Despite light, shifty winds in practice, the weather in Qingdao could be better than expected

Yesterday, while winds on the 2008 Qingdao Olympic course area were soft and shifty – forcing practice races to cancel – looking ahead the weather is better than many expected.

The latest Predictwind.com data for the Fushan Bay course area suggests that winds on Saturday for the first two races of the Yngling and Finn classes, are likely to peak at 11 knots around 1500.

On Sunday when the 49ers join the Ynglings and Finns, weather models suggest Sunday 10-13 and Monday 12-14 knots.

Local meteorologists explained a few days ago that at least two typhoons could build out of the Yellow Sea over the two weeks of the Beijing Games in Qingdao. Certainly the water temperatures continue to climb and this season’s typhoon number seven built out of the Yellow Sea south of Qingdao last week. On Wednesday severe tropical storm Kamnuri produced winds gusts of over 100 knots above Hong Kong airport, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.