their beauty, agility & heritage. It is run over 3 days culminating in the Championship classes for the most exquisite horses.

www. diahc.ae

Abu Dhabi Yachts Show 24 - 26 March 2011

Venue: Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi

This luxurious and exclusive event will feature some of the world’s most out-standing power and sailing Superyachts ranging from 25m to 100m and with price tags in excess of $100 million.

www.abudhabiyachtshow.com

Freedive Open Water Training 25, 26 March

Venue: Cornich Street, Abu Dhabi

There is still much to learn about freediving. The surface breath-hold world record is over 11 minutes - but it takes less than 4 minutes to get to 200 metres and back - so where will it end? This is one of the attractions of freediving, it is a young sport and there is still a lot to be discovered. breath underwater has freedived.

www.freedivinguae.com

Dubai International Boat-Show1-5 March 2011

With it’s “Established. Trusted. Chosen.” brand recognition the event epitomizes the ultimate style in boating luxury whilst providing un-paralleled access to the Middle East’s investors and marine enthusiasts.

Dubai International Marine Club, Mina Seyahi, Dubaiwww.boatshowdubai.com

Drag Racing Festival 4-5 March

This is one of the most anticipated yearly events in Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole. Feel the heat of watching a Top Fuel Dragster, at 8,000 horsepower, go from zero to over 480km/hr in less than four seconds! If that doesn’t get your blood rushing, the weekend of events will feature a powerful match race between FIA World Champion Urs Erbacher and the 2007 Top Fuel Vice Champion Rod “Hot Rod” Fuller.

www.yasmarinacircuit.com

Events Schedule March 2011


*All images sourced from event websites or supplied with permission*You can find more events and detailed informationonline at www.outdoorUAE.com*Please send information about events to: [email protected]

Winter Hikes4 March

Arabia Outdoors will hike along a deep wadi and take in some steeper tracks through Fujairah’s scenic foothills of the Hajar mountains. This hike is good preparation for Aprils Jebel Qihwi hike.

www.arabiaoutdoors.com

DMX RACES4th March round 6

18th March round 725th March final round

Motocross races at DMX are nothing short of being thrilling and exciting. For both spectators and riders alike

it never fails to deliver displays of unbeatable combinations of speed, passion, endurance, dedication but

most of all comradeship.

www.mydubaimotorcross.com

Abu Dhabi Desert Chal-lenge27th March - 7th April

The UAE Desert Challenge, one of the world’s most prestigious international cross country rallies, entered a new era in March 2009 when it was renamed the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with the five-day motor sport spectacular being staged in its entirety across Abu Dhabi emirate under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), with the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) retaining its event organizational role.

www.atcuae.ae

Dubai Traditional Rowing Race 12 March 2011, 3:00 PM

Venue: Dubai International Marine Club

www.dimc.ae

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon12 March 2011

In 2011, Abu Dhabi International Triathlon competitors will again have the option of tackling the long and short distance courses; however, in an attempt to open up the sport to UAE locals and other budding triath-lon enthusiasts, a sprint distance has been added to the day’s proceedings.

Distances as follows;

Long distance (3km Swim, 200km Bike, 20km Run)Short distance (1.5km Swim, 100 km Bike, 10km Run)‘Abu Dhabi’ Sprint distance (750m Swim, 50km Bike, 5km Run)Team relay (Same as Short Distance)

www.abudhabitriathlon.com

Dubai International Dragon Boat Festival8th - 9th of April

The Dubai International Dragon Boat Festival takes place April 8&9, 2011 at Festival Marina, Dubai Festival City. This is a community festival bringing together corporate, university, school and com-munity groups from across the UAE

www.dubaidragonboat.com/


[OutdoorUAE]

BY JOHN BASSONIF VALUE FOR MONEY IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR: “LOOK NO MORE”. I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANY OTHER OUTDOOR ACTIVITY, WHERE YOU ARE BEING ENTER-TAINED, THAT CAN COME CLOSE TO A DHOW TRIP IN THE MUSANDAM. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT OP-ERATORS AND DHOWS VARY FROM AIR-CONDITIONED, WITH SEPARATE ROOMS, TO THE “OPEN PLAN” ALL SLEEP ON DECK VERSION.

MusandamWhen Jean called to hear if I would be keen to

join them for a weekend I was hesitant. He had booked a dhow that could sleep 30-40 people

and was short of some names. I love watersport and my oldest son has been snorkeling since he was a toddler. My concern was the inevitable situation of smokers being on the dhow. I would rather not go than being confined on a wooden ship with smokers. Jean ensured me that even with the odd smoker I would enjoy it. Well he was right. We ended up being 70 people going and had to book two dhows.

The group was mostly South Africans with the odd Frenchy joining the fun. The Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai Clans met in Dibba by 9am Friday morning. Now for those who don’t know South Africans; we DON’T TRAVEL LIGHT and an un-imaginable amount of gear was carried from the parking area to the dhow. The port in Dibba was being “re-built” and it was very unpleasant having to carry all this gear about 100m in the already gleaming sun. (May 2010) Our Dhow was the fourth one from the key and birthed along-

side with three dhows between the key and our dhow.

Fascinated by the level of craftsman-ship, or lack there off, I found a spot for the boys and I to put all our gear. Rest assured these dhows are strong and sturdy, but the finishing is not exactly 5-star. But if 5-star was what we were looking for we would have

been on a modern cruise ship and not in Dibba on a Dhow. This was going to be a fun filled weekend with lots of diving and swimming and not a boat evaluation trip.

All the cool drinks on the dhow are free and each dhow has a huge cooler box full of ice and packed to the top with juice and fizzy drinks! We casted off around 12 noon and the weather was perfect. Slightly hot but as we started sailing the fresh ocean breeze did it’s job. We sailed in formation and all the cameras were clicking away as the picturesque port of Dibba was fading in the distance. The skippers took us very close to the shoreline and we were separated only by a few meters of deep blue water between us and the im-pressive rocky outcrops and mountains of the Musandam. The 1st stop for the afternoon was in a beautiful blue bay. The lukewarm water of the gulf was explored within seconds of the anchors touching the bottom. Everybody was in the water and we swam, snorkeled, jumped from the upper deck and just floated around for more than an hour. A 3rdDhow with “other” people joined us in the bay only to be amazed by the South Africans. We were about 50 people in the wa-ter and all the children jumping, diving and doing backflips from the upper deck!

From this bay it was time for lunch while they sailed us to the overnight spot. Lunch is prepared on board and if you are not a fussy person it is a pleasant and filling meal. We


must have arrived at the overnight stop by about 4pm. The scuba divers were anxious to get in the water and were taken to some good diving sites with the tag

along ski boat. Again everybody was in the water and this time snorkeling along the rocks seemed to be the main at-traction. As my wife had to be in SA I was alone with the two boys and was running (swimming) between them trying to spread the attention equally. This also the reason my scuba gear was at home...

By night fall the party mood was starting to present it-self and with traditional folk song being connected to the dhows speakers everybody was enjoying themselves. The clear starlit sky added to the occasion. Around 8pm the divers went on a night dive and I took John-John (oldest son) to join them. (We only snorkeled.) John had only done one night snorkel about one year earlier in Fujairah and he was very keen. It was an awesome “dive/snorkel” and ap-proaching the dhows we were welcomed with the smell of “Braaivleis” (BBQ). The crew had actually made a fire in a drum and was BBQing lamb and chicken for us!!

Bed time is simple. There are stacks of mattresses on the Dhow with a blanket and pillow for each. Everybody finds a spot and it’s almost like a huge litter of kittens scattered across the deck. The humidity, with the already approaching summer temperatures, made sleeping a bit uncomfortable and I would not recommend this dhow trip between June and September.

The next morning, as the sun’s rays peaked over the moun-tain’s top, the 1st people were already in the water. 15min later everybody was in the water! On the last day there is no time for diving as the Dhow needs to be back by around 10 or 11am. The anchors were lifted and the bedding cleared from the deck. With “Steve and Dozy” singing in the back-ground the crew prepared breakfast as we were setting sail

for Dibba. We were in port by 11am after what can only be described as a fantastic adventure. The price per person for the two days, including all the drinks and meals was only 250AED per adult and kids were 150AED. This is cheaper than 2 hours at ski Dubai where you are indoors skiing on fake snow. There is no comparison.

“You only live once, Go for gold.”

John Basson.


When I first arrived in the UAE in Al Ain in 1996, I became fasci-nated by the desert and the

world of the Bedouin, the nomads that roamed the vast seas of sand by camel before the arrival of the car. However, with the discovery of oil in the region and the onset of modernization, many of the traditions and heritage has been lost to today’s youth who are caught up with the exponential growth of an oil rich coun-try, wholeheartedly keen to embrace 21st century values. Many of the young men and women of today’s GCC are in danger of losing their connection with their natu-ral environment and from traditions such as riding camels.

The UAE has diverse natural terrain that spans from fjord like coasts, spectacular mountains and savannahs along with great sands seas synonymous with the region. These areas were once abundant with predators including Arabian wolves and leopards, and hares, gazelles, bus-tards and eagles. The rate of construction and development has been so extensive, vast areas have been consumed by the beast of progress. Many of the youth re-main in these smart cities somehow co-cooned from the natural world situated a few kilometers away from the urban sprawl.

Sharjah Higher College of Technology has devised a programme that promotes national identity, re-establishing contact with local heritage and exposing young Nationals to the diverse and outstanding natural beauty of the UAE. The first trek involved UAE National students from

Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology and retraced a lost traditional “Qafilah” across some of the most diverse and stunning terrain in the country.

Aptly titled “In The Footsteps of Our An-cestors” the Qafilah started its journey in the ancient harbour nestled amongst the Fjords of the Hajar Mountains to Sharjah one of the earliest settlements in the Northern Emirates. The group would learn how to develop riding skills, traditional camping proficiency as well as traditional cooking methods. Surpris-ingly most of these back-country com-petences, also known as hard skills, were completely new to almost all the group, apart from one of the students who had lived with the Bedouin when he was a child. In addition to hard skills, the group had the opportunity to develop a raft of “soft skills” through their experience. The students, with the appropriate teaching and learning strategies, were provided with the opportunities to experience self sufficiency, teamwork and leadership po-tential in an authentic outdoor learning environment.

So, as the sun broke on the morning of Saturday 22nd November, along with nine students and twelve camels, dressed in traditional kandorah and gutrah, we rode out of Dibba Al Hisn to embark on our historic journey. Prior to the start of the expedition, quite remarkably, only one of the students had experience of riding a camel. By day one all had be-

[OutdoorUAE]


“He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future, for it is from

the past that we learn” Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayahan, founding father of the UAE

come competent in riding and had been given lessons in navigation and basic camp craft. With camels it is important that, where possible, the caravan is sin-gle file - as soon as more than two ride abreast a race tends to break out, subtly at first which then leads to a full gallop and chaos. We learnt this very early on in the first day and we were very keen not to repeat it involuntary. We headed along a wide floodplain into the intimidating Hajar Mountains; Lunch was egg noodles cooked under the welcoming shade of an acacia. Although considered winter, tem-peratures still could hit over twenty five degrees celcius during the hottest part of the day.

Thirty five kilometres and seven ago-nizing hours of riding later, we reached our first campsite, a plateau in the Hajar overlooking the plains thousands of feet below. We set about hobbling the camels, striking camp and preparing food. Over dinner around the “majlis” we discussed our achievements and what we had learnt from this experience. In the tradition of the forefathers, life revolved around the rhythm of the day, breaking camp before sunrise and travelling across the desert through the day pitching camp as the sun sets.

On the sixth day we reached the Univer-sity City, our final destination, to a pro-cession of thousands of students from

the various college campuses. They had been kept updated by GPS transponders uploaded onto the expedition web page and by the students daily blog uploaded by a satellite modem stowed on one of the camels. The expedition had covered over 160km of the most challenging ter-rain in the world and had left only foot-prints behind, similar to those of our an-cestors….

David Jenns has been developing and managing Physical Education Programs in United Arab Emirates for fifteen years. In 2004, David was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, for his efforts in developing a wilderness educa-tion and outdoor leadership programme with UAE National Students in The Abu Dhabi Emirate.

He is currently Managing Director of Libra and Libra Adventure. If you are in-terested in participating in one of David’s camel expeditions then please or other Libra Adventure programs please email [email protected]


LOC

ATIO

NS

Marketing is a great thing; it wraps up the biggest nonsense in a box of nice words saying so much and nothing with a bow of beautiful pictures around it. Unfortunately so often you don’t get what you expect and that’s not only in the fast food burger res-taurant: “The picture of the burger looks so much nicer and so much bigger, that you often think you’ve received the wrong or-der.” With a holiday it’s even worse - you wait sometimes years and look forward to enjoying all the pictures you saw and all the promises you read about come true. In short, I’m always skeptical, about what I read.

So what should I think of the Six Senses Zighy Bay Resort and Spa with all their nice words and beautiful pictures on their web-site. To be honest, I’m tired of 5 star hotels, fancy modern designers, marble and other so called high quality materials. I was hop-ing the promise of a city hideaway would be kept. With a price starting at 1,300 USD per night for a one bedroom villa I guess it is fair to say, that you come with certain expecta-tions. I drove down from Dubai on the Emir-ates Road then took the truck road to Dibba, which took a little under an hour and a half. In Dibba you have to cross the border into Oman; with a valid residence or tourist visa you will have no trouble entering Oman, but you need to have your passport with you. The passport doesn’t even get stamped, so it’s really very straightforward. From the border it’s only a few kilometers to the re-sort. You have the option of a 4x4 pickup or a boat transfer. ‘Unpaved road’ in the route

map was promising enough for me to drive down with my 4x4. It is absolutely fine to drive a nor-mal car, up until you reach the first gate of the resort. The un-paved road is better than a load of paved roads I have seen. At the gate you should consider leaving your car and taking the of-fer of a 4x4 transfer. If you are afraid of narrow roads wind-ing up the mountains

the chauffeur is a good option. I enjoyed the winding road up the mountain and my hopes were being fulfilled – it seemed to really be a hide-away. (if a highway could go there – I would say nice marketing but definitely no hide-away). I reached the peak of the mountains and was rewarded with my first view down to the bay, the beach, the newly opened marina and the resort. No roads, no high-rise buildings, no noise! For the first time, there was a smile on my emo-tionless German face. The reception at the traditional entrance gate (GPS N25°42.529 E056°16.360) of the resort was very nice, no Asian hotels staff in traditional clothes to act as locals to welcome the guests. I was greeted by authentic and real Omani staff. When you unload your car it’s the last time you’ll see it for the rest of your stay. There are no roads at the resort and you have to walk, take the bicycles which are at each vil-la or ask for a pickup with the electric golf carts. Finally I went with my private butler (I hate calling someone my butler, despite all traditions) to my villa, the whole resort is made up villas, from single to multiple

bedrooms. The walk to the villa was my first walking experience in the resort; since mov-ing to the UAE, I walk whenever I can. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is spends far too much time in their car. There is nothing better than to walk, no cars, no construc-tion, no noise… simply a deep breath and ahhh. My long ahhh of relaxation quickly changed when I entered the villa gate to a long ohhh of surprise. The architect, design-er, or whoever created this place was on my wavelength – love at first sight. My second thought - why on earth are we doing an outdoor magazine if I can’t just enjoy the pool, the view and just do nothing – pure relaxation. The only thing I was missing in that moment was my loved one - this place has to be shared with those close to you.

I knew in an instant that I would be back. Usually I’m not easy to impress, especially here in the UAE, with an oversupply of great hotels, first class service and good food. One night only at the resort and the clock was ticking. I decided to go hiking, moun-tain biking and as a highlight of the day, a flight with an ultra light plane. Abdullah, who was originally from Muscat was my pri-vate guide. We started at 2pm usually the worse time to start a hike in the mountains without shade, but at this time of the year and with a slight sea breeze - not a problem at all. We made our way along the beach past the newly opened marine ‘Zigy Marina’ which is kept along the same lines as the resort. Between the resort and the marina lies a local Omani village with a lovely tiny mosque. Environmentally friendly and sus-tainable construction and management of both the resort and the marina is a high priority. They really make a huge effort but it would be too much to go into detail. The marina has just opened and although there are usually only a few berthed boats, it was busy that day with “Sailing Oman the Tour” making their stop over here (more in event reviews and news). However, our destina-tion “Smugglers Village” – an old aban-doned village in the mountains, so named after smugglers who crossed the gulf smug-gling all kinds of goods between the UAE and Oman (GPS N25°41.903 E056°16.360). The smugglers used the remote location to hide and rest in the ruins. I don’t know if it’s true but I like entertaining stories about the region while hiking. I’m not sure there is an actual track or a way to Smugglers Village you just somehow make your way through the loose and fragile rocks. You should definitely wear proper hiking boots and be used to walking in rough terrain. I would not recommend doing this with children.

[OutdoorUAE]

UAEA truehide-away

Location


The hike around the bay and then back over the mountain is about 5km and leads up to only 110m altitude. Because of the rough terrain it takes about 2hrs longer to include breaks. You will also pass two more aban-doned settlements. I question why those people choose these remote spots up in the hills instead of the beautiful beaches down below. I still can’t imagine how hard life was

in this time.

After my return it was already too late for the mountain biking - there are two routes, one is down in the bay covering a similar route to the one I’d just done on foot. The other one leads straight up the mountains – who likes to start directly with a really steep hill? So I was actually quite happy having ‘time’ as a good excuse to skip the big mountain bike route which takes a couple of hours. I went to change and headed straight for the flight.

Cristo the Bulgarian pilot, told me some technical details about the plane (I would call it a kite with engine). Cristo learned flying from his father and was airborne for the first time at 3 years old, so I could not imagine a better pilot. An engine with 60hp, some strings, fabrics and aluminum pipes, 2 guys, I guess a total weight of about 600kg… will this thing fly? Yes it does and very quickly at that! I was expecting a drive along the whole beach to lift this thing up, but somehow we were flying after only

a few meters. We gained altitude quickly and circled around the area I had explored earlier by foot. I think it is better to see the things first from ground level and then from above… I would say it is hard to top the im-pression from up there in the air. Our flight was about 15minutes and I enjoyed it im-mensely even if we had to squeeze into this little thing.

