Qingdao Paralympics: Bang-On Predictions - Canada
Another beautiful day in Qingdao; the winds were not bad and Doug Charko, our team meteorologist (from Sask but lives in NZ) was bang on with his predictions. It was 5-10 knots in the AM and slightly less in the PM. The Canadian team worked hard as usual gathering information for the coming races.
'The art form just inside the main gate at Qingdao, standing in front from left to right Don Terlson, Steve Mcbride, Marc Shaw and Shirley our assistant.'
Supplied Image
At the moment, we are doing everything we can to help keep things running smoothly, a very big part of that is our assistant Shirley. She is actually from Kingston and has been going to Queens for the past few years. What a treat it is for us to have someone here in China that is fluent in Chinese but at the same time is fully fluent in English; sure makes a difference when you are trying to find spark plugs for a 90hp engine or a dolly wheel for a 2.4 cradle! We have been very fortunate with both of our assistants.
On the Skud training today, John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit,(RVicYC) were very fast out of the blocks in the first few training races; they mentioned that the boat was going well. Like the other boats, they dry sail so each day they have to launch and then derig and haul out at the end of the day, it does add a lot to the day but guaranteeing a fast surface is well worth the effort!
For much of the team, it will be a day off tomorrow but for the coaches it will be putting the final polishing on the hulls. The practice race is Sunday the 7th and then the big show begins.
As I look out the window here in Qingdao, all of the buildings are lit up; it is for lack of more words, amazing! They have an interesting system here.
During the evening there are so many lights that I would think you could see the place from space but around 10:00PM the lights begin to dim and by 10:30 every light in every tower is out and energy is saved during the night - good concept!
I am not sure how they do it but there are sailing pictures projected on a number of buildings and a boat or graphics move from building to building like a movie screen. It is hard to describe but if you have the chance make the trip it is certainly one of the more vibrant cities I have visited.
That's all for now, we will wait till the weekend and the practice race for more information to write.
Brian Todd
by Brian Todd, Canadian YA Media 
Curl Curl, NSW
