FUN CHALLENGES AND PRIZES GALORE AT ABU DHABI’S VOR DESTINATION VILLAGE
Abu Dhabi, UAE, 19th December 2014 - Visitors to the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) Destination Village on Abu Dhabi’s Corniche Breakwater can try their hand at a myriad of challenges and could walk away with superb prizes – including trips to Sweden and the USA!
A host of village stakeholders have mounted the challenges which range from sail lift grinding, to golf chipping and archery with a twist.
At the official VOR clothing store – Musto, the official outfitter – is challenging visitors to raise a sail by a winch grinder with the fastest scorer winning a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden, were the race will finish next June, to sail a Volvo Ocean 65 yacht – the very model which forms the hardy VOR fleet.
It’s not as easy as it looks with the grinder becoming steadily more resistant. The score board so far puts grinder Bertie in with a chance with a time of 8.99 minutes.
On the breakwater edge, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship is challenging visitors to chip 50 feet from the shore onto a ‘floating’ green to sink a ‘hole in one.’ Everyone who has a go gets tickets to January’s 10th anniversary Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and anyone who does chip a hole in one will lift two Etihad Airways flights to New York and four nights in a Newport Rhode Island hotel with airport-hotel transfers to join the Big Apple’s own VOR Stopover next May.
At the Noukhada booth there’s a SAFE archery challenge where visitors must hit floating balls with ‘safe’ arrows to claim a prize of a kayaking tour for two of Abu Dhabi’s mangrove reserve.
A stop at the Abu Dhabi Ports Company pavilion means visitors will get to see a model of the planned Abu Dhabi permanent cruise terminal, due for completion in 2016 when it will host the magnificent Celebrity Constellation cruise liner which will home port in the UAE capital. Entering a simple competition at the pavilion will see one lucky visitor winning a US $1,000 voucher for a Royal Caribbean International cruise.
Meanwhile, Facebook fans of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) – the emirate’s own VOR contender – have the chance to enter two fantastic and highly unusual competitions. The first sees fans submitting captions for one of the Top Ten photos taken by ADOR onboard reporter Matt Knighton. The wittiest caption wins an enlarged photo of the one-off image, signed by the team, and to be presented in a VIP gathering at the Azzam Lounge in the Destination Village on January 1.
In the second competition, fans have to submit photos and videos of themselves ‘jumping’ to be in with
a chance to secure the once-in-a-lifetime ‘Jump From Azzam’ experience as ADOR sail their yacht Azzam out of Abu Dhabi for the start of Leg 3 of the VOR to Sanya in China on January 3.
Abu Dhabi’s VOR Destination Village is open free-of-charge to the public daily from 12 noon until 9pm on weekdays and on weekends from 11am until midnight until January 3. Opening times on December 25th differ with the village accepting visitors from 4pm until 10pm.
