Sailogs

Hurry Up and Wait

As you might know by now, yesterday’s racing was canceled for all classes due to lack of wind. The haze never burned off enough to get a good sea breeze going, so we took the opportunity to explore new parts of Qingdao. We hopped in a cab to one of the shopping districts and, with the help of Jeff Chang’s Chinese skills, actually made it. The streets were lined with lots of stores selling anything and everything from clothing to electronics to “walking pizza” (which we assumed was pizza to go). As we explored, we made a new friend who started following us, presumably to work up the courage to ask for money. Luckily, the local Olympic volunteers talked the man out of pursuing us after we asked for some help.

As we walked through less-touristy areas, we noticed that the Olympic symbols and particularly the sailing ads really are plastered and painted all over the city. I had the chance to try on some shorts in a 3 by 7-foot changing cube and realized after some serious efforts to try on my normal size that Chinese sizes and women generally run much smaller. I was happy to find a pair and double my wardrobe…thankfully my bag has arrived a day later.

Next we wandered over to “Beer Street,” a short walk away from “Culture Street” and “Wedding Photography Street.” The road was lined with locals and perhaps a few Chinese tourists enjoying the TsingTao brew from kegs and bottles in outdoor cafes. Many of the men were sitting and standing around with their shirts rolled up to their armpits or totally off, a fashion statement I’ve started to see a lot here. Probably pretty nice when it’s so hot out.

After admiring the beer shrine, made completely out of large, green TsingTao beer bottles, we sat down and sampled a few. One brave member of our group even tried the “unlabeled” version that the locals like, but we all concluded that ithe original brew was much better. Later on the evening, we got to meet up with Andrew and Bill Ward and enjoy some Italian food at a restaurant near downtown Qingdao. Also caught some glimpses of the Laser light show that beams out of one of the many tall buildings at night.

At the moment, we’re well positioned to watch the three races scheduled for today from the 8th floor of the hotel, but it looks like the RS:X, Star, and Tornado fleets are towing in. The 470 and Laser/Radial fleets appear to be holding  near their course areas to see if the sea breeze will fill.. There’s also a large groups of dark clouds approaching, so we’ll see what happens. Can’t wait to get some more races in…

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