One strange thing is the time in the resort, somehow they are one hour ahead of the UAE , so when we returned it was already 5:30pm and time to get ready for the sched-uled reception following dinner – there is not much to say about the restaurant and the food… simply good. A lot of the food is locally produced from local farmers or caught by local fishermen, which is also a

part of the eco-friendly concept of the re-sort. Before going to sleep, I enjoyed the silence, fresh air and the sound of the sea – what a day.

The next day I went diving with Extra Divers who also just opened their operation along-side the Marina. More about the private dive experience in the next issue of OutdoorUAE.My summary of the short visit – the resort offers more than I expected. I did not even mention the spa offers and treatments which are based on a special concept and commitment to S.L.O.W.L.I.F.E practices in mind – just check online about the six sense philosophy to find out more about it. The rustic style and eco-friendly management might not be everybody’s style, but it is for me. If you enjoy nature and want to do something special with your loved one > Six Sense Zigy Bay is the place to go. I will come again, but the next time not alone.

Daniel.


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Products[OutdoorUAE]

[cap]Solar Light Cap developed by 2C

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[OutdoorUAE]

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[OutdoorUAE]

Adventurechickswith Victoria Leckiefitchicksandfastwomen.wordpress.com

Welcome to Outdoor UAE’s best-loved (only!) award-winning (here’s hoping!) column about chicks and their love for adventure here in the

UAE. There is no shortage of female adrenaline-junkies in the region but all too often we are forgotten and instead, in the limelight, are the masculine males who scale rugged peaks and discover dangerous territory in their quest to be Dubai’s answer to Bond.

This monthly column then is dedicated to all the Bond girls; the experiences to be had for all you female readers who no longer get a hit from Legs, Bums & Tums, who no longer get a kick from being the Cardio Queen in the gym. It is perfectly possible to be gorgeous and glamorous yet still have a pen-chant for the outdoors. I’m testament to this as what ever far-flung expeditions I’ve found myself on, I will always find a little pocket in my pack for those all important Clarins miniatures, nail files and tweezers to keep any unruly brows in check. Af-terall, you never know ifyou might meet your very own Bond on said adventures!

Every month I plan to try out a new experience; a thrilling, adventurous, adrenaline-pumping experience, all of various intensity. Some will be city-based such as yoga on the beach, cross-fit in the park, horse-riding in the desert or standup pad-dling ….needless to say I hope … in the sea! Others will be fur-ther afield, and include the likes of rock climbing, diving, crab hunting, sailing, desert driving and flying.

We are spoilt for choice living here in the UAE but all too of-ten our weekends are consumed with coffee and carrot cake in Lime Tree, shopping chores in some vile mall or attending yet

another leaving do brunch leav-ing us a lot poorer, a lot fatter and more often than not, rather jaded the morning after. But I lose count of the number of girl-friends who say to me they wish they made more of their week-ends … and I have no shortage of girlfriends calling asking for top tips to escape city life and explore the outdoors.

We’re an expat community from across the globe but many of us have arrived to these shores from very different climates to here, where we are spoilt rotten. Admittedly, for three months of the year, leaving the front door

is akin to putting your head in an oven, but for the remaining nine months, the weather is glorious. We are blessed to wake to glorious sunshine every day and we are blessed that there’s rarely even a need to consider the onset of cold or wet weather. This is a luxury few can boast so it’s only right that we take advan-tage and make the most of our time here.

I find also that thanks to the various budget airlines here, we all too often jump on planes now for long weekends here and there. But what about the weekend adventures to be had right on our doorstep? They are extensive but I admittedly have all too often got carried away myself with ridiculously cheap fares and in doing so neglected what’s on offer right here in the UAE.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoy the forthcoming issues. If you have a great idea for an activity to be covered in a future column, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Likewise, if you are an adventure / activity business-owner and would like to be featured, drop me a line. I am open to unlimited bouts of bribery and there are no limits to the exposure I will give you, provided you are extremely nice to me!

Love Tori xPS. Please feel visit my blog at http://fitchick-sandfastwomen.wordpress.com for more rambles on all things health, fitness and wellness-related

PPS. My email ad-dress is [email protected] for thoughts, ideas, sugge tions… or just to say hello!


The inaugural

two weeks of intense racing.

Sailing Arabia

final leg, finishing in an impressive fourth place in the final leg and 6th overall.

Team Ras Al Khaimah didn’t manage to recover from an error soon after the start and were consigned to fifth in the finish-ing order of the last leg, but took fourth overall. The Royal navy of Oman battled until the end, finishing soon after Ras Al Khaimah, but crossed the line in the good humour that has endeared them to everybody throughout the tour.Saleh Al Jabri, skipper of Oman Sail’s Ren-aissance, was in an understandably ec-static mood on setting foot back onshore at The Wave, Muscat, ‘When we went into this event we knew it was going to be hard, that it would test us to our limits, mentally and physically, but we what surprised us was how close the racing was. There was never a point when we felt we were out of touch with the rest of the fleet and although we always felt we were doing well, we often surprised ourselves with how well. I can only put it down to great teamwork and respect for each other and our skills. I look forward to sail-ing with any and all of them again in the near future. I must also thank Renaissance Services for their continuing support and helping us achieve results like this.’

At a closing ceremony in front of the new Oman Sail headquarters, His Excellency Ali Al Sunaidi, Minister of Sports and Oman Sail CEO David Graham handed out prizes. Many students, sailors, friends and families came along to show their support for the event with a traditional Omani band. David Graham commented on the success of the inaugural Sailing Arabia-The Tour. “I would like to thank all of our commercial partners, the stopover venues and the teams for making the inaugural

Sailing Arabia – The Tour such a success. Bringing events like this to our region is a source of inspiration that will bring more Omanis to discover sailing and write the next page of the maritime history of Oman. We are looking forward to work-ing with the teams again next year and to welcoming even more to the 2012 Sailing Arabia-The Tour”.

Final Positions – 13th February 2011

1st Team Caledonia- Representing: France2nd Oman Sail’s Renaissance - Represent-ing: Oman3rd Commercial Bank Group - Represent-ing: Oman4th Team Ras Al Khaimah - Representing: Ras Al Khaimah5th Royal Navy of Oman - Representing: Oman6th Team GAC Pindar - Representing: Bahrain

www.omansail.com

Event ReviewThe fleet of six boats, which between

them represents 4 nations, has trav-elled an incredible 1,064 kilometers

since they left Amwaj Marina in Bahrain, and it was not until they crossed the finish line in front of the crowds at The Wave, Muscat that French team of Team New Caledonia emerged as the winner.

The fleet was met with challenging condi-tions as they embarked on the final leg early Sunday morning, setting off from Musannah Sports Village down to the finish at The Wave, Muscat. Winds were forecast to be strong and the teams were not disappointed, as 20 knots of wind carried them down the coast. A change in wind direction after passing the Sawadi Islands created some nerve-wracking conditions, demanding 100% concentra-tion from all onboard- even the smallest mistake could mean losing a place.

At 13:42 a jubilant Team New Caledonia crossed the finish line to a chorus of cheers, and with it won the inaugural Sailing Arabia – The Tour. Saleh Al Jabri brought his team on board Renaissance across the line five minutes later to seal their second place overall, an incredible achievement for the almost 100% Omani crew.Only a minute later it was the turn of Team Commercialbank Group to cross the line and round off the podium.

A welcome sight was the return of the team from Bahrain, GAC Team Pindar to the fleet for the final leg, with Bahrain national Layla Mohsin back onboard, the only woman to take part in the race. The team missed the races between Qatar and Mussanah after facing technical difficul-ties, but worked hard to get back for the


Extra Divers MusandamExtra Divers at Zighy Bay Dive CentreEsther Stucky & Peter Eckhardt.

Extra Divers’ success story started over 10 years ago with the opening of the first Extra Divers dive centre at the Red Sea, Egypt. Walter Harscher, the founder and director, focused on

the combination of professional tourism and customer orientated diving to service the ever-growing dive travel market. The concept of safe and guest related diving soon proved to be the way to go. Today, Extra Diver has over 700 employees worldwide.

Zighy Bay Dive Centre is equipped with the high-end range equip-ment of Aqualung, Seemann Sub, Lenhardt & Wagner compressors, Nitrox NRC compressors. In order to increase the safety and com-

fort of divers, Extra Divers at Six Senses Zighy Bay dive centres offer free Nitrox 32.

Extra Divers are a highly experienced team having worked in the region for many years. They are hap-py to teach privately or in groups and can teach SSI, CMAS and PADI. As each villa at Six Senses Zighy Bay

has its own pool so the first dive lessons can be made in complete privacy.

“Diving here in Musandam is amazing where the visibility is between 5 until 30 metres. The visibility can change during a dive. The water here has a lot of plankton and because of this you have big schools of fish, sometimes more than thousand! All our dive sites are reached by speedboat with journeys between 45 and 60 minutes. During the drive up north you will see the spectacular mountains of Musandam with their different colours. On the dive sites you can expect hundred sof fish like trigger fish, Arabic angel fish and imperial angel fish, box fish, puffer fish, eagle fish, pipe fish, anemone fish, lion fish, scorpion fish and also bigger fish like eagle ray, feather tail stingray, torpedo ray, different kinds of shark and also whale sharks and dolphins are not a rarity! This is only a small part of what you can discover here. After years in Egypt and in the Maldives finally its a dream came true for us being here in the Middle East.” -Esther Stucky

[OutdoorUAE]

Zighy Bay MarinaSix Senses Zighy Bay’s new state-of-the-art marina has been

designed with the Six Senses philosophy and commitment to S.L.O.W.L.I.F.E practices in mind.

ART Marine LLC, an Abraaj Capital portfolio company, and a lead-ing expert in 360-degree marine hospitality in the MENASA region will manage and operate the luxurious and environmentally friendly marina. Nestled on the coastline of then Musandam peninsula’s rugged mountain fjords, that rise up to 2,100 meters above sea level, Zighy Bay is a sustainable boutique marina that will offer top-of-the-line services. Encompassing the 50 berths is the marina area built to capture the spirit of indigenous Omani heritage, which respects both the environment and the traditional architecture of Oman.

Commenting on the collaboration, Bruno Meier, ART Marine Direc-tor of Marine Operations said:‘Creating Destination Marinas for boat and yacht owners in the re-gion is a strategic imperative in order to allow yacht owners to live and experience our “Discover Yachting” company credo.’

Our network of lifestyle marinas will become true destinations by virtue of their attractive settings, and by offering the premium lev-els of service expected by discerning yacht owners. We could not

have wished for a better Destination marina than Zighy Bay’.A mere two-hour drive from Dubai Zighy Marina awaits the visi-tor, offering spectacular scenery, great water sports, and fascinating marine wildlife. Zighy Marina sits on Zighy Bay adjacent to the Six Senses, with 60 berths, accredited scuba diving center, dedicated charter fleet, multiple areas for relaxation, crew area, parking and some of the best coastal views in Oman.


Traditionally, the sea was a thriving source of trade and food for hundreds of years. Sailing is deeply rooted in the Ara-bic history and tradition of Emirati and Omani coastal living.

With the discovery of oil and a growing independence from the sea, these traditions are moving more and more into the background. It is important to maintain and keep these traditions and forward them to younger generations. Furthermore with the economic development and population growth through the settlement of many expatriates, it is also important to transform these traditions, knowledge and connection to the sea to those young people who have never been to the sea before.

Oman Sail’s innovative training programmes for thousands of young Omanis are inspiring a new generation to discover and en-

joy sailing. For many, as recreation combining physical exercise with mental stimulation and teamwork. For some, as a competitive sport at the very highest levels internationally. Oman Sail contributes to Oman’s development and raises the profile of Oman internationally.I had the chance to step onto one of their training boats - a huge sailing catamaran, which gives more the impression of a Caribbean cruise than an educational journey. While stepping onto the boat I was welcomed by three young and friendly people. After a brief chat I asked about the crew and the captain, and their answer was for me very surprising: It’s us!

Oman SailMaybe I’ve watched too much TV or have simply no idea about sailing, but I was expecting an old man as captain, not necessarily with a long beard, a pipe and a par-rot on the shoulder, but definitely older than this young crew:

Simon 27 years - cap-tain for 8 years. Eve 20 years young – has al-ready sailed the world on a commercial sailing ship and Elsa 22 years – a relative newcomer to the sport.You will have the chance to meet the guys and step onboard at Dubai Boat Show 1-5 March 2011, and learn more about sailing, and how inspirational it can be.


[OutdoorUAE]

Name: Alexander Medvedev

Activities: Skateboarding, Surfing and music

Nationality: Russian

How long have you been in the U.A.E. and why did you come here? I moved here in 1993 when my parents got a job offer. Its hard to believe that only less then two decades Sheikh Zayed road was filled with sand, small shops and a couple of roads. The only tallest building back then was the World Trade Center, which now is one of the smallest. Its crazy how fast the city has developed since then and how ethnically diverse it has now become.

What’s your passion? Travelling would be one of the most desired. Its always fun and exciting to meet the locals from every place and experience their culture and ways. Skateboarding itself in some way is a multi-cultural lan-guage and brings skaters from all around the world together. I am always stoked to meet new people and check out every part of the city for skate spots. Love the ocean and being in the water.

What’s your favourite spot/route? I would say Abu Dhabi would be one because its more chilled and has less hassle with security. They have an amazing Corniche around the creek that has lots of skate spots. Plus, it’s a nice atmosphere. Dubai wise, streets, Rage skatepark at DFC and Rage bowl at Dubai mall for times when its boiling outside.

What do you recommend our readers? Be stoked, enjoy everything you experience and go with the flow.

[skate]

Outdoor People

photo: Rell Taylor


Name: Fiona Busse

Activities: Scuba Diving

Nationality: South African

How long have you been in the U.A.E. and why did you come here? 13 years…Adventure

What’s your passion? Diving

What’s your favourite spot/route? Atlantis Dive Centre

What do you recommend our readers? If you haven’t tried diving, a great way to get started is to enrol in a discover scuba diving course. It gives you the opportunity to experi-ence what diving is all about.

I was very hesitant and was dragged kicking and screaming by a friend to one of these courses. Well I absolutely loved it! Being able to experience such beauty in a completely different world is incredible. It really is a peaceful and awe-inspiring experience, not to mention a great way to be active outdoors and meet some really fantastic people.

Diving quickly became my hobby and now my passion. I was certified as a Scuba Diving Instructor in October and my friend that took me on that first dive became my first student!!

Outdoor People

Come and visit the Atlantis Dive Centre…whether it is your first breath underwater or the start of your diving career!

Here’s what’s new! - Join our photography club, FREE to join with many trips planned for 2011. - Become an Atlantis Dive Centre Club Member with Exclusive Benefits - Complimentary access to the water park for all pleasure divers or students at the Atlantis Dive Centre

Come and visit our stand for more information.

AtlantisDiveCentre.com | Direct: (+9714) 426 3000 | Fax: (+9714) 426 3030 Atlantis Dive Centre | PO Box 78942 | Dubai | U.A.E


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TREK ETHIOPIA10 - 19 MARCH, SIMIEN MOUNTAINSTrek through the gorges, cliffs, plateaus and peaks (highest point 4620m) of this stunning African mountain massif to raise funds for RAEY's work with children orphaned by Aids/HIV in Ethiopia.

THE WILDS OF BORNEO CHALLENGE7 - 15 JULY, BORNEOAn amazing mix of kayaking, mountain biking, bamboo rafting and a tough hike to the summit of SE Asia's highest mountain, Mt Kinabalu (4095m), to raise funds for the impoverished children of Borneo.

EVEREST BASE CAMP CHALLENGE14 - 28 OCTOBER, NEPALThis trek, amongst the world's mightiest mountains to the infamous base camp (5360m), is one of G4G's toughest challenges, but well worth the effort. Funds raised will support disadvantaged children and orphans in Nepal.

CYCLE THE SEVEN EMIRATES27 NOV - 2 DEC, UAEA fascinating ride through the mountains, wadis and deserts of all 7 Emirates in just 6 days. See the UAE from a totally different perspective and raise funds for hand-picked children's charities in the UAE.

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Name: Hany Ebeid

How long have you been living in the UAE?I came to the UAE first in 1999, stayed for a few years and then travelled in the region. Now I have been permanently back to Dubai for the past 5 years.

Did you ever own a boat before you came to the UAE or had any relation to boats?No.

Why did you buy a boat?It started with fishing on the shore line and the Creek, which then developed in a thought of having a very small boat just to go a bit deeper. Obviously this developed further into a true love for my boat where I can’t imagine not having one.

Was it hard finding a boat? What criteria has been most important in making your decision?The first boat I had was hard as I did not know much yet about boats and because at that time I was only searching for a used boat. Now for my current boat, the main criteria I looked for was : dual engine (safety when out deep), center console (best for fishing and good for pleasure), reasonable size to be easy to have it on a trailer all the time.

What is the name of your boat, and why?Zuba, it is a old traditional Egyp-tian nick name and I like it.

Where do you berth / park your boat? Was it easy to find this berth/parking and is it expensive?Berthing and parking in Dubai is the biggest problem and is also very expensive. So I have no choice but to keep it somewhere in the sand at a road side near my house, this is not something I like to do but the prices are totally unreasonable and on top of that you rarely find a vacant spot.

How often are you using the boat and with whom do you go out?This is very difficult to say, but in average I would say once a month or twice maximum. Usually I go out with a friend who loves boating and fishing just as much as I do.

Why do you love boats / your boat?Because it takes me out there away from the noise and the daily stressful routine.

What would you tell a person who is considering buying a boat?You will enjoy it and be prepared that you will always have a boat, once you have one you will not be able to live again without a one.

