"I Am Sailing!"

This weekend we decided to go sailing at the Beijing Sailing Centre in Qinhuangdao, a small city (of 3 million!) near Beijing, which you have probably never heard of. It is the port city for Beijing and thus one of the busiest ports in the world. It is also home to Beidahe, Beijing's favourite ocean beach. This area is the place where Beijingers come to beat the summer heat of the Beijing plain. In fact Qinhuangdao is named after Emperor Qin. The name of the city means Emperor Qin's Island and Emperor Qin apparently came here looking for the secret to immortality which was supposed to be found here.


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Given the age of our crew - Darryl, Reg, Dave and Ron - immortality would be a useful find for us too. Nevertheless, we arrived Friday night to meet our instructors and prepare for the weekend. Oddly, someone forgot the key for the gate of the club and we had to climb the gate to get in! The club is located in the yachting venue built for the 1990 Asian Games, so it was a good facility.

We prepared ourselves for a day of racing by staying out far too late and drinking far too much - this is the way veterans prepare! Still Captain Darryl had a plan! We were going to win the best dressed crew and also the most spectacular capsize. So we dragged ourselves out of bed Saturday morning and put on ridiculous flowered shirts and outlandish hats - mine was a big foam Toronto Blue Jays hat. We immediately gathered many fans and wannabes among our competitors and were soon convinced we had a lock on best dressed.

Here's how we won best dressed crew. The guy with the blowup football helmet was our instructor, Adam, a newly minted university grad from Belfast. The two Chinese ladies were fans and competitors.

Now for the second part of our plan - most spectacular capsize! We launched up our boat with instructor Adam, also outfitted with crazy hat, and went off to practice. The morning wind was light and we did quite well in our practice session. We were convinced we would also win the afternoon races. After some onshore instruction and a big lunch, we bravely set out to race. During the morning, the wind had picked up ominously and when we started to race we quickly discovered we might have been a bit overconfident! We didn't finish a race and certainly didn't win any. We capsized a total of 9 times that afternoon and I think we set some kind of club record. Later that night we were awarded two prizes - best dressed and most spectacular capsize! We spent the rest of the weekend being the recipients of jokes about being submariners, swimmers etc. There was a lot of laughs.

The instructors were great - we should have listened harder! Our boat was a Topaz Omega - basically a four man boat but with our instructor we squeezed in five.

Sunday we were back at it and sailed for about 4 hours. We decided we would be better with a smaller crew - four big guys plus an instructor made things a bit crowded on board - not that we spent much time actually in the boat! So we excused our instructor, Adam, and since Reg decided to take a smaller boat out, we were a crew of three. I think Adam was happy to be released from the burden of righting the boat. Unbelievably, the three of use sailed all morning without a single capsize! We even got it out of the yacht basin several times and onto the high seas. It was wonderful! We really felt like we were sailing. Later we each took out a smaller one man boat. I can't say that I mastered the small boat and took a vicious wack on the head from the boom. But I didn't capsize and managed to get back to shore. All in all a really great weekend!

An action sequence with Reg trying the one man boat - a capsize in the first 30 seconds! That is Adam in the foreground watching like a nervous parent as his student goes down.

The beach at dusk - the tall building with the slanted roof by the setting sun was our hotel.

A Boy and his Bike!

Boy and Bike

The last time I had a new bike was for my 13th birthday. It was a red Raleigh 3 speed with hand brakes. It was the cat's meow and I was very proud of it and rode it until I went off to university. After that I was home sporadically and so I didn't ride it much. I suspect I felt too old to bike and was more interested in driving cars. I know my Dad used to ride it after that and I suppose it was sold or given away about the time my Mom left Otterburn.

Forty years later and I still feel too old to bike but for different reasons. Nevertheless, I have been talking about getting a bike since I have been in Beijing. The city is very flat and a bicycle is a good way to get around. This is especially true of my current location which is not in easy walking distance of anything. However, I easily can bike to school and to get groceries and other supplies. So I decided to take the plunge with the idea that I might ship it home at the end of my stay.

My friends Darryl and Reg both have bikes and I have frequently borrowed a bike to accompany them on various excursions. Saturday was to be the day of the purchase and they accompanied me to a store where they had purchased their bikes. That store was out of stock, so we went to a nearby one and I bought there. It turned out to be a gov't owned bike shop.

Reg, Chinese lady and her son and me.

At the shop, I met a very nice lady and her son and husband who spoke English and offered to translate for me. She was an English teacher so wanted the practice for herself. Her son was 12 and also spoke very good English; he understood almost everything I said - quite impressive as he was being taught at a local school. He told me he had a cousin going to U of T and his mother hoped he could go to university in Canada as well. They were very charming and it was quite jolly. They asked me all kinds of questions about my family and my home in Canada.

I also bought a rack and a lock for the bike and had them installed. Sorry Brenda - no helmets at this shop. I'll have to look around. The whole process took close to an hour and the lady stayed close the whole time, helped me to bargain etc. I offered to buy the family a cold drink or an ice cream but they wouldn't hear of it. So Darryl took our picture and I thanked them profusely and then the boy picked up his bike which was being repaired and off we all went. Just another of those memorable encounters that are so common in China. And I am now zipping my neighbourhood on a 21 speed mountain bike. There are no mountains anywhere close but at least I'll look good jumping curbs.