Diary From Qingdao
August 22, 2006
Team Leader Katie Kelly writes:
By now many of you have heard of the "China Syndrome," as we've playfully dubbed it here in Qingdao. Of our delegation of 49 here, a handful have succumbed. Luckily, we can laugh about it afterwards, but our stated goal for this trip is to learn as much as we can about everything -- and the food and how to overcome illnesses like this are certainly on the list. The PET staff, once again, is really making sure our team is in tip-top shape. Kudos to Shawn Hunt, Scott Weiss and Mark Kenna. We really need you guys here, so thanks for joining us.
For me, one highlight or side bar from the China Syndrome was that I got to be Star coach for the day. Well, I actually only towed the boats out to the course, waved goodbye and then prayed I would find shore as it was very hazy and land was out of sight. The Stars/Ynglings were on Delta course, and it's a long way out to that race course. The only compass on board was broken and the gas situation was iffy, but I made it back. As it turns out, Stars didn't get a race in today.
The other news of the day is, of course, the weather. By all accounts in the media, the weather here in Qingdao was expected to be challenging, if even sailable. Today rang true to the critics. I hope you will take a minute and listen to the audio report from Jennifer Lilly, the team meteorologist who is here with us. As her roommate, I know first-hand the time she is spending to prepare our team with the best possible information, but it is certainly proving to be a challenge. The conditions are also high on our list of things to learn as much as possible about while we are here, in order to prepare for 2007 and ultimately 2008. The regatta website is also providing weather information, so if you're interested, have a look. We hope we'll see racing the next two days.
Tomorrow we will meet up with Nautica China for a photo shoot between the US Sailing Team and the Chinese team. Nautica is a sponsor of both teams, and we'll get together for a bit tomorrow to shoot a piece they will use later. Thanks to Nautica for the team clothes this year. We proudly wore our team uniforms for the Opening Ceremony, and it was nice to look like we all belonged together. Did you see our team picture? We looked pretty smart!
Follow along by visiting: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/qingdao.htm.