Boat SpecsLength: 22ftManufacturer: Mercury

Ebeid

[OutdoorUAE]Outdoor (Boat!)PeopleHany


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Since 2000 1,, GULGULF FF FOR OR GOOGOOD hD has as rairaisedsed ovoverer 11.7.7 mimillillion on USUS DolDollarlars fs for or neeneedydy77causes acrosss ththe ge globlobe ie in 3n 32 c2 charharityty chchallallengngeses ToTo concontininueue thethe gogoodod wworkk

Giving Kids A Chance Around The World

For more information, contactGulf for Good on +971 4368 0222or visit www.gulf4good.org

TREK ETHIOPIA10 - 19 MARCH, SIMIEN MOUNTAINSTrek through the gorges, cliffs, plateaus and peaks (highest point 4620m) of this stunning African mountain massif to raise funds for RAEY's work with children orphaned by Aids/HIV in Ethiopia.

THE WILDS OF BORNEO CHALLENGE7 - 15 JULY, BORNEOAn amazing mix of kayaking, mountain biking, bamboo rafting and a tough hike to the summit of SE Asia's highest mountain, Mt Kinabalu (4095m), to raise funds for the impoverished children of Borneo.

EVEREST BASE CAMP CHALLENGE14 - 28 OCTOBER, NEPALThis trek, amongst the world's mightiest mountains to the infamous base camp (5360m), is one of G4G's toughest challenges, but well worth the effort. Funds raised will support disadvantaged children and orphans in Nepal.

CYCLE THE SEVEN EMIRATES27 NOV - 2 DEC, UAEA fascinating ride through the mountains, wadis and deserts of all 7 Emirates in just 6 days. See the UAE from a totally different perspective and raise funds for hand-picked children's charities in the UAE.

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LocationHatta Hill ParkA Barbecue Spot set in the Green Mountain Park

GPS: 24. 48. 129 Lat 056. 07. 797Alt Gear: any vehicle can make it there

It is a nice and quiet place, made for recreation espe-cially on coolest months of the year. You will find some nice turrets with grills for barbeques, a swimming pool, playing yards for children, football, volley and basket-ball courts. You can also work on your fitness with the 198 steps from the gate of the park to the tower, on top of the hill. It is a peaceful place and the view from the top is quite impressive.

UAE


P E R F E C T S T O R MTHE

Thursday January 27th, 8pm. An SMS was sent out to a bunch of

friends asking them who would like to go sailing the following morning. A couple of hours later there were nine of us, planning to set sail at 10am. Friday January 28th, 8am: I (Ziad Al Sharabi) wake up to the sound of a spoon twirling in a coffee mug. Adeeb Sawaya, a friend of 25 years, was up making 2 cups of coffee. It was time to get up and go through the nor-mal safety checks for the en-gine and equipment, and get everything ready before our friends arrived. After a nice cup of coffee on deck, we called the coast guard’s of-fice to obtain a sailing per-mit. Great weather, sunny day, clear blue skies and a perfect temperature, yet we had one problem, there was no wind! While we were get-ting the seat cushions out and cleaning the upper deck, we kept checking the wind gauge hoping a little wind would pick up for us to have a nice day sailing, but we were out of luck. By 10am a few of our friends had arrived and we were waiting for one more. Our friend Aleco El Hayek is almost always late - probably too busy updating his blackberry status which he does about 100 times a

day. After having a quick bite of breakfast that our friends brought along, it was time to set sail. We left the marina at about 11am with the help of the engine. As we got out into the open sea we put up the sails but the wind was very weak and we were only doing about 1 – 2 knots. Adeeb looked at me saying, “The day we have a nice group and the weather is perfect we get no wind!” It was quite funny as the week-end prior to this one we had gone out with just one or two friends and the wind was great. We had told the group that the plan was to go to the World Island passing in front of Palm Jumeirah, and back to Dubai International Ma-rine Club, DIMC, where the boat is docked. We were hav-ing a good time enjoying the weather, a few of the girls were tanning on the deck, music playing and the mood was just great. At about mid-day, we caught a bit of a nice breeze and started to sail a bit faster. I was at the wheel and started pointing into the wind at a better angle, now we started doing about 8 – 9 knots and the boat was heel-ing to one side. One of our friends who has never sailed before said, why is the boat like this, are we going to flip over? Adeeb then told me we need to slow it down a little bit so that no one got un-comfortable with the heel-ing. At that point the wind was had picked up a little and the boat was starting to feel overpowered by the sails. It also required more of an effort to steer the boat straight due to the weather helm which kept trying to point the boat into the wind. At this point we decided to reef the sails a little (to re-duce the Sail area to suit the Wind conditions) so that the boat could adjust and we

could maintain a good speed while keeping the boat under control. Looking at the horizon we noticed a big black cloud very far away (a squall approaching, which we didn’t know at the time since it was the first time we had ever seen one). I remem-ber someone saying “that cloud looks scary!”, but Adeeb and I didn’t give it much consideration seeing how far it was from us and due to the fact that a few days ago we were sailing in very cloudy conditions while it was raining with the wind had been very reasonable. By 12:30pm we were crossing in front of The Atlantis Hotel on the Palm. Adeeb came and stood at the left wheel and told me he wanted to try something. I let go from my side as he took control, and went downstairs to use the bathroom. It was seconds later when everything got dark, the boat was rocking vigorously, I could hear the main sail (the triangular sail on the mast) and the Jib (the sail in the front of the boat) flapping out of control, then from within this racket I heard Adeeb’s voice shout-ing at the top of his lungs, “Sharabi! Sharabi! Where the @#%! is Sharabi” I also heard Aleco and Dana calling my name. I rushed out and went

upstairs, and it was a shock-ing sight. The sky was black, the swell was 6 – 8 feet high and the wind was blowing at about 50 knots (95Kph). We were hit by a storm! Before I go on I just want to point out that Adeeb and I only had about 3 weeks sailing experi-ence on weekends, so this was not something we were geared up for, yet we had owned boats before, and I can safely say we are good at handling things in emergen-cies. The key thing here was not to panic and to make sure we kept everyone safe. I quickly jumped up on deck and grabbed the Jib line on the winch on the starboard side. We were communicat-ing quite well and making quick decisions. All I could hear was Adeeb at this point, “let’s try and get the sails in” he said. Adeeb engaged the auto pilot and ran to the mast in order to roll the mainsail back in, and within seconds the boat made a complete 180 degree turn and pointed on the other beam with the wind. The boat was suddenly so over-powered by the wind that the auto pilot could not steer since the rudder had no ef-fect on the boat. I was still on the starboard side standing on deck while everyone else was on the port side sitting

Thursday January 27th, 8pm. An SMS was sent out to a bunch of

friends asking them who would like to go sailing the following morning. A couple of hours later there were nine of us, planning to set sail at 10am. Friday January 28th, 8am: I (Ziad Al Sharabi) wake up to the sound of a spoon twirling in a coffee mug. Adeeb Sawaya, a friend of 25 years, was up making 2 cups of coffee. It was time to get up and go through the nor-mal safety checks for the en-gine and equipment, and get everything ready before our friends arrived. After a nice cup of coffee on deck, we called the coast guard’s of-fice to obtain a sailing per-mit. Great weather, sunny day, clear blue skies and a perfect temperature, yet we had one problem, there was no wind! While we were get-ting the seat cushions out and cleaning the upper deck, we kept checking the wind gauge hoping a little wind would pick up for us to have a nice day sailing, but we were out of luck. By 10am a few of our friends had arrived and we were waiting for one more. Our friend Aleco El Hayek is almost always late - probably too busy updating his blackberry status which he does about 100 times a

day. After having a quick bite of breakfast that our friends brought along, it was time to set sail. We left the marina at about 11am with the help of the engine. As we got out into the open sea we put up the sails but the wind was very weak and we were only doing about 1 – 2 knots. Adeeb looked at me saying, “The day we have a nice group and the weather is perfect we get no wind!” It was quite funny as the week-end prior to this one we had gone out with just one or two friends and the wind was great. We had told the group that the plan was to go to the World Island passing in front of Palm Jumeirah, and back to Dubai International Ma-rine Club, DIMC, where the boat is docked. We were hav-ing a good time enjoying the weather, a few of the girls were tanning on the deck, music playing and the mood was just great. At about mid-day, we caught a bit of a nice breeze and started to sail a bit faster. I was at the wheel and started pointing into the wind at a better angle, now we started doing about 8 – 9 knots and the boat was heel-ing to one side. One of our friends who has never sailed before said, why is the boat like this, are we going to flip over? Adeeb then told me we need to slow it down a little bit so that no one got un-comfortable with the heel-ing. At that point the wind was had picked up a little and the boat was starting to feel overpowered by the sails. It also required more of an effort to steer the boat straight due to the weather helm which kept trying to point the boat into the wind. At this point we decided to reef the sails a little (to re-duce the Sail area to suit the Wind conditions) so that the boat could adjust and we

could maintain a good speed while keeping the boat under control. Looking at the horizon we noticed a big black cloud very far away (a squall approaching, which we didn’t know at the time since it was the first time we had ever seen one). I remem-ber someone saying “that cloud looks scary!”, but Adeeb and I didn’t give it much consideration seeing how far it was from us and due to the fact that a few days ago we were sailing in very cloudy conditions while it was raining with the wind had been very reasonable. By 12:30pm we were crossing in front of The Atlantis Hotel on the Palm. Adeeb came and stood at the left wheel and told me he wanted to try something. I let go from my side as he took control, and went downstairs to use the bathroom. It was seconds later when everything got dark, the boat was rocking vigorously, I could hear the main sail (the triangular sail on the mast) and the Jib (the sail in the front of the boat) flapping out of control, then from within this racket I heard Adeeb’s voice shout-ing at the top of his lungs, “Sharabi! Sharabi! Where the @#%! is Sharabi” I also heard Aleco and Dana calling my name. I rushed out and went

upstairs, and it was a shock-ing sight. The sky was black, the swell was 6 – 8 feet high and the wind was blowing at about 50 knots (95Kph). We were hit by a storm! Before I go on I just want to point out that Adeeb and I only had about 3 weeks sailing experi-ence on weekends, so this was not something we were geared up for, yet we had owned boats before, and I can safely say we are good at handling things in emergen-cies. The key thing here was not to panic and to make sure we kept everyone safe. I quickly jumped up on deck and grabbed the Jib line on the winch on the starboard side. We were communicat-ing quite well and making quick decisions. All I could hear was Adeeb at this point, “let’s try and get the sails in” he said. Adeeb engaged the auto pilot and ran to the mast in order to roll the mainsail back in, and within seconds the boat made a complete 180 degree turn and pointed on the other beam with the wind. The boat was suddenly so over-powered by the wind that the auto pilot could not steer since the rudder had no ef-fect on the boat. I was still on the starboard side standing on deck while everyone else was on the port side sitting

[OutdoorUAE]

By Ziad Al Sharabi


in the cockpit. At this point the wind had filled the sails again and the boat heeled violently to the other side. The boat heeled all the way down and I was standing perpendicular to the water looking down at my friends whose faces had turned white. The spreaders on the mast of the boat had actually touched the water. It was so shocking how it had all hap-pened within seconds. Lucki-ly it’s a sail boat with a very heavy keel which prevented it from capsizing in this case. About 5 seconds later the boat slowly started to come back upright. As soon as the boat levelled we told every-one to go inside while we continued trying to roll the sails in. It was at this point that I noticed our friend Dana crouched on the floor holding on to the steering wheel trying to counter steer. Her face was as white as a ghost, she was screaming, “I can’t hold it”. Aleco was on deck and I told him to help her till we sorted the sails out. Mind you this was all in a matter of 3 maybe 4 minutes. We got to a point where it was not possible to put the sails back in, and it was a matter of making a quick de-cision, either try to save the sails or save the boat and the people with us. At this point we decided to bail on the sails, I released the sheets and while the sails flapped violently and started ripping we were able to start rolling them in as much as we could. Adeeb quickly grabbed on the wheel, Dana and Aleco went inside to check on the others, and I stood on stand-by with Adeeb. We started the engine and began trying to make our way back to the marina. Both sails had ripped by now and were flapping loosely in the wind tangling all the ropes together. In the distance another catamaran with tourists onboard was behind us fighting his way back as well. The engine is not that powerful and we were just praying that it wouldn’t fail, as it was our only hope. Pushing through the high swell we caught sight of the waves coming up and crashing onto the boat.

The waves were so big, they would hit the boat then come gushing at us. We had to hold on tight when they hit us so that we didn’t get washed away. Forty minutes later we cleared the Palm Is-land which was our biggest fear, because the thought of crashing into the breakwater was just horrifying. As we steered towards the marina with the JBR in front of us, we could see about 5 or 6 rescue boats in the distance on the lookout for other boats that might need assistance. With the wind blowing from be-hind us now the canopy shade above us just ripped off and collapsed forward. That honestly was the least of our concerns. There was a small sail boat ahead being followed by a rescue boat. There where 3 people on-board fighting to get back to port after their front sail had ripped. A rescue boat ap-proached us. We gave them the signal that we were fine and heading back to the bay area. After battling the storm

for about an hour, we got into the bay area opposite Barasti. Several other boats had come in to take cover. Adeeb rushed to get the an-chor controls while I steered to put the boat in a secure position for anchorage. This is when our friends came up to the deck, with looks of shock on their faces. We waved in a rescue boat to take them and drop them off at the peer. Adeeb, Dana, Aleco and I remained on-board, waiting for the wind to die out so we would be able to get into the Marina. After they left, Adeeb looked at me and smiled and I just started laughing, I guess it was our first reaction after we knew it was over and all was safe and sound. As I went inside to get out of my wet clothes, I looked down at

myself and realized that my zipper was undone. I had rushed out of the bathroom so fast when the storm hit that I forgot to pull it back up. We tidied things up and came back up on deck and started tracing the story back to recollect how it all happened. I must admit it was a time in my life that I will never forget, and I thanked God that we got everyone back safe. We called that day “The Per-fect Storm”.

Crew onboard: Adeeb, Ziad, Aleco, Omar, Hafez, Dana, Samar, Ghada and Frederica.

in the cockpit. At this point the wind had filled the sails again and the boat heeled violently to the other side. The boat heeled all the way down and I was standing perpendicular to the water looking down at my friends whose faces had turned white. The spreaders on the mast of the boat had actually touched the water. It was so shocking how it had all hap-pened within seconds. Lucki-ly it’s a sail boat with a very heavy keel which prevented it from capsizing in this case. About 5 seconds later the boat slowly started to come back upright. As soon as the boat levelled we told every-one to go inside while we continued trying to roll the sails in. It was at this point that I noticed our friend Dana crouched on the floor holding on to the steering wheel trying to counter steer. Her face was as white as a ghost, she was screaming, “I can’t hold it”. Aleco was on deck and I told him to help her till we sorted the sails out. Mind you this was all in a matter of 3 maybe 4 minutes. We got to a point where it was not possible to put the sails back in, and it was a matter of making a quick de-cision, either try to save the sails or save the boat and the people with us. At this point we decided to bail on the sails, I released the sheets and while the sails flapped violently and started ripping we were able to start rolling them in as much as we could. Adeeb quickly grabbed on the wheel, Dana and Aleco went inside to check on the others, and I stood on stand-by with Adeeb. We started the engine and began trying to make our way back to the marina. Both sails had ripped by now and were flapping loosely in the wind tangling all the ropes together. In the distance another catamaran with tourists onboard was behind us fighting his way back as well. The engine is not that powerful and we were just praying that it wouldn’t fail, as it was our only hope. Pushing through the high swell we caught sight of the waves coming up and crashing onto the boat.

The waves were so big, they would hit the boat then come gushing at us. We had to hold on tight when they hit us so that we didn’t get washed away. Forty minutes later we cleared the Palm Is-land which was our biggest fear, because the thought of crashing into the breakwater was just horrifying. As we steered towards the marina with the JBR in front of us, we could see about 5 or 6 rescue boats in the distance on the lookout for other boats that might need assistance. With the wind blowing from be-hind us now the canopy shade above us just ripped off and collapsed forward. That honestly was the least of our concerns. There was a small sail boat ahead being followed by a rescue boat. There where 3 people on-board fighting to get back to port after their front sail had ripped. A rescue boat ap-proached us. We gave them the signal that we were fine and heading back to the bay area. After battling the storm

for about an hour, we got into the bay area opposite Barasti. Several other boats had come in to take cover. Adeeb rushed to get the an-chor controls while I steered to put the boat in a secure position for anchorage. This is when our friends came up to the deck, with looks of shock on their faces. We waved in a rescue boat to take them and drop them off at the peer. Adeeb, Dana, Aleco and I remained on-board, waiting for the wind to die out so we would be able to get into the Marina. After they left, Adeeb looked at me and smiled and I just started laughing, I guess it was our first reaction after we knew it was over and all was safe and sound. As I went inside to get out of my wet clothes, I looked down at

myself and realized that my zipper was undone. I had rushed out of the bathroom so fast when the storm hit that I forgot to pull it back up. We tidied things up and came back up on deck and started tracing the story back to recollect how it all happened. I must admit it was a time in my life that I will never forget, and I thanked God that we got everyone back safe. We called that day “The Per-fect Storm”.

Crew onboard: Adeeb, Ziad, Aleco, Omar, Hafez, Dana, Samar, Ghada and Frederica.


Sand! was the call from the “Kimosabe”, the Lone Ranger when he fell into Quick Sand and started to sink. I was about 6 or 7 years old when I saw that episode and have had my doubts about sinking into sand ever since watching that epi-sode of the Lone Ranger.

Here in the UAE we have good rain once maybe twice a year. Good enough to cover large parts of our riding area. When this happens it is a MUST to go riding. The sand becomes very compact and hard. There is nowhere you cannot ride and the dunes are smooth and clear of all tracks. Imagine a skid pan of unlimited dimen-sions in the shape of a sand dune!

