Diary From Qingdao
August 31, 2006
Star sailors Andy Horton and Brad Nichol write:
We just returned form the closing ceremonies/awards ceremony and boy, what a show. The Chinese are not afraid to use copious amounts of fireworks - the stage was packed with them and they kept going off throughout the show, 30 feet from us! The show included pop singers, opera singers, acrobats and traditional Chinese dance. It lasted nearly three hours.
It was truly a special moment to stand on the podium in front of thousands of people and hear our national anthem as the stars and stripes went up the flag pole. It makes all our efforts so far worth it and gives us additional motivation to return to the same podium in two years.
The whole regatta has been an exceptional experience. The city of Qingdao has certainly put there best face forward draping a city of 8 million with regatta banners, greeting all the sailors with a smile and generally being very helpful and happy to have us. We now realize how important it was for us to be here not just for venue reconnaissance, boat and sail development but to work out the day to day issues that arise in a country where the culture is so different from our own.
Medal Race
We sailed the medal race on Wednesday. The race course was moved from our usual circle (6 miles out) to right off shore between the venue and the city. When we left the harbor, we had 15 knots of wind and huge waves left over from the previous day’s blow. By the start the wind had subsided to 8 knots but the lump was still there and we had 1.5 knots of current pushing us to weather.
Going into the race it was a show down between us and the Brits, knowing that whoever came out on top would win the regatta. George Szabo needed to win the race and put the Brits between us to finish second. Despite the weather forecast and the tide report telling us that the right side was going to be very strong, we thought the left side of the race course would pay because of a large cloud to the north. The pin end of the line was favored, so we decided to start to leeward of the fleet.
The pre-start looked more like a match race then a fleet race with the Brits, Szabo and us circling to jockey for position. We secured the leeward most position but realized that we had all set up too early and the current was going to push us all over the line so we jibed out circled one more time and started at the pin on port with the Brits to leeward and Szabo directly behind us.
We split with the Brits to head for the left and back together at the top of the leg with the Brits on starboard and us on port. We were not crossing them which put us in a difficult position. We were ready for anything and the Brits lee-bowed (tacked under) us to protect their starboard advantage. We worked our hardest and were able to roll over (pass) the Brits by the weather mark rounding first.
We extended a bit on the run and having the lead we were able to take the favored mark at the leeward gate. The Brits split with us taking the other mark and right side of the course. We were able to cover them for the remaining two legs and sailed downwind to victory.
We would like to thank all of our supporters who have sent us good wishes over the last two weeks. Knowing we have friends behind us means a lot to us. Most importantly, thank you to all of you who have shown your support by giving personal donations to our campaign. Also a big thank you to our sponsors; US Sailing, Sperry Top-Sider, Harken, VC Performance Rigging, Kaenon, Patagonia, Himaya, JCD, and McLube.
We are off to bed and then to the good ol’ USA tomorrow!!! Check the web site later today for pictures: http://www.HortonNichol2008.com