Olympic Village - Qingdao, China

Well, I am sure those of you who are able to (as well as those who are not supposed to be..) are watching the opening ceremony as I write...We are, and guess where...In the dinner hall on the big screen. OK Ok we have actually moved to our rooms, we are such athletes and it's about bed time!!!

It rather difficult to concentrate on typing when SA is about to walk into the stadium any second.

We arrived here in Qingdao, the sea side venue of the 2008 Sailing Games, on the 31 July. So, we have had time to settle into the Olympic Village and get used to our new way of life for the next 3 weeks.

Also, coming from a week at home in SA, the weather here (heat and humidity) and jet lag had a bigger effect on us than we thought. So, arriving a day earlier than Dayne was good planning as it gave us time to collect the boat from the yacht club and our gear we left behind the trip before. We could also pack, find our way around the hotel (gym, pool, dining hall, laundry, boat park, etc...this place is so huge that we never left it for 5 days!).

Anyway, measuring of the boat was on the 3rd August and everything went better than expected. We were in and out in 3 hours, all good to go. The hard part was trying to put all the floatation foam back into the boat!

Breakfasts and dinners are had in the main dining hall with about 30 hot dishes, breads, cereals, fruit, desserts etc...so there is more than enough to choose from, even for Kim and I who don't eat meat.

We are still very weight conscious, and have to watch what we eat, so we don't even look at the dessert table, and get out of the hall asap after dinner! But we are right on weight, so all it good.

Kim and I are sharing a room, with Penny and our Physio, Marlene each in their own rooms as of tomorrow as Dayne will be moving out. Yes, I did say 'physio', yes aah we have one!! Here's hoping to have daily massages, mmmmm!

The algae has all but gone, and the 1000's of fishing boats that used to cover up most of the sailing area have now moved right off to the outer barriers outside the racing area, just as a precaution.

We are the first class, together with the Finns, to start racing tomorrow. We are scheduled to race on the 9th, 10th and 11th with a reserve day on the 12th, and then racing again on the 13th and 14th. Our medal race is scheduled for the 16th. All these racing and reserve dates are weather dependant, so if we don't get the races in, the reserved days will be used.

The weather here is very hot and humid, and often not much breeze. What is guaranteed though, is the current and it can get up to 1.8knots and changes 180 degrees within an hour. Small wind shifts and current relief closer to the shore will have big effects.

We are all feeling great and are looking forward to the racing.

I will fill you in with more details tomorrow!

Thank you for your support,


Dominique Provoyeur
Skipper for Team Isigungu
South African Yngling Sailing Team
Beijing Olympics - 2008