| Spring in Quindao | | Print | |
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Qingdao, China This update is from China where I am getting some great training accomplished. I have a great team here with me to help me practice and figure out the local conditions. Brad Funk is my US training partner. Coaches Mitch Brindley and Luther Carpenter are both here to coach me too. We arrived in Qingdao on June 4. I was on the same flight as Luther from Newark to Beijing. For our flight to Qingdao, we were supposed to meet up with Brad who flew from Chicago to Beijing. Luther and I landed in Beijing on time and went to our next gate after checking our luggage in again. Our plane was on time, and we sat and waited for Brad to show up. But we waited and waited and he never showed. In the mean time our departure time for our flight got pushed back, and then even later again. Having been up for almost 24 hours, Luther and I were both beginning to get a bit cranky and also a little worried about Brad. We finally took off hours late and landed an hour later in Qingdao. We were greeted by the hotel shuttle and we were off to the hotel. I told the hotel that we had lost Brad somewhere in transit and they did their research and had found out that his flight into Beijing was delayed by almost two hours and he had been put on the next flight to Qingdao. He eventually showed up later that night with my Canadian training partner Lisa Ross. As it turned out, they were both on the same flight to Qingdao and she hitched a ride into town with our shuttle. Anyway, once we had had a good night’s sleep, it was time to get organized for the next two and a half weeks of training. We eventually got our charter boats that afternoon and then rigged up so we could hit the water the next day. As it turned out, the wind was not cooperating, so we ended up with another day off from sailing. We hit the gym hard though and got in a good work out. Finally on June 7th we got on the water. The plan was to launch at 11:00 am, do a warm-up by ourselves, and then meet up with Tania Calles from Mexico and Lisa to do a couple of hours of practice. However, we experienced a lot of fog, and finding people was quite hard as visibility was very low. We had the same problem for the next three days before we decided that it would be better if we all went out and warmed up together on the same course. We sailed every day from the 7th through the 14th in all sorts of conditions, but all great practice for the Olympics. We were also fortunate enough to be training at the same time as the Chinese Radial National Championships. We were invited to participate and accepted the offer in order to get in some proper racing. There were about 25 boats competing in the regatta. They were all girls so Brad wasn’t allowed to race. We missed the first day as the wind was very light and it was somewhat foggy and we couldn’t find their boats on the water. On the second day, we sailed in very light winds. I won the first race of the day, and was in the top five in the second race at the weather mark when I decided to drop out. We had been on the water most of the day. The following day provided us with some big seas and winds in the low teens. We delayed our pre-race practice by 30 minutes to make sure we wouldn’t burn ourselves out before the races, but hit the water strong at 11:30 am and sailed hard until the racing began at 1:00 pm. Because the current was flowing very strong downwind, it took some of the sailors a while to get out to the course, so we finally started racing half an hour late. I was leading at the weather mark of the first race, but was called OCS so had to drop out of the race. I was very disappointed as I thought I may have been over, but not the only one. But, there I was, all alone. It gave me a chance to work on a couple of things though whilst I waited for the fleet to finish the race. The second race started and again I was leading at the weather mark. Then I made a couple of mistakes, including getting trapped by a massive weed patch that had to be about 250 meters long. I finished third. After the race, I was exhausted and called it a day. I had done a long stretch of days with the shortest day being three and a half hours, and I was ready for a day off. Today was a very lazy morning. We woke up at the same time as usual, which was a bit of a disappointment, but probably for the better to keep us on schedule. We met the group at Starbucks at 11:30 am where we hung out and chatted before we headed for the market. The market was a four-level building with many shops in it. We wandered around the stores for an hour whilst Brad and Mitch bought some good deals. After an hour, I had had enough and said that we needed to leave and go and get lunch. We got back to the hotel and ordered room service for lunch, with a plan to relax for the rest of the day in preparation for six more hard days of training starting tomorrow. To get a feel for the fog here, and the surroundings, check out the slide show on my Google Picasa Web Album. On July 21, Mitch and I are heading off to Kiel, Germany where I’ll be competing in the annual Grade One Kieler Woche Regatta on June 25–30. Kiel Week is also the biggest summer festival in Northern Europe, with a Tall Ships parade, big boat racing, rock and classical concerts and competition in 30 different sports. I will write another update for you when I get to Kiel. As always I want to acknowledge my sponsors Carmeuse and K-Swiss for supporting my campaign for Olympic Gold in Qingdao. Sail hard,
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