Last year November we had a massive storm, it lasted almost a day and it rained across the

“Tonto help, I am sinking”

BY JOHN BASSON

[OutdoorUAE]

Quick


Sand!

whole of the UAE. Lucky for me it was on a Friday and we went riding Saturday.

The dunes were awesome and for hours we skidded our quad signature on the dunes.

Then we went down to some flat areas for more fun. What followed was a huge surprise and shock! Patrice was doing some Doughnuts while I photographed him. He was coming out of the 1st one and about to enter the 2nd one when the quad, at full throttle, came to a very rapid stop in the sand. It then the quad started sinking!

Fig. 1 - Coming out of the 1st doughnut

and about to do the second one. Look at the position of the front wheels relative to the “spray marks” of the 1st dough-nut. By the time the quad had moved only 3 meters more it was totally stuck and started sinking.

Fig. 2 - Not sure what to do or what was happening, Patrice just stood and watched as he sank even more.

Fig. 3+4 - We were very lucky that the area affected was very small. The way I now understand Quick sand is as follows: The sand must be very fine, like it is here in the UAE. There must be a solid base or rock foundation underneath the sand preventing the water from seeping deep into the ground. If it rains the sand then becomes “suspended”, not floating on top, but suspended in the water. When you now get on top of it you literally start to sink. Unlike mud that would be pushed away and leaves tracks, you can see on the 4th photo that it is clear be-hind the quad as the sand moved back across the tracks. Mud does not do this.

fig.2

We were very lucky as the “rock base” was only about 30cm below the sand and the quad did not go any deeper than that. We were however unable to stand any where next to or behind the quad (only in front) as we then also sank into it. With your boots 30cm deep in this sand it was impossible to move, never mind push...

fig.3

fig.4

Look at how our effort has caused the sand to “sink’ and displace the water. It was “dry only 5min ago. We spent about 30min trying to get the quad out of the sand and were physically exhausted by the time we got it out…

I don’t think there are any places in SA where this could or has occurred, but surly has opened my eyes!I now understand why the poor Lone Ranger was so distressed and urged Tonto to do some thing, and do it fast…

John Basson.

fig.1


[OutdoorUAE]

Wadi Ghalilah Three o’clock in the morning is never

a good time for a wake up alarm but on this occasion it did not matter. I

was already dressed and the alarm acted as a prompt for more tea and toast. Twenty minutes later I was in Ian’s truck head-ing north from Ras Al Khaimah towards Wadi Ghalilah. Ian explained the events of the previous afternoon and his trip up and down the mountain after receiving the telephone call for assistance.

Although I had spoken to Ian several times the previous evening and also with the team high on the mountain; it was only now that the situation became clear. A member of a group on the Stairway to Heaven scramble has slipped and fallen during the descent. The fall had occurred early afternoon. The casualty had sus-pected broken lower leg, cuts, grazes and a lot of bruises. He was located a couple of hours walk from the end of the Galilah road on a very steep scree slope above a vertical drop. The route up to him was steep, in some places very narrow, covered in loose rocks and there were plenty of op-portunities to fall over the edge of a cliff. He needed assistance to get down.

Fortunately for the casualty and the rest of his group, while there is no formal moun-tain rescue service in the UAE, there are a significant number of experienced and active climbers in the northern Emirates. A telephone call from the accident site had initiated a cascade of calls through the climbing community. Within hours a small team had collected their climb-ing equipment and were heading up the mountain to assist. They had reached the accident site just before last light. Andy, the medic, had assessed the casualty, sta-bilised him and the decision was made to wait until first light before moving him.

The majority of the original Stairway to Heaven group had been brought down to the road head while six members of the team that had gone up to assist had stayed on the mountain with the casualty. Dur-ing the night, the larger team that would be carrying out the rescue had been pre-paring equipment and trying to get a few hours sleep. Ian and I were the advance party and a team of twenty would be fol-lowing on an hour behind with the ma-jority of the technical equipment. As a

voluntary operation put together at short notice without the benefit of rehearsal it was likely that our outline plan would need some modification once we were up at the accident site.

Four thirty in the morning, Ian and I were picking our way up a narrow goat track heading up into the mountains. Our head torches picked out boulders, the occasion-al stunted tree but most of the time it was just a beam of light searching into an inky darkness. No moonlight, no wind and no sounds apart from our increasingly heavy

breathing and a dislodged rock tumbling into the darkness made us feel very iso-lated. We pushed on and tried to maintain the pace as the ground steepened. There was no real path to follow to the accident site, just the occasional stack of stones left by previous travellers, a mountaineer’s in-tuition and Ian’s memory from the earlier in the night.

The ground was a lot steeper now, great care was required as one slip and we would

be plunging into the darkness below us. Our torches were now picking out tower-ing cliffs that disappeared above us in the darkness. Up ahead and disappointingly much higher than we were, we saw a light flickering. At least we knew we were on the right track and it spurred us on to keep the pace up. Thirty minutes more hard effort and we passed the first members of the overnight team sheltering on a nar-row ledge under an overhang. After a few words we pushed on up a narrow rocky gulley and then carefully traversed across a steep slope to the casualty party.

They were camped, if sitting on a rock can be called camping, on a very steep slope with the casualty lying in a sleeping bag on a very narrow platform. A rope secured him to the mountain and prevented him from sliding over a cliff that was some twenty meters further down the slope. After brief introductions we got to work. Andy, the medic, along with some assist-ants were splinting the casualty’s leg with walking poles, a cut up sleeping mat, climbing tape and, or course, the univer-sally useful duct tape. Another team were assembling the specialist mountain rescue stretcher. As the sky got lighter, the seri-ousness of the terrain became clear; steep cliffs, very narrow ledges and a lot of loose rock. The cliffs were too steep and enclos-ing to allow the use of a helicopter so the casualty would have to be carried out. We planned and then prepared for a series of lowers to get the casualty off the scree slope and to the ledge system some thirty metres below us. As the main body ar-rived on the ledges below us, instructions for more equipment and manpower were

Rescue By Pete Aldwinckle Photos by Ian Ganderton

Improvised Splint

First move of casualty


sent down.

By eight o’clock we were as ready as we could be and Phil’s team on the stretcher started the delicate manoeuvre to get the stretcher to the top of the main cliff. Al-though there were ropes in place, it was still potentially dangerous with loose rock and a big drop below the stretcher team. My team waited at the top of the cliff with the next team at the bottom to receive the stretcher from us.

Simply put, our plan was to pass the stretcher down the mountain with teams working ahead of the stretcher prepar-ing ropes to lower over the big cliffs or to back up the carrying team so that the casualty did not get dropped in the event of a slip. Once the stretcher had passed through a section, the team that had pre-pared the ropes would collect them and then move ahead of the slower moving stretcher party and set up at the next sec-tion. It worked out that twenty odd guys were in the stretcher team and two teams of five on the ropes. The complexity was that we were working on very steep slopes with big cliffs close, loose rocks and nu-merous other hazards. As a team, we were going to be relying on the individual skills and competencies of every member to be able to look after themselves combined with our ability to work together without making any mistakes as the consequences could be fatal.

The first technical lower had gone much quicker and smoother than expected. Andy and Phil had been lowered with the stretcher to ensure it did not get jammed against the cliff. The terrain and avail-able equipment had demanded some im-provisation but the stretcher with casu-alty securely strapped in had been safely passed to the next team. We coiled ropes, dismantled belays, packed rucksacks and moved down the mountain after the casu-alty party. We pushed forward past them at the end of a narrow ledge that must have been challenge to negotiate; I was glad that the other team had that obstacle to over-come.

We quickly worked ourselves into a rou-tine of preparing ropes, checking knots and carabineers; checking systems and en-suring that somebody checked us. As the stretcher party approached I struck by the calm purpose that everybody had. There was no rush but we were making remark-ably quick progress considering that we were moving down a loose mountain car-rying a 120kg of stretcher and an injured person that was totally dependent on us. Those not carrying or working ropes moved rucksacs, water and equipment ahead. There was a constant checking of each other, looking out for hazards and a grinding momentum that was moving us down the mountain.

For six and a half hours the casualty was in constant motion towards the road apart from two stops. The first at what must be the only flat ground in upper Wadi Galilah where we ate and relaxed for a moment; the second when the casualty succumbed to the constant bumping and jogging and his bladder said that a stop was required. For the majority of this time we were de-pendent on ropes for security or back up. And then we reached the vehicles. Our

uncomplaining casualty was transferred to motorised transport for the onward jour-ney to hospital and the operating theatre.

As the team sorted out equipment, relaxed and shared food and water, we reflected on the last 24 hours. We had been lucky that our casualty did not have life threatening injuries and so we had not been required to evacuate him at night. He had been lucky that thirty odd experienced climbers had been in the area and had responded to call for assistance. All of us had been mo-tivated to help one of our own and lurking in the back of our minds was probably the thought that next time it could be us.

Whilst there may be moves to establish a more formal mountain rescue capability in the Emirates, the mountains will always be rugged and steep with the constant per-il of a small slip resulting in serious injury. Anybody heading into the UAE moun-

tains needs to have a high degree of self sufficiency and be comfortable on exposed ledges and difficult terrain. The feeling of remoteness and challenge the mountains provide is very much part of their appeal but they are certainly not benign and need to be treated with respect.

Pete Aldwinckle is a resident of RAK and the Technical Director of Global Climb-ing. He has been enjoying mountains and rock climbing for over thirty years and during this time he has climbed on five continents for fun and worked as a profes-sional mountaineer in Scotland.

The names of the majority of the rescuers, companies that released them from work and supplied equipment and the casualty have not been published at their request or as permission to use their names has not be sought.

Pete Aldwinckle.

Team work


UIM XCAT Middle East Powerboat ChampionshipsNews

[OutdoorUAE]

Dubai 3rd February 2011. Fazza 3 storms through the finish line in first place amid praise and congratulations for the organizers.

In round 2 of the UIM XCat Middle East Powerboat Championships organized by Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) Fazza 3 triumphantly led the fleet from the start in a convincing win to score a second win of the season. ‘The decision by the DIMC Committee to move the race to this morning and use the storm course worked so well,’ said Nadir Bin Hendi the winning driver.Rashid Al Marri and Salem Al Hamli took second place in Extreme Marine and Spirit of Abu Dhabi with Rashid Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansouri came in third.

There was a false start, which caused the loss of one lap as some of the boats from the back of the parade throttled up too early. ‘Because of the weather we used the storm course today which is shorter and it was important to slow the boats down and split them at the first mark, so we added an extra mark to divide the fleet and it worked very well,’ said Mohammed Hareb.

With average speeds of 131 kph the winning boat completed the twelve lap the course in 31.23 minutes with the second boat tailing by 17 secondsThree new drivers joined the Xcat fleet today, Team Dubai was crewed by Saeed Al Mehairi and Mohammed Al Ghahaish who have both come from the wooden powerboat class. ‘The Xcat is very different and there is a lot to learn, the skills are something new and we are taking it easy while we build our confi-dence, ‘ said Saeed. The other rookie was Essa Mohammed Bel Hasa who joined Skydive Dubai.

The President of the UAE Marine Sports Federation and CEO of DIMC, Mr. Saeed Hareb, presented prizes after the race. The next round of the Middle East Championship will be held in Abu Dhabi on March 19th followed by the final in Dubai on March 24th.

DIMC

Manchester United Soccer Schools at Abu Dhabi Terry Fox Run

Children, parents and coaches from Manchester United Soccer Schools in Abu Dhabi took part in the 16th annual Abu Dhabi Terry Fox Run on the Abu Dhabi Corniche on Friday, with all pro-ceeds going to fund cancer research in the UAE.

More than 40 children and their parents who are currently enrolled in the Man-chester United Soccer Schools pro-gramme took part.

Andy Dixon, MUSS head coach, said, “This was an important local fundraising initiative which saw hundreds of people coming together to help tackle a seri-ous disease. At MUSS we always try to promote healthy living to all players and parents on our courses and we were encouraged to see so many young-sters involved”.

The Emirates Diving Asso-ciation (EDA) has released a 140 page publication on the rich heritage of pearl diving in the region.

Titled “Pearl Diving”, the book includes a compilation of interviews with old pearl divers and UAE nationals on their expe-riences of diving in the UAE. The data, supported by authentic photographs, was collected by Jumaa Bin Thalith, coordinator of the EDA Heritage De-partment.

Essa Al Ghurair, Vice Chairman, Emir-ates Diving Association said: “Pearl diving was an important part of the economy of the Arabian Gulf before the current oil boom. Local pearl divers went to great risks to collect oysters from the ocean floor, but the rewards were worth it. The income received from the pearl industry helped support many Dubai families. This book will shed light on a very interesting and important pe-riod in Dubai’s history.”

For hundreds of years, the finest pearls in the world were found in the waters of the Arabian Gulf. The ancient pearling industry provided the only real income for the people of the UAE. In response to the increased demand for pearls, many more families settled permanently in the coastal villages, which began to grow in importance and influence, par-ticularly Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Hashim Al Dabal, Head of Dubai Prop-erties said: “Pearl diving is a part of the UAE’s heritage. Associations such as the EDA help to preserve our culture; its initiatives give visitors an insight about our ancestors, and the UAE’s maritime traditions.

“With the publication of this book, more people can gain a better understanding and appreciation of this cultural aspect of life in the UAE in the olden days.”

www.ead.ae

F1 H2O Racing 4th Season opening

The most riveting sport on water, the UIM F1 H2O World Championship series, opens up the start of it’s fourth decade of the fourth and fifth of March in Doha in Qatar for the inaugural round of the 2011 season.

If the story plot follows the same path that it has in the last few years, the fire-works on water should begin right from the opening lap on Doha Bay.

There was a time in recent history when two drivers, Italian Guido Cappellini and American Scott Gillman, dominated F1 H2O racing. During a 15-year period from the early 1990’s to just recently these two drivers won 14 of the 15 World Championship titles between them. Well, as songwriter Bob Dylan said in a lyric almost fifty years ago, ‘The times, they are a changing,’ and that is exactly what has happened to the sport since these two legends retired in the last few years.

In the past five seasons there have been four different drivers champions headed by two spectacular comebacks by the current World Champion Sami Selio of the Mad Croc Racing Team. The native from Helsinki, Finland for the second time in four campaigns came charging up from the back of the pack

www.thenational.ae

2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival - River Jetez waltzes to Balanchine triumph

Emirates NBD were the sponsors of Friday’s seventh meeting of the 2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival and the featured Group Two Balanchine Stakes and concluding 2000m con-ditions race on the All-Weather were dominated by Mike De Kock and Chris-tophe Soumillon.

First up was River Jetez in the featured 1800m Balanchine Stakes, a Group Two Turf contest restricted to fillies and mares. Soumillon was able to settle his mount in rear before producing her with a sweeping late challenge to deny sta-ble companion Reem in the final 200m to the delight of De Kock who said: “We were very hopeful of a big run but an-other 1-2 is a great result. I am not sure where we will go with River Jetez as she has plenty of options.”

Soumillon used similar tactics in the final race, Personal Banking, and decidedly won on Golden Sword who broke the track record over the course and dis-tance of the world’s richest race, the US$10million Dubai World Cup.

The trainer added: “The [Dubai] World Cup is obviously a consideration and this horse has been a revelation this year. It is a very pleasing conclusion to the night.”

Racing opened with the Group Two Bani Yas, the only Purebred Arabian race on the card. A 1400m All-Weather contest, it was won well by Dariya, rid-den by Ted Durcan for Saifaldin Deeb. Short of room turning for home, Durcan waited for a gap and his mount pow-ered home to deny Kandar Du Falgas.Durcan said: “He is a nice horse with plenty of ability. I won on him over 1000m last time and he is pretty versa-tile and will stay further”

Doug Watson then opened his account for the 2011 Dubai International Rac-ing Carnival with Famous Warrior in the 1600m Private Banking, and then dou-bled his tally with War Monger in the fol-lowing 1800m Priority Banking, the final leg of the Meydan Masters’ International Jockeys’ Challenge.

Both winners made virtually all with Tad-hg O’Shea on Famous Warrior who is a half-brother to last year’s stable star and Godolphin Mile runner-up Green Coast.However, it was Olivier Peslier who was able to get War Monger to the front after about 300m and he never saw another

rival. In doing so, the jockey propelled himself from last to second in the chal-lenge – a place behind Calvin Borel who finished with 86 points to Peslier’s 81.

Watson said: “That was a great hour and two great rides. Famous Warrior has taken a while to settle in and we have schooled him in the paddock and stalls. He is a nice young horse and hopefully can improve like Green Coast did.”

Peslier said: “The jockeys’ challenge is a great initiative and it is nice to win a race – seeing as I was last before this one. Doug was very bullish before the race and I can see why because he won that well.”

The trainer then completed a treble with Barbecue Eddie in the 1400m Business Banking with Richard Hills in the saddle.Top-weight War Artist landed the 1200m Corporate Banking to follow up his win in last year’s Al Shindagha Sprint over the same trip but on the All-Weather. Now trained by Robert Collet he was again partnered by Olivier Peslier who said: “On his day he is a very good sprinter as he has shown on many oc-casions. It all went right today with a good fast gallop suiting him.”

The 2504m Asset Management provid-ed Johnny Murtagh with his first Meydan winner and he produced the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained Calvados Blues to deny Mikhail Glinka close home. They were last entering the straight and Al Za-rooni said: “That was a very good ride from a top-class jockey. The horses are in good form.”

www.dubairacingclub.com


Round 1 V8 Supercars Championship Race 2 Results Yas V8 400

Abu Dhabi February 12: James Court-ney has made a stunning comeback at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, winning Race 2 of the V8 Supercars Championship.

The reigning V8 Supercars Champion, driving for the Toll Holden Racing Team, used a superior fuel strategy to secure his first win for the factory Holden team in one of the most enthralling races in recent memory.

