Members of a Shenzhen sailing club will compete in the Hobie 16 World Championships in Weihai City in eastern China's Shandong Province.
Organized by the International Hobie Class Association, the championships have been held every two years since 1976. It is the first time the race has been staged in Asia and is one of the top international events in China following the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Competition started Monday and will last two weeks. Competitors will race in five categories: Masters, Grand Masters, Women's and Youth, Open Qualifier, Semifinals and Finals.
Terence Lam from Hong Kong, owner of the Delta Sailing Center in Shenzhen's Yantian District, and club member Michael Obolensky from Switzerland are competing in the Grand Masters category until tomorrow, while club members Shan Zhu and Yang Wu will sail in the Open Qualifier category from Aug. 23 to 25.
"We are very excited to be participating in the event. We have strong competitors and intense competition, but we'll try our best," Obolensky, 48, said yesterday in Weihai.
Obolensky started sailing when he was 5 and was given his first boat at about 13. He is a member of the Swiss Sailing Association and the Basler Selgelclub, a sailing club near Basel City in Switzerland.
Lam, 58, has more than 30 years sailing experience and was the first Chinese to sail solo around the world in 1996. He has sailed to the Philippines from Hong Kong four times. Vietnam, Hainan and Xiamen in China were also on his list.
"We have done a lot of preparation for the championships and we are hoping for a good result," Lam said yesterday.
Lam established the Delta Sailing Center in Dapeng Bay in Yantian District in 2008 in a protected bay with sandy beaches and consistent winds, he said. The club now has more than 10 members from Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
More than 150 crews and around 400 sailors from nearly 30 countries and regions are sailing in the competition. Competing countries include the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.
(By Jane Lai)
