Thursday, August 7, 2008

Let's see how this will all play out...

Well its August 7th here in China. JD and I just landed in Beijing (from Qingdao, the sailing venue). We are here to walk in the opening ceremony which is happening tomorrow (8/8/08).

We checked into a small hotel called the Shangyuan Hotel, this is the place I booked months ago for JD's entire family. All five of his kids are coming, plus two of his wife's kids and one spouse. The rooms are very small and cramped. It reminds me of a hotel somewhere in a remote part of Europe. The walls are an off white color, well more yellow to be exact, and there is one English channel on the TV. There are two small twin beds jammed up against each corner of the room. Thank goodness for internet!

The funny thing is that the USOC might not let me stay in this hotel with my wife, and JD with his family, because there is a rule that all athletes must stay in the Olympic Village for security reasons. Oh well, time will tell.

Life has been great in Qingdao. We have had four solid days of training on the yellow sea, preparing us for our August 15th start. The boat seems to be going well and the boat speed seems to be there. Let's see how this will all play out.

Most everyone seems pretty loose around the boat park, but as the racing starts rest assured there will be no friends amongst the competitors.

I will be hanging here in Beijing with Sally until August 12th when we head back to Qingdao. We have hull measurement on the 13th and the practice race is on the 14th. I will have more detailed reports as we get closer to the start of racing and after the opening ceremony tomorrow, which I will surely have memories and hopefully tons of pictures.

Thanks again for following along in this great life adventure.

Later

Austin http://www.austinsperry.com http://www.trimsailing.com