After being penalised 50 points for a collision with Jason Bargwanna yes-terday, Courtney went toe-to-toe with Team BOC’s Jason Bright in the final laps, passing and re-passing each other a number of times.

Courtney ran a risky fuel strategy, run-ning 22-straight laps on one tank of fuel. Bright was on a similar strategy, elevat-ing them to the front of the field while others took late fuel stops.

Pole-sitter Jamie Whincup was one of those late stoppers, recovering to finish third after a late stop for fuel.

Whincup’s Race 1 win and his podium tonight keeps him at the front of the V8 Supercars Championship table.

Kelly Racing’s new driver David Rey-nolds (Stratco Racing) finished a career-best fourth ahead of Michael Ca-ruso (Fujitsu Racing), Jonathon Webb (Mother Energy Drinks Racing), AlexDavison (IRWIN Racing), Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Racing), Greg Murphy (Pepsi Max Crew) and Paul Dumbrell (The Bottle-O Racing).

The race started with a bang when Tony D’Alberto (Wilson Security Racing) col-lided with Tim Slade (Lucky 7 Racing). Slade spun in front of the pack and was

Herculean effort at Sevens Stadium

The inaugural Hercules Trophy inter-company teambuilding and network-ing event, held for the first time outside of Europe at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai last month, has been hailed a “phenomenal success” by participants and organizers. A total of 80 corporate teams, comprising between five and seven players, were put to 12 challeng-ing tests designed to help them master teamwork. While only one team – logis-tics firm Danzas – took home the official Hercules Trophy, all participants said they felt like winners. Michael Buckley, General Manager - Global Forwarding of winning team Danzas AEI Emirates LLC, said the competition “definitely exceeded our expectations. It was an incredibly fun, energizing and enjoyable day for each one of our team members. We feel that it doesn’t matter who the winners are, it’s about developing a great team spirit, and this is what you take back to the workplace,” he said.

That enthusiasm continued to build throughout the day as teams competed for points across 12 Herculean labours. Through the camaraderie of sport, par-ticipants got to think, act and perform as a team while strengthening relation-ships with their colleagues in a fun and non threatening environment.

of drivers to win the title at the very last day of the season. He did this the first time in 2007 winning the final two events back to back and did so a year ago at the Grand Prix of Sharjah finishing sec-ond in the event which was enough to take the title by a razor thin six points.

The Mad Croc group took the team title, as well as, first and third in the driver standings in 2010. Joining Sami this season will be last year’s Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up Davide Padovan who comes over from the Rainbow Team. The young driver from Vercelli, Italy shows a lot of upsides with five top-10 finishes in six completed races a year ago with just one DNF and a crash in Linyi being the only negatives to his resume. He should definitely take an-other step forward improving this sea-son under Selio’s guidance.

hit hard by Garth Tander (Toll HRT). All three drivers were ruled out of the race.A lengthy Safety Car period ensued, with confusion reining due to a slow-moving Safety Car in the accident area near the exit of pit lane.

Officials are reviewing the results post-race as the red light at the end of pit lane was active and could play its part in the outcome of the race. Also in the wars were Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone) and Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing). Lowndes outbraked himself, colliding hard with Ingall’s Commodore.

www.yasmarinacircuit.com

Oceans Sports FZE makes waves in UAE

There’s good news for local kiteboard-ing and paddleboarding enthusiasts this year with the arrival of Ocean Sports FZE on the scene. The only official im-porter of Naish International products in the region, Ocean Sports is already making waves with its range of qual-ity kites, kiteboards and paddleboards straight from Naish Sails in Maui, Hawaii.

According to owner Leigh Pothecary, Ocean Sports FZE aims to be much more than just a leading water sports gear distributor, it wants to be a leader in promoting awareness of the fun and benefits of SUP and kitesurfing in the region.

“We aim to lift the profile of all the sports Naish are involved in by showing that they are accessible to everyone. We want to promote the health benefits of SUP and will hold events that the whole family can be involved in,” says Leigh.

“With the ever-growing popularity of kitesurfing in the UAE we hope that we can play a fundamental role in the de-velopment of this great sport. There’s a fantastic coastline in the region to en-joy and explore, and year-round good weather conditions. There are few better places to take up these sports.” Ocean Sports has just this month brought in the Naish 2011 series of kites and boards, and it makes for an impressive selection that is competi-tively priced. You can see and order from the Ocean Sports FZE range at www.kitesurfup.com, or check it out in person at stockists Surf Shop Dubai, AL Barsha, Dubai, and Picnico, Jumeirah Beach Road, Dubai.

If you really want a taste of what SUP and kitesurfing are all about, Ocean Sports FZE’s latest line of Naish gear will be on display at the Battle of the Pad-dle, Sunset Beach, Jumeirah, Dubai on March 12, and again at Yas Marina paddle, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi in April. These are two events not to be missed by any self-respecting water sports en-thusiast.

For further information please email [email protected] or call Leigh on 055 935 2735.

That enthusiasm continued to build throughout the day as teams competed for points across 12 Herculean labours. Through the camaraderie of sport, par-ticipants got to think, act and perform as a team while strengthening relation-ships with their colleagues in a fun and non threatening environment.

OutdoorUAE magazine add Motorcycling and Kayaking sections to magazine

Harley-Davidson® Motor Company At Gulf Bike Expo 2011

Over the last 2 years, interest in the Harley-Davidson brand remains strong among riders and non-riders of all generations throughout the MENA re-gion. The MENA motorcyclists’ positive reaction to new motorcycles such as the Ultra Limited, Sportster Forty-Eight, Sportster 883 Iron and Dyna Wideglide is evidence of the growing relevance of Harley-Davidson motorcycles in this re-gion. The Harley-Davidson experience is such a special and unique one, and the method is to use this to frame the superb product offering with the likes of the Sportster Forty-Eight.

Known for producing bold, tenacious bikes, Harley-Davidson have show-cased its 2011 JUMPSTART - the future of highly interactive, customer engage-ment - at the Gulf Bike Week that took place at Dubai Festival City from Febru-ary 10 to 12, 2011. Additionally Harley Davidson of UAE maintained its tradi-tion with its 2011 line-up consisting of the VRSCF V-Rod Muscle, XL883N Iron 883™, Forty-Eight Sportster and FL-HXXX Street Glide Trike.

“We want to encourage people to visit our UAE dealer stand and talk to the staff. It sounds simple but it is easy to jump in and get overwhelmed, but with our experts to guide you, we can show you how the price of entry may pleas-antly surprise you, how you can turn a factory Harley-Davidson into your own custom machine and how exciting it is to become part of the ever growing brotherhood of the HOG community. We are also experiencing more interest in online social circles from younger non licensed riders and female prospective riders. To give those without licenses a taste of the brand experience we are bringing a new technology to the bike week where anyone (irrespective of the status of their license) can enjoy the rid-ing experience” - said Elsa Abi Nader Marketing Manager Middle East and North AfricaAt the Gulf Bike Week the JUMPSTART was an innovative demo tool that have put customers in the saddle of a run-ning Harley-Davidson* motorcycle, and let them experience the “thrill of the throttle,” that comes with riding a genu-ine Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

JUMPSTART is portable, so you can get outside the walls of your dealership and bring the premium Harley-Davidson ex-perience to places it’s never been. No matter where you are, the roar of a wide-open Harley draws crowds and creates excitement. It generates sales leads, increases Rider’s Edge®/ rider training enrollment, and most importantly – sells more motorcycles for the dealership.

We were happy to welcome everyone onsite; enjoying the JUMPSTART, hav-ing nice spray tattoo and getting closer to starting a dream.

OutdoorUAE is announcing the launch of two new sections. You asked for it, we listened! During the month of March we will add to the website a new sec-tion for Motor Bikes - the philosophy of freedom while riding the bike, especially outside the city. This was reson enough for us to include it as an outdoor activity. Motorbikes are also used as vehicles for camping and exploring tours across the UAE. Motor Cross was included as a section from the very firtst day. So feel free to send us your suggestions or ad-ventures with your bike.Kayaking is the second but not so new section. So far Kayaking is included in the boating section but as such a popu-lar activity, it defenately deservs it’s own section which will also be launched in March. OutdoorUAE is very happy, that so many people are getting involved with their feedback and contributions. Thank you from the whole team.


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Kite SurfingKitesurfing is an extreme sport although here in the

UAE with our low to moderate winds it is normally more a leisurely ride on the Ocean where we can for-

get about the daily stresses in our lives.

That said, once in a while a freak wind comes our way and stirs up some trouble and in most cases more fun than we were expecting. On the 28th January however, a black cloud headed across the Arabian Gulf towards the UAE, from the North West. Most people watching this were expecting rain and within minutes the wind went from around 10 knots to a steady 35 knots, with gusts as high as 52 knots re-corded on Ness Nass beach in Jumeirah, Dubai. A cloud of sand and dust pummeled through Dubai and dissipated as quickly as it came leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

The majority of people living and kitesurfing in the UAE may never experience these conditions but that does not mean that we should not be aware of what is going on behind us as we merrily cruise up and down in front of the beach. Having lived and kited for 7 years in the tropics and stormier sea’s of South East Asia, I have spent many hours sat on a beach watching the sea and sky, waiting for that moment to come when I will get in the best possible ses-sion or heading for cover whilst an almighty storm passes by.

Understand the weather conditions

With any windsport you should always be aware of the weather around you, things happen fast and before you know it you can be in serious trouble. Of course you can not see the wind but you can look for obvious signs of change. Check upwind regularly and if you see a dark sky or an increase in the spray (white horses) from the sea in the distance this is normally a sign that stronger winds or a storm are coming. In warmer climates black clouds can

Spot the Signs

very often mean thunderstorms which pose a great danger to kiters on or off the water. Never take a chance and if you are unsure then head straight to the beach, land your kite, anchor it down or deflate and stand by until you are sure that the conditions are safe for you to go back out in.

Always take note of more experienced kiters, they may un-derstand the weather better than you. If things don’t look right and they head to the beach then you should too. If fellow kiters are calling you to the beach then please heed their warnings, never be afraid to call someone in or rec-ommend against them going out if you spot an impending danger. It is possible that someone may not see the dan-gers heading their way and they may just thank you later.

If you get caught up in winds that are too strong for you to handle then pull the quick release on your chicken loop. Please ensure you are familiar with this and how it works, all reputable instructors will teach you how this works al-though bear in mind that different brands safety systems may differ slightly. If you feel that the kite is still pulling you towards danger, do not be afraid to release the kite com-pletely. There will normally be people on the beach willing to assist and help retrieve your kite should you get into trouble although remember that your life is way more valu-able than your equipment and accidents happen easily. The most important safety devices we have are our own eyes and the peoples eyes around us, so please look out for fellow kiters at all times. If you think someone is in trouble then please do not hesitate to help them. We must all work together to keep each other safe from harm and to protect our much loved sport.

Please see the following website for great safety advice http://kitesurfingschool.org/safety.htm and test your quick release systems.

Leigh Pothecary.

RAFFLE!


ME4x4MIKE NOTT BRINGS YOU HIS SERIALISATION

OF THE ULTIMATE OFF-ROAD GUIDEIntroductionOff-road driving is well established and relatively well supported in the UAE and the Oman. There are a good number of workshops, garages and retailers that sup-port off-roading in the region. There are numerous off-road clubs that are regularly active in the dunes, moun-tains and wadis of both countries. There is a wealth of knowledge and information already in existence for the first-timer and for those who wish to start exploring the UAE and Oman. In particular, there are several off-road guidebooks that provide ample information for exploring some of the more accessible off-road routes of the region. There is much out there in support of the first timer or in support of those that don’t want to stray too far from their comfort zone. The aims of this series of articles and the associated guidebook are different.

Aim and AssumptionsThe aims of this series of articles and the guidebook are to describe in detail some of the most ambitious and remote off-road drives that can be undertaken in the region. It is, consequently, not intended as a starting point for those who have never been off-road or for those who have only limited experience.

In writing the guidebook and the subsequent articles, many assumptions have been made with regard to any potential user of them. The most obvious is that the user is legally entitled and insured to drive off-road in the UAE and Oman. The less obvious but equally valid assump-tions are that the user has driven regularly in the dunes and mountains of the region and knows exactly what to expect from the terrain and climate. The routes in the guidebook are potentially dangerous to your life, limb and vehicle. They traverse the remotest areas of the re-gion and have the potential to leave you stranded, hun-dreds of kilometres from the nearest help, in one of the world’s harshest climates. If you have any doubt, regard-ing your competence to deal with such situations, then these articles and the guidebook routes are not for you.

Off-Road driving is dangerous, it can kill you. Do not drive off-road!

In stating this so boldly it is not the author’s intention to scare any reader but merely to highlight the risks inherent in following the routes in the guidebook. You have been warned!

The guidebook is intended to be simply that, a guide-book, and not a manual for off-road driving. What follows in subsequent articles, however, are some considerations regarding many of the technical aspects and knowledge that will help you in deciding whether to undertake some of the routes in the guidebook. The points are not exhaus-tive and for greater detail, readers should look to some of the other sources of information already in existence.

Part 1

Mental and Physical ApproachBeing able to deal confidently with the unexpected, the potential physical hardship and the psychological stress of isolation during remote off-road driving is key to the successful outcome of such ventures. If you are unable to remain calm and take considered decisions in a crisis, based on your prior experience and knowledge, then it is likely that disaster awaits you. You need to be fit in both body and mind. Off-road driving can involve a lot of physical work, particularly in dune driving, and this be-comes key to your survival should you encounter prob-lems. If you doubt your mental and physical fitness then you should take the time to address these issues before embarking on the routes in the guidebook. In essence, you need to have the following personal qualities:

Self-Reliance, Self-Competence and Resourcefulness.

[OutdoorUAE]

Part 1


Culture, Environment and ClimateCulture The majority of the routes in the guidebook will take you far away from habitation but some of them will expose you to small areas of population. This may be in the form of camel, goat or crop farms, plantations or hamlets, fishing areas and small villages. At all times you should respect the privacy and integrity of the people and ani-mals in these places. The occupants are invariably friendly and generally inquisitive but it is in your interests not to unduly disturb people or exceed their tolerances. Do not drive through the centre of farms, do not disturb people at work by driving too fast or too close to them, do not disturb the fauna and avoid damaging the flora. If you speak a small amount of Arabic this can help considerably in breaking the ice and establishing your good creden-tials. If hospitality is offered it would be churlish to refuse it. This may delay your journey but it would be considered bad manners to not stop if asked; remember, you may require their help later in the journey.

Environment Having driven in the region you will be well aware of the environment through which you travel. It is harsh, bar-ren and unforgiving at the worst of times. At others it is serene, beautiful and welcoming. The mantra ‘leave only tyre prints, take only photographs’ applies to all we do on our journeys. This essentially means that in the absence of any semblance of order, you are required to clear up your own rubbish and take it with you. Climate The best times for dune driving are between the months of November and March. The sand is generally firmer, does not burn your bare feet and the temperatures al-low you to do physical work with relative ease during the day, and to sleep comfortably at night. It is even likely to be chilly at night and for you to experience considerable dew in the mornings on vehicles, tents and other camping gear. It is, of course possible to drive in the dunes outside this period but you need to be aware of the prevailing conditions and the possible consequences. Trying to dig a stuck vehicle out of the dunes in 50 degrees of heat is not a task for the unfit and unprepared. Know your limitations and make you judgment accordingly.

Photo Credits: Colin Campbell, David Townshend, Gordon Smith & the author’s own.

ME4x4


Why Another Guidebook?You may well ask! Having done several years of off-road-ing in the UAE and Oman it occurred to the author that it wasn’t the actual mechanics of driving in the dunes or on rocky trails that excited him but rather the feeling of having completed a great journey. You will find that the routes in the guidebook are predominantly A to B type trips. They are not aimed at those that like to go for a ‘blast in the local dunes’ but instead are aimed at those that like to feel they have accomplished something that was more of a challenge, took them far from the normal crowded areas and consequently learnt something more of themselves, the geography of the region as well as their vehicles.

Acknowledgements: The author owes a great debt of gratitude to ME4x4, with whom he has spent 5 excellent years exploring the UAE and Oman, and whom saw fit to make him their Chairman in 2010. Individually, very spe-cial thanks must go to Colin Campbell for his continuous support in editing and contributing to the guidebook as well as leading some of the best trips the author has ever done off-road. Special thanks also go to Jon Harbour, the founder of ME4x4, for his editing, and Gordon Smith and Alan Passmore for their invaluable contributions. Finally, to Toby Foord-Kelcey, for taking on the project and allow-ing the guide to be the second book he ever published!

ME4x4 The author is the current Chairman of ME4x4, a small off-road club based, primarily, in Dubai but with an ever increasingly active branch in Qatar. ME4x4 tends to be more of an exploratory off-road club that undertakes longer, more isolated trips in the remoter regions of the

It is less of a potential, physical hardship to drive in the mountains and wadis at any time of the year. The higher you go, the cooler it gets. Thus in winter it is possible to wake up with ice on the ground and on the inside of your tent – pack accordingly. Of particular note in the wadis and mountains is the danger caused by rain. Flash floods are common and can wash away roads and vehicles with them. Do not camp in wadis that are prone to flooding during and after heavy rain. Whatever time of year you do your trip you need to know the weather forecast for the period of your journey and remain alert to the possibility of encountering severe conditions; in the form of wind, rain, cold or heat.

UAE and Oman. It holds Newbie Training Days as well as Recovery Workshops throughout the season and wel-comes all-comers. In recent years the club has completed a trip to the Saudi/Yemen/Oman border confluence point, a 1,400km off road trip from just south of Jebel Hafeet to the Yemen border on the Arabian Sea coast, and a trip from the Oman/UAE border in Dibba, off road through all 7 Emirates to the UAE/Saudi border in the Liwa. It also does day trips in the local dunes near Dubai!

