Credit: Pixabay For thousands of years, before the advent of the oil boom, fishing and pearl diving was the mainstay of the Dubai economy. Pearl divers would board a traditional dhow for up to three months at a time, in the hope to uncovering pearls – a job easier said than done! In a bid to bring the Dubai pearl history alive and honour the divers, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum organizes the traditional dhow race every year.