Coming Soon!....... The beginning of a new season of racing. Watch out for the 9 races in the 2008 /2009 series.

Keep in touch with the
thrills and spills of the
AsianYachting Grand Prix Series
Commencing October 2008.

Introduction to SAILING
Advanced Crewing

As demand for team building exercises and forming racing teams is increasing, a 2-day Advanced Crewing Techniques Course is being introduced to compliment the Introduction to Sailing course. This Advanced Crewing Techniques Course concentrates on crew roles, spinnaker handling and teamwork. Participants should have completed or have experienced the basic sailing techniques covered in the Introduction to Sailing syllabus.

AY is an approved member of ISSA

How are the competitors coping? As well as getting used to the weather conditions they will face a new challenge in Qingdao with the introduction of the new Medal Race format for all 11 events. Following an initial opening series held over five days of racing, the top ten crews will progress to a final Medal Race where points scores are doubled and the 2008 Olympic Champions will be decided. In other words, they will just have to get on with it and make the best of what they have been dealt.

Typhoon Fung Wong (Phoenix) is the eighth tropical storm to hit China's SE coast this year and after crossing over Taiwan it destroyed 110 homes last week and more flooding forced 390,000 people to be evacuated. As the remnants moved inland and further north it produced 20 to 25 knots of Southerly wind and rain storms just in time to help clear the air and settle the pollution one week before the start of the Olympics. Maybe the recent solar eclipse will also bring a new dawning to the event.

Now the Beijing Meteorological Bureau deputy director Wang Jianjie has issued a warning that the Olympic sailing events could face disruption from typhoons. A tropical depression with sustained 60km winds developed over the Philippines and is presently crossing the China Sea heading towards the latitude of Hong Kong. It is not known if it will turn into a full strength Typhoon but over the next few days we can expect disruptions in SE China caused by the approaching weather system. Towards the end of the week the tropical depression is predicted to move inland and further north possibly bringing wet and windy conditions over the starting week of the Games.

As for the sailors imagine the years of training, the huge amount of money spent, all your life's work just to try and get onto the Olympic podium, that's if they can overcome all these obstacles. If anything this event will certainly test the sailors resolve. With final preparations well underway, what are the chances of taking home a medal? The biggest class is the Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser with 42 entries and the smallest is shared between the Women's Keelboat - Yngling and Multihull - Tornado with only 15 entries. Asian sailors have qualified mainly for the Men's and Women windsurfer RS:X, Laser and 470 events which are mainly the boats raced in the region.

Over half the sailors qualified well down the order and most countries are only to happy to send there sailors because they qualified at all. Most the top sailors and class favourite's come from the developed sailing nations and are world champions in their own right. As they are entitled to only one sailor per event many top sailors have been eliminated which may pave the way for lower ranked sailors from the so called developing nations a chance of winning a medal. Being the host nation China automatically earns itself an entry in every event and over the last few years have sent their sailors to train abroad and compete at ISAF sanctioned events and world championships.

So just like the weather can we expect a few surprises? In the Laser Radial woman's class China's Lijia Xu has been on the podium at international events and will be out to impress in her home waters. Korean Jeemin Ha made a name for himself overnight as the only non-qualified nation sailor to make the 53 boat Gold fleet at the Laser World Championship and hence qualify Korea for the 2008 Games. Although he will face some stiff opposition from Japan's Yoichi Iijima, Singapore's Leong Seng Koh and Malaysia's Kevin Lim that is making his fourth Olympic Games appearance.

With six entries Japan is by far the best Asian qualifier and managed to get Akira ISHIBASHI and Yukio MAKINO up into the 49er class. The most entries come in the Men's and Women's RS:X windsurfer event with China's Yuan Guo Zhou and Jian Yin topping the respective lists. Hong Kong's King Yiin CHAN and Wai Kei CHAN are in top form and Thailand's Ek BOONSAWAD and Napalai TANSAI are expected to be amongst the leaders. Indonesia's Oka SULAKSANA seems to have been around since the original windsurfer was invented and is way overdue for a podium position. India's Nachhatar Singh JOHAL managed a late qualification on his own merits in the hotly contested Finn event to make his country proud off there only Olympic sailing competitor. The full list of Asian sailors and the events they will be competing in can be found at: http://asianyachting.com/news/OlympicsBeijing08.htm

AsianYachting will be concentrating our media coverage on the Asian competitors and I for one, hope there will be some surprises, so bring it on and Let the Games begin...