China Report 2026

Report by Team Lead: Kun Ma, Sailor: Isabel Ma (CBYC)

Preparation:
Late August in Qingdao is sunny and hot. The temperature is around 25-30 degrees. There is no need to bring the wetsuits. Long sleeve and long pants clothing are highly recommended. I got a mild sunburn the first day after I applied two coats of sunscreens. Bucket hat, sunglasses, gloves and booties are recommended too.

We have been told to bring our sail and all the control lines and pulleys as per the organiser’s email. However all the equipment and parts can be hired at the event place, and the conditions are very good. We wouldn’t bother to bring anything related to the Opti next time. We paid extra $650 for transport the sail travel bag with China Airline this time. Some airlines are free of charge for the sail travel bag.

Registration Day: 26 August 2026.
The registration is at the hotel hall. There are event uniforms, Training Camp and Regatta Handbook, Team Lead, Coach and Camper badges in a goody bag.

The communication platform is WeChat. Each team has been assigned with a coordinator, which is our point of contact throughout the event. Chole is the coordinator for Australia and New Zealand. She’s been very responsive and helpful.

After the registration we went to the regatta event place which is the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre been used in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

There is total 148 campers (98 Opti sailors and 50 ILCA4 sailors) from the local sailing clubs and schools, clubs from Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, Poland, Russian, Germany and Greece.

Day 1: 27 August 2026. Equipment assignment and Opti testing
The buses picked us up from the hotel between 8:45am- 9am every morning. It took less than 10 mins to drop us off to the Sailing Centre. I have purchased the accidental insurance onsite at ~NZD$20 covering the event period. There is a CASH deposit for Opti ~NZD$250 and ILCA ~$900. All the equipment is in good conditions. The equipment assignment process was long. There were three queues. One for insurance certificate, one for deposit and one for equipment hiring. There were no signs saying which queue was which. The queue was long and I was lined up in a wrong queue at the beginning. I should ask Chole (the coordinator) before I start queuing. Finally, we got all the gears we need to rig the boat and start testing the Opti.

There were two coach RIBs available for the international coaches to share. The Australian coach has hired a private RIB to have a better support for their sailors. The cost for private RIB hire is ~NZD$270 per day. I paid ~$20 per day to a local club coach to get on his RIB to support Isabel.

Day 2: Race day and Opening ceremony, 28 August 2026
The bus picked us up from the hotel at 8:45am. The morning briefing was at 9:15am and D-flag was up shortly after the morning briefing. During the sign-on stage, each sailor has been given a GPS beacon for tracking. Also the live tracking beacon provides the data for viewing on smartphones. 
https://race.saill.cn/scef7761196d7f4f4daf0ffd9fdb0734be

The wind was mild and shifty today. Isabel was not used to this hot climate. The races have been cut short and no race for girls Opti due to lack of wind and heavy rains. We went back to the hotel ~2pm by bus and changed clothes. The opening ceremony was hold at the convention centre within the Sailing Centre.

Day 3: Race day (R1-R2 for Opti Girls), 29 August 2026
Same routine has been followed as previously for bus pick-up and morning briefing and D-flag. Isabel has used to the heat and more relaxed on the water. The wind was mild today and the sun was strong. I was in the coach RIB with the local coach. He asked his sailor to test the current at the start line with a drift bottle and report to him the conditions of the current and wind. Then ask them which side they should start on and when to tack and etc. Isabel was lack of this knowledge and didn’t understand Chinese very well either.

The swell was high in the harbour even the wind was mild. Isabel had a slow start in Race 1 R1 and she did ok in R2. The start line has been changed a couple of time due to wind shift. It was a long day with two races completed.

Day 4: Race day (R3-R5 for Opti Girls), 30 August 2026
Today is the last day for qualifying races and tomorrow the sailors will be grouped into gold or silver fleet. Isabel seems understand the local conditions better and did well in today’s races. After 5 qualifying races. She will be in the silver fleet for the Finals.

Day 5-6: Finals race day (R6-R11), 31 August-1 September 2026
The wind picked up over these two days, and Isabel enjoyed these days as she started having conversations with other sailors. She made a new friend with Iris from Greek Team.

Day 6: Closing Ceremony 1 Sept and City Tour 2 Sept 2026
The closing ceremony was the highlight as the sailors got the opportunity to perform on the stage. Isabel has prepared a kapa haka costume, but she decided not to perform at the end as she’s the only one from NZ. Most of the performance was to promote their home countries. The Austrian Team went extra mile and their performance was epic!

After the performance, there was a prizegiving to the top 8 for each fleet and exchange T-shirt, gift and souvenirs. We were under-prepared for the gift exchange but we still had a lot fun by talking to other team lead and coaches.  We missed the City Tour on next day and left Qingdao in the next morning. The organiser sent us to the train station for free.

Isabel and I truly enjoyed the camp and regatta from Day 1. She wants to come next year! I have learnt a lot as the Team Lead and a parent. The other Team Leads have expressed their appreciation for this camp and regatta.

Eg: On behalf of the entire Greek team, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Organizing Committee, all the volunteers and everyone who contributed to making Qingdao 2026 such a wonderful experience. Thank you for your professionalism, your support, your kindness and the warm hospitality you showed us throughout our stay in Qingdao. For our athletes, especially the young sailors, this was much more than just a sailing competition. It was a unique experience that gave them the opportunity to compete, meet new people, experience a different culture and create unforgettable memories. We truly appreciate all the effort and dedication that went into organizing such a successful event and making our participation so special. We hope to have the opportunity to return to Qingdao in the future and meet you all again. With sincere appreciation and friendship from the Greek team.

A big thank you to the Qingdao International Sailing Committee from team AUS. We greatly appreciate being invited to your event. Thank you to the organizing committee, volunteers, and to our translator Chloe for her fantastic assistance to our team. We look forward to participating again next year!