World yacht line-up thrills Qingdao locals

Last Sunday, yachts participating in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Race set course for Hawaii on the seventh leg of their voyage, with tens of thousands of Qingdao citizens seeing the navigation warriors off at the harbor.

"I have lived in Qingdao for more than 70 years but this is the first time that I have witnessed such a scene," said 75-year-old Yang Manli.

"Look, here's the yacht Qingdao," four-year-old Yu Yiqi said to her mother, pointing into the distance. Her mother said they were very excited because they had been in Qingdao for more than eight years but had never seen so many yachts before.

The arrival of the Clipper yachts spelt a grand occasion for Qingdao locals. Children were especially thrilled, many of them having their pictures taken with yachts and sailors.

Guan Entian and his daughter, Xiaoxiao, wanted photos with Hannah Jenner, the 27-year-old captain of the Scotland yacht Glasgow. Many people even asked for the autograph of this sailing heroine as souvenirs.

"Hold me up, I want to look," Wu Mengge, a pupil of Qingdao Guangrao Road elementary school, told her father, asking to be hauled on to his shoulders for a clearer view.

From February 17, citizens could visit the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center to see the Clipper yachts. The number of visitors on the opening day was over 20,000. Many people made a special trip from as far as 50 km away to see the yachts.

The Zhongshan sub-district office in Qingdao's Shinan district organized more than 20 representative residents to visit the center. "I'm so happy to see the yachts," said Yang Manli, one of the representatives.

Visitors were also treated to folk custom and literary performances such as diabolo and calisthenics, which gave citizens and sailors a taste of the Spring Festival.

More than 300 volunteers were at hand to provide visitors with on the spot information about the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

The ten yachts in the race began arriving in Qingdao in succession from February 15. The voyage to Hawaii will last 24 days and cover 7,000 nautical miles.

(China Daily 02/26/2008 page24)