About the Author: Mike Nott, a former British Parachute Regiment officer, studied law at University College, Lon-don and is a mountaineer, diver, yachtsman, pilot, tri-ath-lete, adventure racer and enthusiastic off–roader. He has travelled in 52 countries, is a Fellow of the Royal Geo-graphical Society and his hobbies include Rumpole of the Bailey and building garden railways. He is married with one son.

[OutdoorUAE]


When I first got to know about the Terry Fox run, I didn’t really know what it was about. I was thinking this Mr. Fox was a doctor or professor who reached some milestones in cancer research, who dedicated his long life to this, which is why

people honour his name. Then I saw a picture of a young man, with prosthesis - Terry Fox.

Without knowing anything about him, I went to last year’s Terry Fox Run in Abu Dhabi, purely by coincidence. But this picture caught my eye and I wanted to know more, so I found out about this remarkable young man:

In 1980, the 22 year old Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox, with one leg having been amputated, embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilom-eters and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy.

I was, and am deeply touched and impressed by his story. Not only fighting his own cancer, he dedicated his young live to his cause giving hope to so many people and launched an avalanche of support which continues to this day. This 22 year old boy, a single person, really made a difference.

Abu Dhabi, February 18 2011: Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Advisor to His Highness the Presi-dent of the UAE, the 16th annual Abu Dhabi Terry Fox Run was held this morning.

His Highness, Sheikh Khalifa bin Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, present-ed Professor Mohammed Yousif Bani Yas, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice provost Medical Sciences at UAE University with a grant of AED300,000. This will go towards the three Abu Dhabi-supported cancer research projects currently being led in Al Ain by Professor Sehamud-din Galadari, Professor Tahir Rizvi and Dr. Maria Cabezudo. The grant money is a result of the Abu Dhabi Terry Fox Runs’ fundraising and is the third and final installment to be presented to those researchers. Money raised from the terry fox run in the UAE over the years went towards financing 35 projects at a value of 7,726,608 AED.

Photo Caption (bottom right):H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, presenting Pro-fessor Mohammed Yousif Bani Yas, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice provost Medical Sciences at UAE University with the AED300,000 grant check, in the presence of H.E Ken Lewis, Canadian Ambassador to the UAE, and Nafisa Taha, Chairperson of the Abu Dhabi Terry Fox Run committee.

How a 22 year-old man changed the world...

Event Review


Fire, Smoke and Noise

[OutdoorUAE]

The Flying Daredevils of Al Ain

tickets. No matter what gender or age, all eyes were up in the air.

The show featured a wide range of acts and aircraft, including a fly-past by some of the UAE Air Force’s most advanced fighter jets and breathtaking formation flying by the national air force squadrons from Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the form of The Saudi Hawks and Turkish Stars. Team Viper, the world’s only Hawker Hunter supersonic fighter jet display squadron thrilled the crowds with its amazing mock ground for-mation attack, and Middle East debutantes, the Baltic Bees, put on superb display of lightning-quick precision flying. There was a mind-boggling array of aerobatics with Skip Stewart, Otto the Helicopter and the wing-walkers from the Scandinavian Air show, before the show concluded each evening with skydiving from the Fazza Sky Team and a unique performance from fly-ing ace Hannes Arch, which combined aerobatics, music and dance. One of the show highlights was the first ever staging of the FAI-sanctioned Desert Challenge. Six of the world’s top aerobatic pilots battled it out with Spaniard Castor Fantoba narrowly

claiming the title. (See also race results)These are just the raw facts of the show, but the difference lies in the detail… you have to be experience it yourself. As usual I was following most of the event though the view finder of my camera, but from time to time I had to take the camera down, just to be sure that what I was seeing was true:> a Pilot, flying by in a jet, after finishing his breathtaking show with an open cano-py and waving his hand to the crowds like driving a convertible car.

> A motor bike jumping over a low flying plane

> Special effect of bombs, explosions and smoke

> Twisting maneuvers, with all types of planes showing impressively what master-ing a plane means as well as testing (or tasting) the limits of physical forces

> There was only one thing which did not lift up in the air, but therefore made ‘a hell’ of a lot of fire and smoke – a huge truck with an aircraft turbine as engine. Truly the

Event ReviewTo be honest I wasn’t very interested in the Al Ain Air Show when it came up on our event schedule, but as one of the major outdoor events in the UAE it was definitely one that we wanted and needed to cover. With a small team, there is not much choice which event will be covered by whom so it was me. Some planes on the ground and some planes far up in the sky making a little bit of smoke, this can’t be thrilling.

I was born in Germany and had never been to an Air Show before. Most people out-side Germany will connect Rammstein with a German hard-rock band and not the city of Ramstain with an US Army air base. Ram-stein was famous for the annual air show, in 1988, 300.000 spectators went to see the show. Unfortunately the show came to a horrifying end when several planes collided in mid air and the fireball crashed into the crowds. Three pilots and 82 spectators lost their lives and more than 500 suffered seri-ous injuries. This day is marked in history as one of the world’s deadliest air show disas-ters. Afterwards, all air shows in Germany were banned for years and until now they are only allowed under strict safety regula-tions, only twice have jets been given per-mission to fly. So I never had the chance to see an air show with jets.

With a bitter taste in my memories on Fri-day 4th February I approached Al Ain after the show had been delayed for two days due to heavy winds. It was a beautiful sun-ny day when we came along the E66 to Al Ain. We were a little bit late and the show had already started. Suddenly we spotted a huge heart, drawn into the blue sky by planes. The closer we got, the more excited I became was afraid to miss anything. To be honest… it was hard keeping my eyes on the road and not following the planes. With some distance from the airport we could see the planes taking their positions and approaching the site where spectators were looking out for them. It was amazing to see from this perspective – how the shadows cast by the planes raced over the dunes, up and down the sandy bumps and passed the many off-roaders who had chosen their first row seats in the desert.

After we parked the car, we were rushing to the entrance and the runway so as not to miss one more second of the show. We seemed to share this feeling with hundreds of other people who cued for parking and


biggest smoke machine I have ever seen.

The whole Al Ain Aerobatic Show was held under the patronage of HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces was so thrilling, that I didn’t leave the runway for ages after it had finished. Even in the evening, when it got very chilly and I start-ed freezing, having only a t-shirt, I did not even think about walking back to the car to get my jacket. When it got dark, and I finally reached the car to heat up a bit, I reflected on what an amazing day I’d had; still excited about the events of the day and with the taste of burned petrol in my nose, I was driving home with a smile in my face. It was my first air show, but certainly not the last – 2012 Al Ain Air Show, I will be there! I’m happy that I turned my bad memories into a great and positive experience.

No surprise, that this year’s Al Ain Aero-batic Show held under the patronage of HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces ended Saturday evening having more than lived up to its billing as the biggest and best ever with 71,000 spec-tators pouring through the gates over the two days of the event.

Daniel.


WADI BIH RUNAnna Roberts and Brian Coones summarise their

hard-fought Wadi Bih Runs

[OutdoorUAE]Br

ian

I was running the race as part of Team Regime. Team Regime was a team made up mostly of personal trainers from Regime Fitness and was comprised of Dan Cantuer, Adam Fox-Mcgre-

gor, Tina Bristow, James Cox (Noble Driver), Dareen Ab-dullah and myself. Part of Team Regime arrived at the Golden Tulip Hotel around 7pm to set up camp before the rest of the team showed up. When we got there the beach was already covered with tents and lots of people. It wasn’t too crowded so it didn’t take us long to find a spot and get set up. As we were setting up many more teams kept arriving and continued to well into the night. There were several campfires and bar-b-quebut for the most part it seemed as if most of the attendees wanted to get into their tents for a good night’s rest; that was our plan and we were sleeping by 10:30.

When we woke up there were twice as many cars and tents then the night before. Everyone was bustling and getting ready for the long race. Many of the teams were up before 5am to be the first to start the race at 6. We on the other hand slept in a bit longer and started around 8am.

The race was 72k total, 36k to the turnaround then back the distance was broken up into 26 legs, 13 out and 13 back of various distances. The starting point was at around sea level and the turnaround was approximately 1000m above sea level. Each leg was ran by leapfrog re-lay style with one team member running while the other rested and rode to the next check point.

Dan, Adam, Dareen and I went to the starting line to be-gin the first leg of the race. The first leg was 800m long and had to be run by four members of the team. While we were running James took Tina to the first check point. When we arrived at the first check point and ever one thereafterthere were many teams awaiting their runners to make the switch. As we passed each check point it didn’t matter what team you were on; there was lots of cheering for all the runners. For our team we had a bit of competitive edge with a few other teams but for the

most part we were running it for fun and cheered everyone that we passed. I was amazed at the number of teams and at the number of children that were also running.

The route that the race took place on was challenging and very beautiful. Most of the run took place on the stone road through the wadi. The wadi itself was full of beautiful rock formations and wonderful views. I think that the founder of the race John Gregory picked an amazing and beautiful place to host the run for the last 19 years.

Running over the gravel and the distance was not the only chal-lenges. There are several hills and one massive incline that proved to be discouraging. Cooling down too much after your leg and before the next was also difficult. The apparent challenges only made the run that much more run and satisfactory. A fellow per-sonal trainer, David Fisher from a rival team said, “no one said it was gonna be so hard nor beautiful.”

The last leg of the race was ran like the first, with four team mem-bers and the last 200m was over soft sand to the finish line at the back of the hotel. At the finish line was the famous and adventur-ous Adrian Hayes was announcing the teams and times as they came across. As soon as you cross the line there was also lots of people to congratulate you and place a medal around your neck. Once a majority of the teams were in Adrian and John Young gave a presentation as we ate.

It was a great presentation giving awards for the top teams and solo runners, as well as to the teams that had the most creative out-fits and names. After the presentation most of the teams packed up and left. We on the other hand with a few other teams stayed one more night and had a great time camping on the beach.

All in all the WadiBih Run was an amazing run that was challenging and beautiful. It was a great experience.

Marisabel Portillo says WadiBih; “A breathtaking adventure, a true sense of pushing yourself beyond your personal limits. Everyone comes to run, to spend time with friends, to meet new people... eve-ryone leaves with a sense of new found respect... for themselves, for others, for their surroundings- you couldn’t be in a happier place!

Brian.

Event Review


WADI BIH RUNphotos: Brian Coones

We made it in 6 hours and 18 minutes, not bad for a first attempt and there were no tears (Thank You Gods of Embarrassment). The oat slice went

down a treat and helped to keep us motivated in between legs. We started out very casual and just wanting to cross the finish line but that very quickly changed to compet-ing against other teams, which they weren’t aware of, and strategizing ahead along the course.

So it was a 72km course which went from The Golden Tulip Hotel in Dibba, along Wadi Bih or the road that you take to the Six Senses Ziggy Bay turn off and back to Dibba. We each took turns at being time keeper along the way and yelled out supportive comments to each other but I have to be honest. It was tough, really tough.

The legs varied in distance from 1.5kms to 4 kms in length, so generally the shorter the leg the steeper it was going to be. I started on leg 7 with what I thought was an easy 2.9 kms. It was the longest 2.9 kms I’ve ever run in my life. The first 800 meters was mainly flat and then turned to a mixture of rubble and shingle which kept your mind active as you had to map a course out in front of you as you ran. As I came around a corner the shingle disappeared into compacted road and started to go up. And up. And up.I kept on thinking after this corner there will be the check point, no

this one, ok definitely the next but it never came. Then people started passing me. What’s going on? My calves are killing me. How come I can’t go any faster I should be nearly there?! I think my time was near on 21 minutes for that leg, horribly disappointing and mentally a bit of a blow as we were only about 15 kms into the course at this stage.

But I got there eventually and with much encouragement from my 4 burly team mates as well which helped tremendously. They were all stars caning there way through the course and sprinting up far steeper hills than I had to get up!

We also had the most awesome team vehicle ever that charged past the (Porsche) Cayenne’s on the course.

Overall it was a fantastic day, there were really serious teams going for it but also those running in costumes or for charity so what ever type of runner you are there was a team for you. Not to mention the breathtaking scenery you get to run through. Nothing beats getting outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine.

Highlight of the day was running through the finish line and getting that medal. In all its plastic and gold painted glory it was definitely worth it and we’ve even started planning for next year, see you in under 6 hours in 2012 Wadi Bih!

Anna.http://thefrostingontop.com

photo: Anna RobertsAnna


Sunset Open 2011

[OutdoorUAE]

first place, Brad Van Dervyver second and Cesar Rocha third place.

The following day had presented some slower winds where the Under 14s girls and boys event could shine. The judges awarded first place to Dan Hobson, Omar Al Abbar second and third place Joshua Pickering. After that, it was time for the women of the event to show their prowess, for the first time in the Open competition. The inspiring top three finished as fol-lows: Janice Smith took first place, fol-lowed by Maria Louisa Haro in second and Rachael Sherif in third.

Winds picked up again and it was time for the final segment of the competi-tion – The Longboard Division. This was a chance for the riders to show

off some of the more unconventional surfing skills, with balance and trick-ery. An entertaining show led to the crown going to the dominating Dean Cockle, followed by Wes Van Zyl and then Abdel Elecho in third.

Thanks go out to Surf Dubai and Surf Dubai Managers Scott Chambers and Daniel Van Dooren for once again hosting a fantastic surf open.

Be sure to look out for a Charity Din-ner at DOSC, to celebrate the ‘Round the World’ Stand up Charity Paddle on 3rd March.

See you at the next event!

James.Photos: James Russell

Surf Dubai By James RussellEvent Review

The sun was out and so were the surfers. I was very excited as this event promised to be quite a

show. As I pressed my pale white feet into the not-so-pale sand of Sunset Beach, I couldn’t ignore the buzz and the friendly atmosphere. A few friends had greeted me while I was there (for the Longboard Division of the com-petition) so things were looking up. The event was pretty much free to observe at one of the most popular public beaches next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. There were up to 71 surfers involved in a windy couple of days – producing a big swell to set some challenging waves for the riders to conquer.

The Friday hosted the Men’s Open, where local talent Wes Van Zyl took


Abdel Elecho soaking with style


A CHILDHOOD

hero

Jesse Fitch and Elliot Sloan at the Real Action Heroes event at the Yas Marina circuit over the weekend of February the 11th.

A good friend Andy Hughes had been working with the company that had set up the ramps for Tony and his team, and had kindly guided me up onto the main vert ramp to shoot some photos. I wasn’t expecting to get so close to Tony but as he and his fellow riders had arrived at the ramp, I was shaking with excitement. The demo was underway and the crowds went crazy. I just kept on shooting. This was definitely a moment to savour.

James.Photos: James Russell.

[OutdoorUAE]

I FINALLY MEET THE FACE OF SKATEBOARDINGBy James Russell

Event ReviewMeeting an icon in sport is always a pleasure, but

when it is someone you looked up to as a child or a young teenager, it’s a completely different

story. Tony Hawk - the man who brought you the best in vert skating, the 900, the reason you bought a Playsta-tion, and probably the drive to make a living out of the thing you love. As soon as my manager had informed me of his potential visit, I could not let it slip away. Miss-ing an opportunity to meet my childhood hero, without much effort, would be like passing your winning lottery ticket to a feckless squirrel.

For those of you who are not familiar, Tony Hawk is prob-ably the best-known extreme sportsman on the planet. He is a legendary vert-skateboarder that has quite the reputable X-Games record. He also has his own series of video games, and was the first man to ever land the infamous ‘900’.

Tony was performing along with fellow professional skaters Andy MacDonald, Neal Hendrix, Kevin Staab,


Tony Hawk


Stepping out of the climate controlled Dubai airport for the first time in August 2009, I was immediately hit with a 37°C slap in the face and 100% relative

humidity. So this was the Middle East…at 1:00am? The shock of the sticky heat only lasted as long as it took my

escort to quickly show me to the waiting air conditioned taxi cabfor a 90 minute drive to Abu Dhabi.

For the next month, I resided in a 5-star hotel as my em-ployer frantically tried to find housing for the 470 new em-ployees it had just imported to the UAE. My cohort and I spent the mornings in orientation meetings, designed to teach us about our new jobs, or in various government buildings trying to get our work visas processed. With the daytime temperatures exceeding 45°C, and the Gulf ’s water temperature around 35°C, my onlyrefuge was in-doors or submerged under water in the ho-tel’s cooled swimming pool.

It was a miserable time for someone who had spent the previous four years in Bra-zil, with weekends filled rappelling down waterfalls, swimming in underground lakes, and backpacking in remote valleys. Now in the UAE and completely discon-nected from nature, it was a stroke of luck to have stumbled across an outdoor activ-ity in the form of the Emirates Diving As-sociation’s annual Cleanup Arabia Day. I arrived to the eventequipped with my own life vest and CamelBak, was issued a kay-ak, and entered the EasternMangroves for the first time. The delicate mangrove root systemlay only 10 meters from the endless development of a country that holds the ti-

tle for having the largest per capita carbon footprint in the world. After about 30 minutes of rubbish hunting I loaded three overflowing sacks of plastic bottles and Sty-rofoam, along with an old metal washing machine onto my kayak and slowly began paddling back to dry land.

It was definitely a balancing act, with the debris stacked well over my head and the added weight nearly sinking the kayak. The reward for volun-teering was more than just intrin-sic because the owner of Noukhada Adventure Company was impressed enough to invite me to join his crew of guides.

On one particular trip that I was guiding, I began chatting with one client who spent a long eventful life as a doctor and travelling all around the world. He told me stories of the time she spent in the backcountry of Saudi Arabia, Australia, and South Africa, among other exotic places.

His memories were full of admiration for the natural world, including a near death experience when he and his wife were literally face-to-face with a lioness while in a game park. I asked him, "Why do you have this attrac-

tion to be in nature wherever you travel?" He responded by sharing more stories of his childhood that illustrated how plants and animals

were the first teachers that taught him how to live life through his natural senses.

