Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Wins Silver at Qingdao International Regatta

This statue sits at the marina entrance of the Qingdao Yinhai International Yacht Club.

On May 4^th, I traveled to the Chinese city of Qingdao to meet up with Scott and Julia and coach them in the Paralympic Test Event. The trip was long, about 30 hours door to door. In all, 5 US boats made the trek, representing the US in the 3 Paralympic classes. There were 2 American boats in the Sonar class, 2 in the 2.4 Meter class, and Scott and Julia were the lone American entry in the SKUD 18 class.

All regatta participants stayed at the newly built InterContinental Hotel, which will be used as part of the Sailing Village during the Olympic Games. Most Olympic events will be held in Beijing, which is about an 80 minute flight from Qingdao, thus sailors will not be staying in the main Olympic Village during the competition.

Scott and Julia practicing in Qingdao’s Yellow Sea.

With a population of over 8 million people, the city of Qingdao is gigantic. From the water, one can see skyscrapers extending for miles, and there is new development on virtually every other block in the city. As far as the sailing goes, the facility is top notch. The accommodations are beautiful, and the hotel staff was extremely hospitable. The marina itself is gigantic, and open water is reached just past the main breakwater of the marina. This breakwater is an excellent place for spectating, as race committee makes their best effort to keep the racing within view from there.

The sailing conditions themselves were excellent during the International Regatta. Scott and Julia had three practice days prior to the event, with moderate winds of 8 – 12 knots from the Southeast each day. During the event, a cold front brought some stronger Northerly winds for two days, and by the end of the five day event, the wind had returned back to what appears to be the prevailing Easterly direction. The bay is wide open to the East and South, so large rollers are common, even when the breeze is blowing offshore. The current is quite strong, which does make light air sailing a bit more challenging. The final race of the event was held in only 4 – 5 knots of wind with a strong downwind tide – this made the upwind legs take ages, and the downwind legs took no time at all. Temperatures were cool, with the high on most days in the low 60’s at best. The water temperature is around 54 degrees, so it was cold on the water when any breeze was blowing at all. In fact on the days when the Northerly was in, I found myself running in place in my motorboat to warm up, and I was wearing enough clothing to be mistaken for the Michelin man.

All this is in stark contrast to what I had been told regarding the sailing conditions the sailors can expect during the Olympics and Paralympics. Apparently, Qingdao is rather hot and humid in the summertime, and the wind shuts down totally. Reports from the Olympic test event last August were of no wind, and so much current that boats could barely cross the starting line at times. This is unfortunate, as Qingdao is a nice place to sail in the spring time, a little on the chilly side, but great conditions.

 

Scott is interviewed by a Chinese reporter after registration.

 

Julia on her way to the Opening Ceremony.

As for the event, there were nine races over five days, and Scott and Julia sailed very well. They have spent much time this spring practicing with the US SKUD representatives for the Paralympics, Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Nick and Maureen were unable to make the trip to the International Regatta due to personal reasons). This practice time proved valuable, as Scott and Julia showed great speed and boathandling, especially downwind. They did start off on the wrong foot, finishing the first race in 8^th after rounding the windward mark in 2^nd. They ran over their spinnaker sheets on the reach leg of the race, and they were unable to fix the issue before losing the entire fleet. They recovered well though, and put together a remarkable string over the next 6 races 1 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 1. This put Whitman/Dorsett in 1^st place for the event, but only by a narrow margin over the British team of Niki Birrell and Alexandra Rickham. The two finished 6^th and 7^th in race 8, setting up a showdown of who beats who going into the final day of the event.

As I mentioned above, the final day offered a light Southeast breeze with strong downwind tide. The scoring situation was simple, regardless of their place in the fleet, whoever comes out on top between USA and GBR will be the regatta winner. There was a heavy pin-end bias on the starting line, which prompted Scott and Julia to set up for a port tack start late in the sequence. This may sound a little aggressive, but it was very difficult to cross the line on Starboard, given the strength of the current. Unfortunately, they were a but punchy with their timing, and Scott and Julia were over the line early. The Individual Recall flag was raised, but Whitman/Dorsett did not realize that they were the early boat. They sailed the first beat, and were pulled out of the race at the windward mark because they did not start properly.

This was a disappointing end to the event. But it was still a great experience for the Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Team. After losing the US Selection trials last October, Scott and Julia made a goal of winning the International Regatta. They came very close to achieving that goal. Furthermore, they showed that they can compete on an international stage, even though they will not be the US representatives to the Games in September.

Over the summer, Scott and Julia plan to continue practicing with Nick and Maureen in Southern California, and they have a full regatta schedule planned through the end of the year. Scott and Julia have their sites set on the 2012 Paralympics, which will be held in Weymouth, England. They will continue their campaign straight through to that event.

Donald Trump is everywhere!

But so is Ronald McDonald.

Off to China!

I am heading to Qingdao tomorrow morning to coach the Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Team team at the SKUD test event for the Paralympics.  I am not sure if I will be able to update this from there or not.  But you can find the results on www.sailing2008.org.  The event begins on May 8th.   After some strong winter results, Scott and Julia have high expectations for themselves at this event.

The ISAF Mid-Year meeting will take place in Qingdao during this event.  The selection of equipment for the 2012 Olympics may be reconsidered at this meeting.   I will meet a group from the Tornado Class in Qingdao, and we will help lobby for the multihull to be used in the 2012 Olympics.

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