Drifting
From fishing to drifting, the emirate is smoking hot
With a maritime tradition dating back centuries, Ajman has its roots firmly in fishing. Now its port will welcome a different kind of catch - the UAE qualifying round of the Red Bull Car Park Drift, the Middle East’s most famous drifting competition.
Ajman’s creek was deepened in the 1970s to create a deep-water port and dockyards, which serve over 1,000 vessels a year, this poses a wonderful backdrop for the competition.
Drifters will begin the day at the historic Ajman port with two pre-qualifying runs through the course, marked out amid the shipping containers and fishing nets by cones and obstacles.
Biggest dhow-building yard
The UAE’s smallest emirate has a long history of fishing and shipping; fishing was for hundreds of years one of the main industries in Ajman and in the Gulf generally.
Ajman is still home to the region’s largest dhow-building yard, which makes hundreds of the UAE’s sailboats every year, using skills passed down from generation to generation.
Fishing remains big business in Ajman, with several processing plants in the emirate and some 150 artificial concrete coves built offshore this year to encourage fish breeding.
Fishing season for kingfish
The seas around the UAE are home to more than 500 species of marine fish, including 29 species of shark, as well as barracuda, cobia, grouper, kingfish and queen fish.
October to March is the best time for fishing, as the fish return as the waters cool down. There are several deep-sea fishing tour companies to choose from in Ajman, if you want a group day out at sea.
If you want to fish on your own, you will need to apply for a recreational fishing licence every year (and a separate licence if you fish from your boat), or you could be fined.
Fish market
There has been a ban on trawling in the UAE since the 1970s. Fishing is restricted to certain areas and is not permitted off the main beaches, where people swim.
If you’d rather fish from the safety of dry land, watch the catches being hauled ashore at the Ajman Fish Market, which was redeveloped and expanded just nine years ago - then pick out a fish and have it cooked for your dinner. And if you would like to catch some of the best drifts out there, Come watch as the Red Bull Car Park Drift UAE Qualifying Round race roars into town on Friday 25 November, burning up Ajman Port from 3pm.