The idea that nature is a teacher is not new to me. I grew up in an area of rural America,on a beautiful and vast

Naturally Connectedby Clint Moore

[OutdoorUAE]

I WAS IMMEDIATELY HIT WITH A 37°C SLAP IN THE FACE AND 100% RELATIVE HUMIDITY.


1,500 acres where my sister and I were encouraged to play in the woods, along the creek banks, and in the mountains behind, below, and around my small house. The Monarch caterpillars and butterflies were my teachers, along with the box turtles, deer, and wild strawberries. Hours were spent watching and playing with the tiny, black, roly-poly pill bugs that I affectionately called “Friend Bugs.” Without me consciously knowing it at the time, these little insects, along with the rest of nature, taught me how to follow my attractions and trust my natural instincts.

But along the way nature as a teacher was replaced by humans standing up in front of cinder block walled classrooms, trying to explain Spanish, math, and the American Civil War to me. The trend con-tinued and I became detached from contact with nature as I moved from the countryside to ever larger cities. It was not until recently, eight months ago in fact,when I enrolled in an Eco Psychology online master’s degree program through ProjectNatureConnect.org, that I em-barked on a journey that would acquaint my inner nature with the vibrant nature that surrounds Abu Dhabi Island. The waters, beaches, dolphins, Western Reef Heron, and the family of Arabian Red Foxes in the Eastern Mangrove Forest re-minded me that nature has a tremendous amount of teaching to do, if we are willing to let it guide us.

Through the online Eco Psychology courses with Project Nature Connect, I began learning how to use the Natural Systems Thinking Process (NSTP). The basic tenet of NSTP states that the natural universe is capable of intel-ligently communicating, albeit non-verbally. This way of thinking acknowledges that all things, from sub-atomic particles to entire solar systems, areconnected in some way. NSTP explains how all aspects of natural systems are held together by mutual attraction relationships called webstrings. A single webstring is the essential relationship between two aspects of nature; the intercon-nectedness found between an egret and a fish hiding out in the mangroves or between the Red Fox and the sand it

tunnels through, for example.

Webstrings are for nature as language is for humans. As a collective whole they constitute a system of communi-cation through natural senses that nature has perfected over eons. Unfortunately for our species, we have gen-

erally forgotten how to communicate us-ing webstrings. The result is our planet’s present environmental state and human-ity’s social and psychological ills.

But all is not lost. In his book Reconnect-ing With Nature, Dr. Cohen, the founder of ProjectNatureConnect.org, identifies 53 natural senses that he says are each a “distinct attraction energy, a love that in nature has no name. Each is an experi-ence.” By getting to know these senses, anyone can learn how to enter into non-

verbal communication with nature, thus developing the ability to live an attractively balanced life. The result is a healthier existence and some amazingly cool outdoor experiences right here in the UAE.

Clint Moore.

ReferencesCohen, M.J. (2007). Reconnecting with nature: finding wellness through restoring your bond with the earth. Min-nesota, Lakeville: Ecopress.

...a near death experience when he and his wife were

literally face-to-face with a lioness while in a game

park.”“

BY GETTING TO KNOW THESE SENSES, ANY-ONE CAN LEARN HOW TO ENTER INTO NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION WITH NATURE...

C

M

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CM

MY

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Pirate Wars outdoor UAE.pdf 2/20/11 2:55:29 PM

thefishing

Kitby Kit Belen

[OutdoorUAE]

Reciprocation.

I struggle out of bed, cobwebs still in my head, gingerly setting off and headed to the door. The only light

I see is the faint yellow light passing through the cracks of the doorway. Shaking off the sleepiness, I slowly open the door and am greeted by the faint pink line in the horizon; first Light. A sight I never get tired of see-ing.

Almost immediately, the sound of the waves crashing the shore fills my ears. I looked at my watch then slowly walked out the door. The air was chilly and damp; the surroundings dim, but I could make out the shadows scut-

tling about the shoreline. I walked through the front yard and saw chefs and waiters busy going in and out of the restaurant’s back door; the boat crew getting the boats ready and the fisher folk slowly paddling their small outrigger canoes out to sea, while some, those who spent the night out in the water, are busy unloading their

catch; handing them to their wives and children who would sell the catch at the local market.

Heading back to the cot, I found my fishing partner for the day, awake. The old guy obviously over excited about going out and trying his luck, looked as if he hadn’t slept a wink. He was confused about which rods to take “You won’t be needing those - every-thing we need was taken to the boat last night” I calmly said.In what seemed like less than a minute, we were out in the water, with the boat slowly edging away from shore, the salt spray hitting my face and lightly stinging my eyes. The water was flat and seemed to go on

forever, it wasn’t hard to imagine how the ancients thought the world was flat, it seemed like that today.The old man watched patiently as I rigged each of the four rods; his eyes watching intently as I tied each Bimini twist; “That is one strange knot!” he said.

“This is the first time you’ve seen me do this huh?” I asked.

“This is technically not a knot it’s a Bend” I continued. “A knot jams at one point and tightens and you use only one strand. A bend is when you join two or more strands together. We double the line so we increase the strength of the main line which is the most critical part of your system. This is the most important length of line you have attached. 90% of the fish lost is when it’s boat-side. With a Bimini Twist you will have twice the protection against shock when the fish is boat-side.”

“It looks complicated” he said. “It’s not rocket science, besides I had a lot of practice. It looks harder than it is, but it’s really simple” I replied.

As I go about my work, I calmly ex-plain what I was doing: why I use this type of knot to attach the lure, why I wasn’t using a wire leader, why the other line is set further from the oth-ers, why I chose this type of lure and why this colour.

The old man listens intently, absorb-ing the words and thoughts as they are rapidly presented to him. I know he doesn’t remember most of it and I know that he wouldn’t understand the reasons why. I pretend not to no-tice the old man’s smile...He doesn’t need to understand. He has me. This was his first trawling trip and this doesn’t happen very often...

Knots are very important in fishing. I often tell my friends to master at least 5 knots, knots you can tie behind your back. Using the right knot in the right place in your fishing system will help you minimize mistakes. If you read last month’s edition about regret, you’ll get the picture.

It may be as simple as a clinch knot. There is no excuse for a bad knot and they cannot be substituted by any-thing else, even crimps.

Tying good knots is not a matter of exercise, it is a habit. If you lose a fish because of a bad knot, it means one thing and one thing only: You are careless.

A lot of people skip this step - you lu-bricate the knot before you tighten it. A lot of people use saliva, if you are squeamish, you can use water. Fish-ing lines are made of nylon, when it contracts, it heats up. Putting some saliva or water before tightening would lessen the heat and will give you some added strength.

Some knots are weaker than others. Attached with this article are some

Dad on far left - fishing trip in Cebu


useful and strong knots which you can try out. They may take some time to learn and master but it’s what it takes to catch the big fish, stop you from making excuses and more important-ly, it is not beyond your control.

Next to the hook, the most important part in the fishing system is the knot, quite simply because it holds the hook that holds the fish. You can do away with swivels and weights, even a rod and reel. A hook at the end of your line attached with a knot WILL catch fish. Not a lot of people realize its’ importance and end up losing a lot of fish, going home with nothing but excuses.

...After the morning trawl, we headed back to camp with nothing caught. However, I had something far more valuable than a trophy catch: I re-turned to shore with memories that would last me a lifetime: The morning I taught my Dad how to trawl.

The spirit of fishing isn’t in catching a fish; it’s whom you share it with. And as the boy in the story, I came to real-ize, timeless memories that are kept in our hearts are worth more than their weight in gold.

It’s not often that we can take our fathers fishing. While they’re around, take some time to take your father out on a trip. I’ve been fishing with some of my friend’s dads and I wish to take my own dad out and let him experience what he helped nurture. While we still have the time.

Till next tide change,

Kit.

Uni Knot

J-Knot

Rapala Knot San Diego Knot

Papa Bebe’s first Grunter

Luca with a Grunter

Luca’s parents


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Conditions:1. All requirements mentioned above and below (*) must be met for a subscription 2. Subscriptions are only possible with valid P.O. Boxes within the UAE3. If the subscription is canceled the retail price plus the mailing cost will be charged but the remaining amount will be refunded.

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Type of harnesses

Sit harnesses – commercially manufactured sit harnesses are the primary harnesses used for climbing. They are in common use based on their combination of comfort, safety, and function.

Full body harnesses – these harnesses are not in common use for rock climbing or indoor climbing as they are bit more difficult to use. You can find them in the adventure parks or rope courses. The body harness is also valuable for people with high centre of gravity and who lack the hip definition needed for sit harnesses. This group includes very small children, pregnant women and the obese.

Chest harnesses – are common use for multipich climbing. The chest harness is always necessary to use with a sit harness. Never use only chest harness for climbing!

Parts of climbing harnesses

Waist belt – most of the harnesses have padded waist belt which increases comfort during climbing.

Tie-in points – the modern standard for harnesses is to have two tie-in points, one for the leg loops and one for the waist.

Belay loop – joins the leg loops and waist belt. Belay loop is for clipping the belay device or to tie-in with the rope.

Buckles – buckles hold together the harness and are typically of either the three pass design or self-locking design. Apart from that Singing Rock has developed patented smart buckle system, Rock&Lock, which is Easy to lock and open.

Gear loops – are valuable parts of the harness as they provide storage for your gear. It´s very important to know, that gear loops are too weak for belaying or anchoring!

Leg loops – most of the harnesses have padded leg loops for higher comfort and some of them are adjustable with the buckle.

The size of the harnesses

To choose appropriate size of the harness is very important before you start with climbing. Most of the manufactures produce the harnesses in different sizes (S – XXL). So you can choose the size of the harness which fits the best for you.

Size of the harness is made from the size of the waist and perim-eter of the thigh (in cm or in). So if you are not sure about the size, the easiest way is to measure your waist and thigh and to compare it with the parameters of the harness.

To prevent wrong choice of harness, SINGING ROCK has devel-oped revolutionary size adjusting system BMI. You can easily adjust free end of your waist belt padding and fix it in the right position and minimize sticking out of padding. This BMI system is suitable for situation as losing your weight, putting more lay-ers of the clothes or changing the harness according the climbing seasons. The best position is when buckle lies on padding and BMI system doesn’t allow gear loops to get out.

When you choose the correct size and you put the harness on, the harness should be above your hip bones and should be tightened at the waist. The harness shouldn’t be too loose nor too tight that you can’t breathe. After you adjust the waist belt you should adjust your leg loops. Leg loops should be snuck but not to tight, the

Tips & TricksA harness together with the rope are the most important parts of your climbing equipment. That’s why it’s very important to choose properly your harness and to understand how to use it.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR HARNESSbest adjustment is when you put your hand between the leg loop and your leg, so you have enough comfort for climbing.

Last but not least is to check your harness periodically and if you see any wear and tear or if you are in doubt of the functionality of the harness it’ s recommended to change for new one.

Let’ s rock!

SINGING ROCK TEAM. www.singingrock.com

2. 3.

2. 3.

Only small effort of your fingers is needed to lock and open.1. Make the loop and put it through the buckle frame.2. Hook the loop on cross bar.3. Tighten.

Buckle locking

Slack Tight

Harness fit

1.

1.

Sit harness description

buckle

webbing

gear loop

reinforced tie-in point

rear straps

belay loop

waist beltfull strength stitching

leg loopspadding

permanent bridge

leg loops


Revolutionary BMI size adjusting system

2. 3.

2. 3.


Buckle locking

Slack Tight

Harness fit

1.

1.


buckle

webbing

gear loop


rear straps

belay loop


leg loopspadding

permanent bridge

leg loops



2. 3.

2. 3.


Buckle locking

Slack Tight

Harness fit

1.

1.


buckle

webbing

gear loop


rear straps

belay loop


leg loopspadding

permanent bridge

leg loops




[OutdoorUAE]

Outdoor Photography

In this lesson we will briefly discuss filters, a short but important topic.

Maybe you have heard of filters for pho-tography or seen them in the shops. If you ask why they are useful, the answer is short and simple. In the time of digital photography filters are really no longer necessary. Everything that a filter does, especially creative filters, you can do later on in editing software like Photoshop e.g. you don’t need a red filter (= a red piece of glass which you put in front of your camera) simply tint your photo later us-ing your software and keep the original untouched and pure. However, there are still some filters which are useful.

UV FilterA UV filter should actually block the UV light that is not seen by the human eye but could theoretically influence your photo. Especially in old(er) film cameras strong UV light could give photos a blue touch. Nowadays new lenses already have so many glass prisms or a UV protection film on the glass, that a UV blocker is not required. But there is another use. A UV filter protects your lens from scratches and dirt. It is a challenge to protect your gear especially for outdoor photography where there is a lot of action, A UV filter is a good and much cheaper solution than buying a new lens. You should still check for a high quality filter – cheap low qual-ity filters could negatively influence your photos.

Filters

Polarization FilterPolarization filters can for example dark-en the sky slightly giving more contrast to an image or reduce reflections caused by water and other surface. We’ll skip the technical explanation as to why and how this works and focus on the use. A p-filter consists of two layers which need to be adjusted for each picture. Simply look through your viewfinder and turn the adjustment ring of your filter. You will see how reflections are reduced. For example, it will be possible to take pic-tures through glass or into water without surface reflections. To darken the sky and get some more contrast works similarly, again it’s physics. Simply, light is not equal and there are light types of differ-

ent waveforms. With a polarization filter it is possible to block a certain type of light which is generally seen in the sky, so the sky gets darker. The foreground is lighted by a different type of light and remains untouched (not darker). Even if I talk about different light types they are all emitted from the sun. Don’t worry too much about why, it’s simple again, look through your viewfinder and see how the

motive changes while turning the adjust-ment ring.

In my opinion those filters mentioned are the only useful ones, especially for the UAE and the local light situation, and are a good investment. A polarization filter is usually more than double the price of the UV filter. Prices are strongly dependent on your lens diameter.

without polarizing filter

with polarizing filter

without polarizing filter with polarizing filter


a city girl’s first attempt

This is a simple top tip, originally given to me by Ray Goodwin on a level 3 kayak coach training course, that has proved invaluable to me countless times.

BY IAN GANDERTON

Duct tape is well established as one of the most useful substances on the planet. Its sticky, strong, water resistant and durable. Roadies

use it as the glue that holds together the biggest of stage shows, El Cap climbers will cover EVERYTHING in it to prevent wear on the haul up the wall and this means everything from the haulbags, hands and knees, there is the story of the doctor on a moun-tain leader assessment who produced a roll as his first aid kit saying that he could solve everything with it as well, if not largely better, than any of the first aid kits the other candidates produced. In the outdoors I’ve personally used it to hold together a split for a lower limb injury, repairs the split arse of waterproof over trousers and stopped the blood running down a cut arm while out mountain biking.

But the most useful substance on the planet is no good tyo you if you haven’t got any to hand. So wrap a couple of meters around the kind of day to day ob-jects that you always carry with you, the things that just live in your bag. It works best if they are round, but they dont have to be, and put some thought into where to wrap it so it doesn’t affect the way the ‘car-rier’ item works. By just wrapping a couple of meters around a few things you’ll have enough to get you ‘out of jail’. Examples of places I carry a bit of emer-gency tape are waterbottles, pens, trekking poles and flasks.

I’m sure you’ll be a lot more imaginative.

WRAP DUCT TAPE AROUND WATER BOTTLE AND YOUR PEN

http://ianganderton.wordpress.com/

Tips & Tricks


[OutdoorUAE]

ResultsUIM XCAT Middle East Powerboat Championships

1. Fazza 3Arif Al ZafeenNadir Bin Hindi2. Extreme MarineRashid Khalifah Al MarriSalem Fadhel Al Hamli3. Spirit of Abu DhabiRashid Suhail Al TayerMajid Saeed Al Mansouri4. SecoilDaniel SvensonJoakim Kumlin5. Qatar TeamMohamad Al NasserHamad Jasim Mohamad6. ManotelGary BalloughOmar Danial7. Rock RacingRichard GeorgeMark Walker8. Team DubaiSaeed Obeid Khalifa Al MuhairiMohamad Hamad Al Ghashish9. Consul BrokersMatteo NicoliniAlfredo Amato10. Skidive DubaiTalib Al SayedEssa Mohamad Al Ali

ABRaS Mina 10K 2010 / 2011 Race 1

Female Overall:1. Connie Bouverot 38:54 (also 1st FV40)2. Sonja Ellmann 39:543. Jane Khan 40:07Male Overall:1. Andy Macrae 36:06 2. Thomas Opio 36:19 3. Chris McCann 36:30 (also 1st MV40)Female Team:1. ABRaS 10 points (Sonja Ellman 2, Jane Khan 3, Anna Berrill 5) 2. Abu Dhabi Striders 23 points (Connie Bouverot 1, Jenny Grainger 9, Valerie Eveloy 13)3. Dubai Road Runners 59 points (Yasmin Kamel 12, Tania Atwell 20, Anja Schwerin 27)Male Team:1. ABRaS 13 points (Thomas Opio 2, Jason Palmer Meyers 5, Andy Keron 6) 2. Abu Dhabi Striders 29 points (Mark Moses 8,

Ananth Narayanan 9, Sean Stewart 12)3. Mirdif Milers 50 points (Chris McCann 3, Ian Clarke 18, Graham Spriggs 29)

Source: www. abrasac.org

2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival Bani Yas Sponsored By Emirates NBD

1. DARIYA (FR) - Ted Durcan - Mid-division on rail, not much room 500m out, kept on well final 300m, led 100m out2. KANDAR DU FALGAS (FR) - V D Watson - Set-tled rear, smooth progress 500m out, led 300m out, headed final 100m3. DAS EL SAMER (AE) B B Al Ketbi - chased lead-ers 400m out, one pace final 200m4.OMAYYADE THABET (FR) BP - A Al Shamsi - Raced rear, never able to challenge but kept on final 300m5th VITE ROYALE (US) 54.5 P M Al Muhairi - Chased leader until outpaced 500m out

