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Qingdao helms sailing schools
By Fei Lai |
April 19, 2011, Tuesday
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BY 2015, around 300,000 Qingdao residents will either be able to hoist a sail and helm a boat or want to go along for the ride. Fei Lai reports that the city is providing sailing courses.
Coastal Qingdao aims to turn itself into a sailing city where everyone knows the ropes and can tell port from starboard.
By 2015, around 300,000 residents will either know how to sail or are mad about the sport. The city plans to provide sailing training and experience to these 300,000 landlubbers, according to the Qilu Evening News, which also reports that three new sailing training centers for teenagers are planned. The idea is to turn out around 10,000 teenage sailors by 2015.
The conclusion of an extreme sailing event last Sunday left the city eager for more.
The event was the Double Star Cup Extreme Sailing Series of the International Sailing Federation. Afterward, all the sailors hung up their gloves in the Olympic Sailing Museum to commemorate the event.
The extreme sailing series showcased the city's efforts to bring the sport to more people. It featured boats more than 20 meters high as well as small white sailboats for teen athletes under age 15. The teens competed in the OP class.
Every day during the event, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center hosted 50 students from elementary and middle schools. They talked with sailors, learned some skills and went aboard for parts of the series.
Liu Qixuan, a six-grader from Qingdao Wendeng Road Primary School, has been working on her sailing skills for two years. After having a face-to-face talk with Roland Gaebler, the skipper of Team Extreme Europe, she told Xinhua that she would try even harder to train and overcome difficulties.
To involve more participants, a radio-controlled boat racing was held. Teams formed by tourists and locals competed with international teams.
According to Lin Zhiwei, president of the Qingdao Sports Association, the chance to sail as the "fifth man" aboard the Extreme 40, a class of 12-meter-long catamarans, had generated real excitement. Lin is also deputy executive secretary general of the local organizing committee for the event.
Each Extreme 40 carried five sailors, four professionals and an amateur - "fifth man." The "fifth man" could join the race after training. There were 55 "fifth men" in the series, including 30 selected from the public.
The sailing events of 2008 Olympic Games were held in Qingdao, giving the city a taste of world-class sailing. Since then, Qingdao has been a stop on top sailing events such as the Volvo Ocean Race, Clipper Round the World Race and America's Cup. Qingdao International Sailing Week is also attracting attention.
Qingdao people were not familiar with sport sailing, but now they are more enthusiastic.
"Sailing has almost swept the city since the Olympic Games," Wang Xiulin, vice mayor of Qingdao, told Xinhua. He said more than 130 schools and sailing clubs have provided courses to 5,000 students, an average of around 1,000 a year.
The sport sailing industry is developing fast in Qingdao, which now has 28 sailing clubs and more than 30 manufacturers of yachts and motorboats. The city is forming an industrial chain of water sports, recreational tourism, boat production, sales and exhibitions, as well as construction of berths.
Coastal Qingdao aims to turn itself into a sailing city where everyone knows the ropes and can tell port from starboard.
By 2015, around 300,000 residents will either know how to sail or are mad about the sport. The city plans to provide sailing training and experience to these 300,000 landlubbers, according to the Qilu Evening News, which also reports that three new sailing training centers for teenagers are planned. The idea is to turn out around 10,000 teenage sailors by 2015.
The conclusion of an extreme sailing event last Sunday left the city eager for more.
The event was the Double Star Cup Extreme Sailing Series of the International Sailing Federation. Afterward, all the sailors hung up their gloves in the Olympic Sailing Museum to commemorate the event.
The extreme sailing series showcased the city's efforts to bring the sport to more people. It featured boats more than 20 meters high as well as small white sailboats for teen athletes under age 15. The teens competed in the OP class.
Every day during the event, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center hosted 50 students from elementary and middle schools. They talked with sailors, learned some skills and went aboard for parts of the series.
Liu Qixuan, a six-grader from Qingdao Wendeng Road Primary School, has been working on her sailing skills for two years. After having a face-to-face talk with Roland Gaebler, the skipper of Team Extreme Europe, she told Xinhua that she would try even harder to train and overcome difficulties.
To involve more participants, a radio-controlled boat racing was held. Teams formed by tourists and locals competed with international teams.
According to Lin Zhiwei, president of the Qingdao Sports Association, the chance to sail as the "fifth man" aboard the Extreme 40, a class of 12-meter-long catamarans, had generated real excitement. Lin is also deputy executive secretary general of the local organizing committee for the event.
Each Extreme 40 carried five sailors, four professionals and an amateur - "fifth man." The "fifth man" could join the race after training. There were 55 "fifth men" in the series, including 30 selected from the public.
The sailing events of 2008 Olympic Games were held in Qingdao, giving the city a taste of world-class sailing. Since then, Qingdao has been a stop on top sailing events such as the Volvo Ocean Race, Clipper Round the World Race and America's Cup. Qingdao International Sailing Week is also attracting attention.
Qingdao people were not familiar with sport sailing, but now they are more enthusiastic.
"Sailing has almost swept the city since the Olympic Games," Wang Xiulin, vice mayor of Qingdao, told Xinhua. He said more than 130 schools and sailing clubs have provided courses to 5,000 students, an average of around 1,000 a year.
The sport sailing industry is developing fast in Qingdao, which now has 28 sailing clubs and more than 30 manufacturers of yachts and motorboats. The city is forming an industrial chain of water sports, recreational tourism, boat production, sales and exhibitions, as well as construction of berths.
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