Qingdao International Sailing Centre from Sea

The Qingdao International Sailing Centre () is a sailing marina located on the former site of the Beihai Shipyard by

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

Fushan Bay Fushan may refer to: * Fushan, Chengmai County (福山镇), a town in Hainan, China *Fushan County (浮山县), of Linfen, Shanxi, China *Fushan District (福山区), Yantai, Shandong, China * Fushan, Ningyang County (伏山镇), a town in Ningyang ...

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

in China. It was constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the Olympic and Paralympic

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

competitions. Wind conditions vary greatly from very light winds to +15 knots. During the Olympic competitions, fog was also an occasional factor. The venue hosted “Good Luck Beijing - 2006" and in May 2008, the IFDS Qingdao International Regatta, where Olympic and Paralympic sailors got a headstart on familiarizing themselves with the venue and weather conditions. Access from the Qingdao Paralympic Village to the dock, work areas, etc. was provided by numerous golf carts making endless daytime rounds. Both ends of the work area had two cranes apiece, which could lift large keelboats like the

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

from cradles and lower these into the water. At night, a laser light show from the main breakwater lighthouse would play from early evening to midnight. Facing the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

, the main breakwater with spectator seating, windmills, flags and lighthouse was also the viewing area for the sailing competitions when not on the spectator ferry. Across the bay, the famous May 4 monument and Qingdao's landmark seaside building are easily visible. The Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center covers 45 hectares, comprising a 30 hectare competition area and 15 hectare area for development after the Games. The seven facilities, include the Qingdao Sub-Village, Athletes Center, Administrative Center, Venue Media Center, Logistics Center, Reception Center and Accreditation Center. Ground was broken on May 25, 2004 and was completed in 2008.

Paralympic Medalists

In the 2-person keelboat event, all three of the medal-winning SKUD 18 teams were composed of one man and one woman.

Maureen McKinnon-Tucker Maureen McKinnon (formerly Maureen McKinnon-Tucker; born February 25, 1965) is an American paralympian yachtswoman. In 2008 in Beijing she became the first woman to represent the United States in sailing at a Paralympic Games and also the first ...

(United States), Rachael Cox ( AUS) and Stacie Louttit (

CAN Can may refer to: Containers * Aluminum can * Drink can * Oil can * Steel and tin cans * Trash can * Petrol can * Metal can (disambiguation) Music * Can (band), West Germany, 1968 ** ''Can'' (album), 1979 * Can (South Korean band) Other * C ...

) became the first three women to win Paralympic medals in sailing. Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center

References

Beijing2008.cn profileSept 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition, Qingdao
Venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics Buildings and structures in Qingdao Olympic sailing venues Sailing centers Sport in Qingdao Sports venues in Shandong Tourist attractions in Qingdao {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub