Gulf News reports that Dubai will soon have far more ‘supertalls’ – towers of over 100 habitable floors – than any other city. There are six in various stages of development, from Burj Dubai which is currently at almost 130 floors, the most in the world, to others being designed. They range from the 101-floor Marina 101 to the planned Al Burj which could be as high as 180 floors. Burj Al Alam at 108, Princess Tower at 107 and Pentominium at 120 storeys will complete the six.

Graphic by Gulf News.
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AED6 million (US$1.63 million) is the prize money for this year’s traditional dhow sailing race, due to be run on May 26.

It’s a great sight too, the 60 foot traditional wooden dhows racing 54 nautical miles into Dubai from Sir Bu Naair island. This year it’s expected that there will be more than 100 dhows in the fleet

Althought he dhows are traditional the race is new, the first one being in 1991 but the traditions are old – it replicates the pearl trading route of Dubai’s early history.

The starting line will be about a mile long, where the dhows await the ‘start’ order, then they unfurl their sails and begin the difficult race. Depending on wind and sea conditions the winning dhow can take up to eight hours.

The beautiful boats are hand crafted and can cost up to AED350,000 (US$95,000).
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I was strolling along the beachfront this morning and the water looked absolutely beautiful, the most amazing colours. I had the little digital camera with me so I’ll share a few of the photographs with you – the colours came out pretty well.

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