Everything's shipshape
With 33 medals up for grabs fans can expect to see some decisive battles on the calm seas off Qingdao. Even though the competitions should be heavy on technique, that won't lessen the excitement. Hong Kong windsurfing hopes Chan King-yin and Vicky Chan Wai-kei will be among the sailors launching their craft from what many have described as the best competition-sailing facility in the world.
Some 400 athletes competing across the 11 sailing events are in Qingdao, on the Yellow Sea about 720 kilometres from Beijing.
They are making last-minute adjustments to their rigs and poring over meteorological data and maritime charts to map out their strategies.
Sailors from 53 nations have qualified for the competition, and tens of thousands of spectators are expected to pack the seafront and special floating viewing platforms. Fans and sailors alike will benefit from new rules introduced to make the regatta more exciting, regardless of the wind (or lack thereof).
For the first time in history, the sailors will take part in a new medal race finale to decide the champions. After the opening series of races held over five days, the top 10 crews advance to the final medal race where penalty points are doubled and the Olympic champions will be decided. Competitors are scored negatively so race winners get zero points, with subsequent placings awarded increasingly higher points tallies. The lowest score wins.
The medal race format has been in use at leading international regattas for 21/2 years so all competitors are familiar with the system.
All the foregoing should endear many to the sport long after the Olympic carnival leaves town, for they will witness the world's sailing masters facing only one chance to prove they rule the waves.
Wind would help. But the facilities and new rules promise to take spectators closer to the action.
Of course - as with Beijing's smog and Hong Kong's humidity - Qingdao has faced its snags, namely the vast swathes of algae that turned the waters bright green and threatened to clog the sailing lanes in June and July. The clean-up battle was won, thanks to a massive effort to remove the sludge from the sailing grounds, some located at least 3km offshore.
Two years ago, while a pungent dock was being transformed into a state-of-the-art, sailing mecca, there was some doubt whether the 2.2 million locals and untold number of visitors would get into the sailing spirit or even understand what the Olympic regatta was all about.
Nowhere, arguably, among the seven cities hosting Olympic events, has the enthusiasm and hard work to embrace and take on the task of being a host been greater than it has in Qingdao.
Whether the newly trained Chinese sailors manage to grab a medal or not in what has always been deemed a fringe discipline by the national sports machine, matters little.
The legacy of the 2008 Games will be keenly felt because it has already been embedded.
The Olympics have produced a stable dock from which China can relaunch its once-illustrious seafaring heritage and provide some nail-biting moments - come hell, high water or anything else.
