Sailing Olympics - Opening Day Preview
- Fri, 8 Aug 2008
- Be the first to comment
** WEATHER UPDATE **
This morning's weather forecast from GBR meteorologist Libby Greenhalgh:
Woken up to another good visibility day >5Km and a promising forecast.
Conditions for the first of racing today look set to be SE 05-07 KT with warm temperatures and a high index meaning it will feel like 35-40 Celsius here, only slightly sweaty!
Sea conditions are flat <1FT
________
On the eve of the Olympics, conditions in Qingdao couldn't be more different from those that many were led to expect. Bright sunshine, good visibility and a lack of weed have been among the main topics of conversation today.
"The job of clearing up the weed has been almost unbelievable," said
Team GB sailing team leader Stephen Parks, a man who has more experience than most when it comes to Qingdao. "The operation was incredible with a thousand vessels brought in to clear up acres of the stuff. A 36km barrier was erected around the outside of the course areas with fishing nets slung beneath to reduce further the chances of any weed slipping into the course area. In addition, there have been thousands of volunteers clearing beaches with companies bringing their employees down to help."
Certainly, from the shoreside at least, there was little sign of the bright green weed that has dominated the headlines over the last few weeks. But Qingdao's famous fog will be more difficult to deal with.
At its worst, visibility can be down to a few hundred metres which could make finding the weather mark pretty interesting. But today there was little sign of this either with wall to wall sunshine and heat. No one has yet said, 'it's not normally like this', but it is surely only a matter of time.
So, with such apparent uncharacteristic conditions prevailing, what is in store for the opening day?
"For the next few days we're expecting winds of 5-10 knots with a temperature of 29-31 degrees that will feel more like 37-39 degrees thanks to the high humidity," continued Parks. "The tide has been pretty strong too over the last few days as well. Overall, the waters look as good as they have during the previous test events."
All of which should bode well for the Brits on their first day afloat. With Ainslie in the Finn and the Ayton/Webb/Wilson combination in the Yngling, Britain's 2008 Olympic campaign starts with two of the best medal prospects in conditions that look likely to be more stable than Qingdao's reputation might suggest.
The first of the two races scheduled for tomorrow is due to start at 1pm local time (6am BST).
In the meantime, here are a couple of online video previews for the British contenders in the two classes.
** USEFUL LINKS **
Qingdao Weather
Leave your comment