GP 2 Asia Series Abu Dhabi

RACE 1:1. Jules Bianchi / Lotus ART 1h 22m 04.643s (33 laps)2. Romain Grosjean / Dams + 6.681s 3. Davide Valsecchi / Team AirAsia + 12.794s 4. Marcus Ericsson / Sport International + 14.001s 5. Giedo Van Der Garde / Barwa Addax Team + 15.198s 6. Josef Kral / Arden International + 20.601s 7. Sam Bird / Sport International + 24.412s 8. Stefano Coletti / Trident Racing + 36.809s 9. Charles Pic / Barwa Addax Team + 37.411s 10. Fabio Leimer / Rapax + 40.252s

RACE 2:1. Stefano Coletti / Trident Racing 43:02.8192.2. Josef Kral / Arden International +2.62933. Marcus Ericssoni / Sport International +3.32344. Davide Valsecchi / Team Air Asia +11.53155. Michael Herck / Scuderia Coloni+14.68766. Fabio Leimer / Rapax+17.1757 7. Johnny Cecotto Jr / .Super Nova Racing +25.35188. Jules Bianchi / ART Grand Prix+29.43499. Rodolfo Gonzalez / Trident Racing+30.9471010. Jolyon Palmer / Arden International

RAK Marathon

Men1st Deriba Merga (ETH) $25k 59:252nd Bernard Kipyego (KEN) $12k 59:453rd Leonard Langat (KEN) $9k 59:52 pb4th John Kiprotich (KEN) $5k 1:00:105th Titus Masai (KEN) $4k 1:00:406th Getu Feleke (ETH) $3k 1:01:287th Maregu Terefe (ETH) $2k 1:02:038th Dickson Marwa (TAN) $1.5k 1:02:049th Hafid Chani (MOR) $1k 1:02:23 pb10th Alemayehu Shumye (ETH) $500 1:02:58pb

Women1st Mary Keitany (KEN) $25k + $50k WR 1:05:50 (WR)2nd Dire Tune (ETH) $12k 1:08:523rd Mare Dibaba (ETH) $9k 1:08:574th Rose Kosgei (KEN) $5k 1:09:045th Agnes Kiprop (KEN) $4k 1:09:116th Hilda Kibet (NED) $3k 1:09:357th Sultan Haydar (TUR) $2k 1:10:02 debut8th Eunice Kales (KEN) $1.5k 1:10:419th Christelle Daunay (FRA) $1k 1:11:1410th Aniko Kalovics (HUN) $500 1:13:45

Wadi Bih Run 2011

Team1. 75 The Abra Striders Experiment Jeremy Curran, Philip Clarke, Andy Keron, Thomas Opio, Sonja Ellman 04:27:462. 108 Mountain Goats Scott Jervis, Ann Mari Hyrylainen, Adrian Hayes, Chris, Euca 04:53:223. 103 Cracknell Quintin Davidson, Duncan Denley, Quintin Davidson, Duncan Denley, Quintin Davidson 05:18:174. 47 The Plastered Penguins Gerhard Hametner, Abbey, Ian Lepelley, Ali, Elliot 05:23:005. 87 The Gap Ponies Diarmuid OMalley, Eddie, Eoin O’Suillabhain, Jerry Anglim, 05:24:386. 57 Sporting Chance Craig Vintcent, Margaret Campbell, Eoin, Richard Street, Richard Scott05:32:367. 101 Muscat Hares Mark Jones, Mark Jones, Mark Jones, Mark Jones, Mark Jones 05:36:498. 80 Galleggiamo Lucye Rafferty, Bernardino Provera, Paul, Nick, Giacomo Silvestri 05:37:479. 125 Up & Running Marty Zuckerman Quinn, Jane Westley, Will Westley, Duncan Eley, Gary Locke 05:38:2610. 83 Mirdif Milers Old School Malcolm Gatenby, Chris, Graham, Dink, Carmel 05:39:33

Individual1 146 Darryl Chiles, 06:35:582 6 Adam Marcinowicz, 07:02:293 123 Guy Vesey, 07:17:144 7 Matthew Novak, 07:23:305 64 Eduard Massier, 07:25:036 63 Jonas Zimling Westh, 07:34:557 23 Simon Beeson, 07:52:378 8 Fabrice Laborie, 08:10:439 136 Jean-Marc Laventure, 08:21:1110 110 Adrian Betts, 08:22:15


THE SHEER SCALE OF THE PROBLEMIan Ganderton highlights the magnitude of the plastic bottles waste here in the UAE

This photograph was taken on a small beach on the wild, beautiful and largely uninhabited East Coast of the Musendam Peninsular during a trip. To be

honest I don’t think I’ve quite captured just how many bottles there were. It has highlighted to me the sheer scale of the problem caused by plastic bottles thrown away. As you can see the highwater mark is just covered in hundreds of bottles.

What can be done?Well we can do 2 things:a) highlight the problem to others and b) do our best to not buy any more plastic bottles.This is going to be quite hard. Here in the UAE it is very hot a lot of the time and this means we need to drink a lot of water. I spend a lot of time driving because of work and the standard 1.5l disposable water bottle at just a couple of dirhams is the easiest way to stay hydrated.So I’m going to start using the drinking water supplied in the large recyclable containers and aim to keep my selection of water bottles filled and in the fridge ready to use. This should be something we can all make a habit of in order to keep our shores clean and beautiful.

http://ianganderton.wordpress.com/

Final Thought...


4x4

Camping

Cycle

Horse Riding

Dive

Fishing/Kayaking

[OutdoorUAE]

Directory

Surf/Wake/Skate

Barracuda Fishing Fishing and Kayaking equipmentDubai Marina, Street 307, Dubai Tel: +07141234567 www.baracuda.de

Hiking/Running

Xclusive Yachts Sport fishing & Yacht charter Xclusive Boats Charter LLC,Unit 4 Marina Diamond 3, Dubai Marina Drive, Dubai Marina, Dubai Tel: +971 4 432 7233 www.xclusiveyachts.com

Global ClimbingGeneral outdoor equipment Ras Al Khaimah, UAE Tel/Fax +9717 235 3910 www.globalclimbing.com

Climbing

FreeDiving UAEFreediving courses Abu Dhabi, UAE [email protected] www.freedivinguae.comAbsolute AdventureTour operator. Set amongst the re-gions best trekking, mountain-biking, rock climbing, kayaking, diving and sailing area our centre is equipped with quality outdoor gear. Dubai,UAE Tel: +97143459900 www.adventure.ae

Divers Down Diving activities Rotana Al Aqah Hotel Resort & Spa, Fujairah, UAE T: +971092370299 www.diversdown-uae.com

7 SeasDiving center Khorfakkan, UAE Tel: 97192387400 www.7seasdivers.com

Al Boom DivingDiving& diving equipment Tel + 97143422993 www.alboomdiving.com

Atlantis Dive CentreDive trip, boat cruises, fishing trips The Atlantis Hotel, The Palm Jumei-rah, Dubai, UAE Tel: +9714426 3000 www.atlantisdivecentre.com

Scuba Dubai Diving & equipment Tel:+97143414940 www.scubadubai.com

Sheesha BeachDhow cruises, diving, camping Dibba, Musandam Tel: +97150336046 www.sheesabeach.com

Deep Blue Sea DivingDiving centre International City, Dubai Tel: +97144308246 www.diveindubai.com

Extreme MarineMarine equipments and services at DIMC, Dubai Tel: +97143992995

Absolute AdventureTour operator. Set amongst the regions best trekking, mountain-biking, rock climbing, kayaking, diving and sailing area our centre is equipped with quality outdoor gear. Dubai,UAE Tel: +97143459900 www.adventure.ae

Cycle Sports Cycles, equipment & service Al Bar-sha First, Dubai Tel: +97143415415 www.cyclesportsuae.com

Absolute AdventureTour operator. Set amongst the regions best trekking, mountain-biking, rock climbing, kayaking, diving and sailing area our centre is equipped with quality outdoor gear. Dubai,UAE Tel: +97143459900 www.adventure.ae

Desert Islands Resorts & Spa Kayaking, Archery, Snorkeling, Bird watching, Mountain biking, Nature and wildlife drives Sir Bani Yas Island, Abu Dhabi Tel: +97128015400 www.desertislands.anantara.com

XventuresFishing, jet-ski, camping Tel: +971555404500 www.x-ventures.ae

Absolute AdventureTour operator. Set amongst the re-gions best trekking, mountain-biking, rock climbing, kayaking, diving and sailing area our centre is equipped with quality outdoor gear. Dubai,UAE Tel: +97143459900 www.adventure.ae


Arabia OutdoorsTour operator. Dubai,UAE TEL: +971-55 9556209 www.arabiaoutdoors.com

Leading EdgeBoating, camping equipment Tel: +971 7 244-7732 www.leadingedge-s.com

Libra Outdoor camps Tel:+971559228362 www.libra-uae.com

Picnico Picnic & camping equipments Jumei-rah Beach Road, Jumeirah 3, Dubai Tel: +97142679992

Arabia OutdoorsTour operator. Dubai,UAE TEL: +971-55 9556209 www.arabiaoutdoors.comAdventure/Tour

Wild X adventure shop Off-road and outdoor products “Showroom No 4 , Sheikh Omar Almajid Building, Marrakesh Street ,Um AL Ramoul Industrial area ,opposite Festival City– Dubai “ Tel: +97142852200 www.wildx.ae

Icon Auto GarageOff road equipmentsDubai,UAE Tel: +971 4 338 2744 www.icon-auto.com

Dune BikeDealer accessories bikes & buggies Rashida Buset Building Al Khail Road Alweer, Dubai” Tel: +97143272088 www.dunebuggyuae.com

Off Road Zone 4x4 vehicle repair and services Al Quoz, Dubai Tel : +9714 339 2449 www.offroad-zone.com

AEV - Advanced Expedition Vehicles Off road Show room # 4 : Brashy Building, Sheikh Zayed Road Tel : +97143307152 www.aev.ae

Yellow HatCar & off-road equipments Sheikh Zayed Road & Nad Al Hamar, Dubai Tel: +97143418592 www.yellowhat.ae

Explorer ToursTour operator Dubai,UAE Tel: +971 4 2861991 www.explorertours.ae

Cyclone Tours & Travels Tour operator Omeir Holidays Building,Mezzanine Floor, Khalifa Street,Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +971 2 6276275 www.cyclonetours.com

Net Group Abu Dhabi Tour operator Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +97126794656 www.netgroupauh.com

Dream Explorer LLC Adventure tourism company Dubai,UAE Tel:+9714 3319880 www.dreamexplorerdubai.com

Noukhada Adventure Company Adventure company Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +97150721 8928 www.noukhada.ae

Sky & Sea adventuresTour operator Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort, Jumeirah Beach Road,Dubai Marina, Dubai Tel: +97143999005

Ballooning AdventuresBalloon adventure tours Tel: +97142854949 www.ballooning.ae

Desert Rangers Tours and desert safaris Tel: +97143572233 www.desertrangers.com

Dubai DolphinariumDolphin Swimming, Dolphin Show Creek Park Gate No. 1, Dubai Tel : +9713369773 www.dubaidolphi-narium.ae

Khour Shem TourismTours and desert safaris Tel: +971503724411 www.khour-shemtours.com

Off Road Adventures Tours and desert safaris Tel: +971506289667 www.arabian-tours.com

Relax Tours Travels LLCTours and desert safaris Tel: 971 4 422 1786 www.dubairelaxtours.com

SeawingsSeaplane tours Tel: +97148832999 www.seawings.ae

BristolTours, Boat Charter, Diving, Fishing Dubai Marina, Dubai 04-4309941 www.bristol-middleeast.com

Sharjah Polo & Equestrian Club Horse riding Al Dhaid Road - In-terchange (6), Al Otain,Sharjah Tel: +9716 5311155 www.forsanuae.org.ae

Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club Horse riding Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +97124455500 www.adec-web.com

Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club Horse riding Dubai,UAE Tel: +971 43618111 www.poloclubdubai.com

Emirates Equestrian Centre Horse riding equestrian club Tel: +971505587656 www.emirateseques-triancentre.com

Jebel Ali Equestrian Club Horse riding equestrian club Jebel Ali Village, Dubai Tel : +97148845101 www.jaec-me.com

EmirtaHorse Requirements, Riding equip-ment Sheik Zayed Rd, Dubai 04 3437475 www.emirtahorse.com

Act Marine Water sports equipment “Ground Floor, Shams Sector, The Walk Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai” Tel: +97144243191

Kite4funKitesurfing Abu Dhabi Tel:+971508133134 www.kite4fun.net

Surf Dubai Surfing Umm Suqeim, Dubai Tel: + 971505043020 www.surfingdu-bai.com

Surf Shop DubaiSurfing & equipment Al Barsha 1, Dubai Tel: +97143990989 www.surfshopdubai.com

Ocean Sports FZE Kite surfing & Stand-up Paddle equipment Dubai (0) 55 935 2735 www.kitesurfsup.com

General SportsGo SportsOutdoor equipmentIbn Batutta mall: 043685344Mall of the Emirates: 043413251Mirdif City Centre: 042843034

Sun&SandSports outdoor equipment www.sunandsandsports.com


Motorcycle

Would your company like to be included in our directory listings? [email protected] or call:04 4472701

Jet Ski/BoatingXclusive Yachts Sport fishing & Yacht charter Xclusive Boats Charter LLC,Unit 4 Marina Diamond 3, Dubai Marina Drive, Dubai Marina, Dubai Tel: +971 4 432 7233 www.xclusiveyachts.com


Nautica 1992Water sports provider located on the beach of The Habtoor Grand Beach Resort&Spa Tel: +971 50 42 62 41 5 www.nautica1992.ae

Leading EdgeBoating, camping equipment Tel: +971 7 244-7732 www.leadingedge-s.com

LYCATAMARANCruises Dubai,UAE Tel: +97150 58 69 746 www.lycatamaran.com

Marine Concept Cruising & sea school Tel: +9714432 9496 www.marine-charter-concept.com

Xclusive YachtsSport fishing & yacht charter Xclusive Boats Charter LLC,Unit 4 Ma-rina Diamond 3, Dubai Marina Drive, Dubai Marina, Tel: +97144327233 www.xclusiveyachts.com

2XWHEELER Motorcycle event organzier Tel :+971506003058 www.2xwheeler.com

KTM Motorcross & quadSheikh Zayed Road, exit 42 www.ktm.com

ProbikeBike equipment Sheikh Juma bin Ahmed Al Maktoum Building (near Mall of The Emirates) Al Barsha 1” Tel: +97143255705 www.probike.ae

Wolfi’s Bike Shop Bike equipment Sheikh Zayed Road,Between Interchange 2 & 3 Tel: +971 4 3394453 www.wbs.ae

Gecko MotorsMotor Cross bikes and service

ShootingSharjah Golf and Shooting Club Golf, shooting, archery, paintball Sharjah, UAE Tel: +971 6 548 7777 www.golfandshootingshj.com

www.extrememarine-me.com

Khasab DiversDiving, fishing, kayak, beach camp-ing Oman www.khasab-diver.com

Summertime MarineWater sports provider Tel :+97142573084 www.summertime-marine.com

RinehMarine & water sports equipments and services Al Quoz, Dubai 43391512 www.rinehemiratesme.com

Extra Divers Zigy BayDive center Musandam, Oman 96826735555 www.extradivers.info

Al Masaood MarineMarine equipments and services Sheikh Zayed Showroom Tel:+97143468000www.masaoodma-rine.com

Sheesha BeachDhow cruises, diving, camping Dibba, Musandam Tel: +97150336046 www.sheesabeach.com

Umm Al Quwain Marine Club Outdoor Activities Tel: +971 67666644 www.uaqmarineclub.com

Al Yousuf Motors LLC Motorbikes, Motocross, Jet Ski, Boats Dealer and equipment Sheikh Zayed Rd, Dubai www.aym.ae/yamaha/

Art MarineBoats & yacht dealer, maintenance, jetty services, yacht management, charter, and marina management Al Quoz, Dubai Tel: +971 4 3388955 www.artmarine.net

Azure Marine Boats & marine equipments Tel: +97143412866 www.azuremarine.net

Boat House Boat Dealer and Service, Maintenance Al Quoz, Dubai Tel: +97143405152 www.theboathouse.ae

Dubai International Marine Sports ClubMarina & Water sports Events at DIMC, Dubai Tel: +97143995777 www.dimc.ae

Happy Days Sea Cruising LLC Fishing and Boat cruise Dubai Tel: +97155896 1276 www.happy-

daysdubai.com

Macky Marine LLCBoat dealers Tel: + 971505518317 www.mackymarine.com

Luxury Sea BoatsBoat dealer Al Quoz, Dubai 04 4473652 www.luxuryseaboats.com

Boats Ocean Boat Dealer / Manufacturer Al Quoz, Dubai 04-3403303

Abu Dhabi Int. Marine Sports Club Marina & Water sports Events ADIMSC, Abu Dhabi 02 681 55 66 www.adimsc.ae

Al Quoz, Dubai 04-3413550 www.geckomotors.com

Advertise Your Business & Support Us

OutdoorUAE is the only magazine in the UAE dedicated to Outdoor Activities and Out-door Lifestyle. We are a young magazine in its 6th month and strongly depending on support of advertisers and sponsors. The sales price of the magazine is kept to a mini-mum of 10AED what is not even covering our printing and distribution cost, to keep

it accessible for everybody. The only source of income is advertisement. If you like the magazine, please advertise with us and support us on the way to a great future for the outdoor community in the UAE. A benefit for your business is guaranteed. To get more

info on print run, circulation and pricing please contact us: 04 4472701 or [email protected]

Free Commercial EntriesCommercial entries in this section are free of charge, to give our readers a full picture of suppliers and services. If you want to list your company here please send your company details and short business description to [email protected] or call 04 4472701

Thanks!

Now available at -Leisure Marine - Beach Hut,JBR Walk Opp. Sheraton Hotel,04 356 6783

Dubai Boat Show 2011at stand EX11

Documents

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