Sailogs

Adventures in Qingdao

Since Friday’s racing ended up being postponed until around 4pm, we headed over to Jusco, a big department store/grocery/mall in downtown Qingdao, to look around. The place was hopping! Shoppers were digging frantically through sale bins as we checked out the vast collection of seemingly misprinted shirts with English sayings on them. I was psyched to finally find a “sunbonnet” face-shield/visor that I’ve been looking for. Now I can attempt to fit in with the locals.

Again, Olympic posters and ads were plastered everywhere and a crowd of people was gathered in the middle of the mall, watching a giant TV showing Olympic events. I attempted to take a picture of it all, but was stopped immediately by a mall-cop with a big stick in his hand. No pictures allowed. Eventually we exited the building, rounded a corner, and spotted a huge screen mounted about 150 feet in the air, broadcasting the first Star start of the regatta. We realized the Lasers would be starting soon and rushed back to catch the race.

Yesterday we had tickets to a spectator boat, and thus the seawall, so we headed down there early to cheer Andrew and the other US sailors on as they headed out to their racecourses. All of us waved US flags and cheered our loudest as our guys went by, but were shown up by tons of Chinese people with loudspeakers and organized cheers for their sailors. Being the blondest in the group, Michael and I started a photography frenzy, as local photogs swooped in right next to us holding our US flags and snapped away. They even videotaped us and followed, taking more pictures, as we walked away later on. Who knows what publications we’ll end up in now!

We spent about 5 hours on our spectator boat yesterday, shuttling between courses C and D (Lasers/Radials and 470s). There was a sizable crowd of Chinese, as well as some Aussie, American, French, and Dutch spectators on board with us. It was pretty cool to be able to watch the Laser racing live, sometimes even without the need for binoculars, although it was pretty slow and light for the one race they completed. We were sure to follow the directions posted on the boat’s signs, things like “No crowding. Deep water.” A visit to the loo was questionable, as they had chosen to install a shallow squat toilet…not the greatest idea when the boat starts rolling side to side.

The rest of the Hoya crowd arrived last night so we had a great time catching up on their wondrous adventures through Hong Kong, Guilin, and Shanghai at dinner. Three Laser races are scheduled for today. At the moment, we’re seeing pouring rain and some breeze, so there’s hope we’ll get them all in. Go USA!!! 

 

 

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