Dubai & UAE

Almost everything you see in Dubai's skyline was built after 1990. The federation of the United Arab Emirates was founded in 1971, the year the British protectorate ended, and Dubai has spent every decade since reinventing what a coastline can do. The Burj Al Arab, the sail-shaped hotel built on its own artificial island, opened in 1999. The Palm Jumeirah, the palm-tree-shaped peninsula made from reclaimed sand, was completed in 2007. The Burj Khalifa, still the world's tallest building at 828 metres, opened in 2010. A yacht charter on the UAE coast is more or less a tour of the most ambitious construction project of the last forty years.

It is also the easiest charter on a winter calendar. Dubai Marina, dredged in the early 2000s, holds 700-plus berths and runs straight into the towers. From there, most charters loop out around the World Islands and Palm Jumeirah, drop in at the older Persian-Arab harbour areas of Deira and Bur Dubai, and then run north up the coast to the Khasab fjords on Oman's Musandam peninsula, sometimes called the Norway of Arabia for the limestone cliffs that drop straight into deep water. Musandam is the geological surprise of the region and the part of the trip most clients remember longest.

The Gulf yachting season runs October to April, when the heat eases and the humidity drops. Most charters pick up in Dubai Marina or Mina Rashid, and the Khasab side is a half-day crossing of about 90 nautical miles from Dubai. The Dubai International Boat Show, in late February or early March, is the regional charter and brokerage event, and a charter that starts there is one way to see what is in the UAE fleet for the season ahead.