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 4th, I traveled to the Chinese city of
All regatta participants stayed at the newly built InterContinental Hotel, which will be used as part of the
Scott and Julia practicing in Qingdao’s Yellow Sea.
With a population of over 8 million people, the city of
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,
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 8th after rounding the windward mark in 2nd. 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 1st place for the event, but only by a narrow margin over the British team of Niki Birrell and Alexandra Rickham. The two finished 6th and 7th 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
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
Over the summer, Scott and Julia plan to continue practicing with Nick and Maureen in
Donald Trump is everywhere!
But so is Ronald McDonald.
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i am into sailing and i am also a diy fiberglass sailing boat enthusiasts for 5 years now. i really love sailing.;.’
Comment by Daniel Evans — May 23, 2010 @ 2:07 pm