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On The Water in Qingdao China

Posted 5 months, 25 days ago

On The Water in Qingdao China
www.Sail-Search.com: South Africa's Yngling Sailing Team entry in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Team Isigungu is in Qingdao preparing for the start of the Olympics. This report from the pen of Dominique Provoyeur: Our team has officially been in Qingdao for ten days now, and we feel it’s time to share our experiences with you. After our final regatta in Europe we only had a few days in Calais to unpack, pack, repack, clean and throw away all the things we have collected over the past 2 years. Kim and Penny will not be returning to France (Annie and Patrice’s place) any time soon, so they had to be really careful in what they needed to take to China (and home to SA), and what they wanted to post home or give away. I think they were ruthless to the extent that they were prepared to give away many items that were quickly snatched up by Dom’s cousin, in order to save money on postage. When we arrived here in Qingdao (Tuesday, 3 June) we were told that the ship was delayed due to think fog in the bay, and we would only get the boat on Sunday, 8 June. This could have been a blessing as we now had forced time to relax, figure out the shops/food, weather, bus routes, etc as well as work on our fitness. We also used the time to go through some sail trim power points, which Dayne had brought with him, as well as making lists of things-to-do, which by the way never ends…..! We spent one day at the market place, which was also rather interesting, but I think we all need a lesson or two on bargaining! Nevertheless, we all came home with some or other trophy to show our willingness to practice this skill. We are staying in a good hotel, one of our rooms is a mini apartment, so we meet there for dinner and team debriefs. We have set up the accommodation in such a way that each person will get a week or so in the single room, while the other two share the apartment. This works well, as each person is given the separation and time out that is cherished when available. Breakfast is also something different and take some getting used to. Having broccoli for dinner isn’t my favourite, but for breakfast…… as well as noodles, rice, soup cabbage…. Well you get the picture! But it all ain’t bad, cause dessert is also served…. Chocolate éclairs, cakes, fruit salad, and more (which we obviously don’t know about cause we are athletes ON DIET!!!!!!!) Seriously, there is also egg and bacon, toast and jam, yoghurts and really good coffee – so we can definitely have our fill. Lunch is the usual – sandwiches and fruit. Dinner is whatever we can make in a microwave – 2 minute noodles, frozen rice dinners, potatoes, etc. Kim and Penny are doing wonders in the dinner department! And to top it all off, we are all still fit and healthy, which is a really good thing considering all the stories we have heard. Once our container arrived, we had to wait for customs to open the it as there may have been some issue with the contents of our trailer boxes. But all was well, the boat hadn’t budged, thanks to the good work done by Hein in securing the boat. After that things went pretty smoothly, we got our boat in the water the next day. We didn’t bring our coach boat from Europe as we were told that it wouldn’t cope with the conditions (current and big chop), so Dayne spent a fair amount of his free time chatting to people here to try and buy a boat or rent one. Renting would work out to over R2000-00 * per day for 50 odd days and buying one would be approx R85 000-00 *. After huge debates as to what we should do, and negotiations we were going to buy a boat and then try to resell it again. But then the Norwegian Team (our training partners) offered us a one of their boats for free, we just had to wait until it got here (probably this Week end). Wow, how cool is that! Feeling very Olympic today? So then, the problem was what do we do for this week – pay R2000-00 * a day?? Well after chatting to a few people, Dayne had a few options to use a boat for a couple of hours but then our sailing depended on when it wasn’t being used. This also puts pressure on us – sail for 3 hours and pay R2800-00 * (incl crane in and out of water) for a coach boat, or sit on shore and wait for someone to offer us their boat for a couple of hours….. Well this day we waited……. Eventually we got out and had a good sail, but got completely closed in by fog and had to navigate our way home along the shore. Some boats got lost and had to beach themselves, call a taxi and wait for the fog to clear before going back with the coach to fetch their boats. Having a GPS is crucial here at this time. Yesterday, one of Dayne’s friends offered him one of his boats to use for 3 days, so we have a coach boat again for a very small fee. Feeling very Olympic again! Dayne has many good friends on the circuit and without his contacts I am pretty sure this campaign would have cost double. Thanks Coach Dayne! Just a final note, we are so close to the end but yet things seem harder than ever before, especially for me, and I just want to say to my crew that although I don’t always treat them as I should, they should know that we are only here because of them. They are both very strong individuals and offer everything they possibly can to this campaign. Their dedication and commitment is inspiring. I hope one day to be the leader that they expect from me. * At this moment in time R8.00 will buy $1.00 - i.e. R2 000.00 is the equivalent of $250.00. Full Story »

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