Royal Anglesey Yacht Club member coaches Olympic Sailing in China
Ewan McEwan has just returned from China where he coached the Chinese sailing team at the Olympics, Qingdao. Ewan lives in Beaumaris and sails a Fife with the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club. As a qualified International Judge with the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) he was asked to go to China to coach the host team at the 08 sailing Olympics. When asked about his experience in China Ewan said “The facilities were outstanding. Qingdao is a city with a population of 8 million people. It felt like every single one of them was 100% behind the Games – with only weeks before the start of the first race we had a problem with a sea weed plume and one thousand fishing boats arrived to help sort it out.” The coastal city of Qingdao has one of the top ten busiest sea ports in the world. The city and the surrounding area was owned by Germany on a 99 year lease (rather like Hong Kong was to the British). The area is know for its great beer and coffee. Ewan is considering another trip next August when they hold their annual beer festival. Ewan went on to say “The locals gave us such a great welcome. There were over a 1,000 volunteers looking after everything for the competitors; the volunteers helped with launching the boats, getting results information, clearing litter and planting loads of flowers. The city looked great. They even wrapped some of the buildings in huge posters of sailing boats.” The Chinese were very pleased with their sailing team's results; 8 th in the Yngling, best ever for a keelboat crew, a bronze medal in the Laser Radial, best ever for a dinghy class, and gold medal in the RS:X women class, best ever for windsurfing. When asked about the British Sailing team's performance at the Olympics Ewan said… “Of course the Chinese sailing team's results whilst good were totally eclipsed by those of the British, with four gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal. Six medals from eleven events in sailing is an incredible achievement. I watched the Star event Medal Race with the rest of Team GB from the breakwater and it was amazing; the atmosphere that the team and supporters created was so infectious that a lot of locals joined in, and when Bart and Percy went for that final pump on the last wave that took them past the Brazilian team, across the finish line, and to gold position the roar from the crowd shook the breakwater wall to its foundations. It was a wonderful experience that I will treasure.” The Olympic Village is to be turned into a 5 star hotel, the Intercontinental, and the Olympic Sailing Venue will become a marina and event venue for future sailing competitions. Qingdao has already adopted the status of “Sailing City”, similar to Kiel in northern Germany. The city already has the Volvo Ocean Race stopping-over in 2009 and the next two Clipper Challenges have just signed contracts to visit on their way around the world. Currently Ewan is in St Quay in northern France to officiate at the European Women's Match Race Championships and has been away from home since mid June. When asked what he misses when he is away Ewan said “I am really looking forward to getting back in a boat to race around the cans on the ‘straits'. The Straits may not sound too grand but it is wonderful to come back and sail in some of the most beautiful waters with one of the most spectacular back-drops in the world. The competition in the one-design classes at the Royal Anglesey is pretty tough, but where ever you are in the fleet you get a great race.”
Back row: The Chinese Sailing Team, 470 women and Laser Radial. Front row: Left to right. The official interpreter, the Olympic team manager and Ewan McEwan