Ian Gilmour has a company in the UK called Pelican Additional hints Racing, which focuses on competitive sailing of sports keel boats as well as training programmes. Mr Gilmour is investigating setting up a branch of the business in Abu Dhabi among other locations.
"Abu Dhabi has the right resources," he says. "It's got a lovely warm sea, it's got great wind which switches on as regular as clockwork. It's got everything you could possibly dream of for a top-rate sailing destination - apart from a critical mass of sailing." Boating plays a major role in the city's development plans. Abu Dhabi will eventually have some 45 marinas, according to its 2030 strategic plan, and in the future there are expected to be about 10,000 leisure boats in the capital. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority has asserted it is striving to position the emirate as a "marine leisure destination", although there are some concerns in the sailing community that many of these marinas
