Diary From Qingdao
August 19, 2006
Andy Horton and Brad Nichol write:
After finishing third in the European Championships in Hamburg, Germany we hopped a plane across Europe and Asia, with a stop in Beijing, to Qingdao China for the 2006 Pre-Olympic regatta. Of course we have some stories for you, here are some quick notes about what we have found interesting:
- We have only been here a week and have had approximately 7.3 million pictures taken of us. Some even pose their kids so that the big white guy is in the background of the picture. We stand out for sure and people are not afraid to check us out.
- We are sailing out of the Yin Hai Yacht Club this week before moving over to the venue on Saturday. I am sure the facilities will be beautiful when completed (they just passed the 4a standard for a site of beauty by the Chinese government) but right now it is little more then a 24/7 construction site.
- Pedestrians do not get any consideration here and crossing the street is quite an adventure. You also have to keep on your toes in parking lots as the drivers here will merely blast their horn as they drive through a group of people, never slowing down.
- The wind forecast was supposed to be light with lumpy seas, and the French and British teams experienced weeks of no sailing before we arrived but we have had a nice 10-15 knot northerly the past few days as Typhoon Wukong passes to our east.
- We are always interested in water quality wherever we sail because we spend half our time in it. The water here is clear in many places and there is plenty of sea life, but the abundant sea life seems to be feeding off of the sewer pipe that is pumped directly into the bay. Lovely!
- Brad’s flight from Beijing to Qingdao was on a 737 packed with school children who had never flown before. Aside for the constant loud chatter and screams as the plane jostled around like a roller coaster, two children vomited filling the plane with a wonderful odor, and one used a barf bag as a urinal.
- Meanwhile, Andy was delayed in Copenhagen and Beijing and took a grand total of 21 hours with stops. He did find a nice assistant in Beijing to show him where to go and help with his bags and two sails he was carrying.
- Oh yes, we have also been sailing our new boat all we while we have been adjusting to this new place and culture. We are very happy with it and are working out all the little kinks and making it as Gucci as possible before we start racing Monday.
From August 18 to August 31 we’ll be competing in the 2006 Qingdao Pre-Olympic Regatta, which is expected to attract more than 466 sailors and 302 boats from 41 countries. This is our first opportunity to get a feel for the local conditions, which are notoriously light and shifty.
We will be based at the new Qingdao International Marina in Qingdao, a coastal city located 430 miles east of Beijing with a population of 7.3 million. The town also happens to be the home of the Tsingtao Brewery, makers of China’s most popular brew and the largest selling Chinese beer in the US.
We are 12 hours ahead of the eastern US so we should have daily race reports posted to the list for the day of racing that was completed while most of you were asleep. We have scheduled races Mon, Tues, Wed, Sat, and a Medal race on Tues. All the reserve days are because there is often very little wind here so we are not sure what out schedule will ultimately be or how many races we will complete.