The Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race (Qingdao) was held successfully and made local residents take in the charm of a top-level yacht race. It is likely that “The City of Yachts”, which is Qingdao’s new calling card, will attract more and more yacht races with wide international influence.

“The yachting sports of Qingdao will focus on the central task of making Qingdao become ‘the City of Yachts’ and the central city of international yachting sports. We will promote the yacht race and hold more international races to accelerate the development of yachting sports.” said Zhiwei Lin, president of the Qingdao Sports Federation.

Qingdao, which is honored as “the City of Yachts”, is the cradle of yachting sports in China. It was also the host city of yachting events in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Yachting in Qingdao has about a 100-year history. Records show that Qingdao held the yacht race of the German Royal Yacht Club. In 1930s, the number of members in the Qingdao Yacht Club had greatly increased. The club held the Mayor Cup Yacht Race in 1936. It also started holding the women’s yacht race in Qingdao in 1937.

After the People's Republic of China was founded, Qingdao established the first sailing base, which was called the Qingdao Sailing Club, in May 1953. In the first National Games in 1959, Qingdao, as the only playing area outside of Beijing, held different sailing races and motorboat exhibition games, in which teams from 14 provinces, cities, autonomous regions and PLA (People's Liberation Army) team took part.

In the mid-1960s, Qingdao trained about 700 coaches for 23 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in navigating, electric machine on the yacht, sailing model, motorboat, sailing communications, naval weapon and so on. Qingdao Sailing Club has become an important water sports center. It is also the base of the education of national defense sports and the popular science of marine biology.

Qingdao has a world-class Olympic Sailing Center. It also has two sailing sports schools -- the State Sports General Administration of Qingdao sailing sports schools and the Qingdao sailing sports schools in Shandong Province. In 2004, the State Ministry of Education officially approved the establishment of professionals water sports at Ocean University of China, opening its doors to students of windsurfing and sailing. In 2005, China Ocean University of Qingdao co-founded the Chinese sports school class, 49 sailing teams with Qingdao sailing sports schools, and in the 2008 Olympic Games, filling in the gaps on team China.

Qingdao also paid great attention to the popularity of yachting among young people. It established 65 schools for sailing and 100 youth clubs. There are 1,000 OP-class sailing boats, cultivating more than 1,000 young sailors in Qingdao at present. In addition, Qingdao has introduced the Clipper Global Ocean Race, Volvo Ocean Race and other international well-known sailing events, sailing with the international community to strengthen the exchange, so that the overall level of sailing in Qingdao has reached new heights. It was named "the city that popularized sailing for China youths” in 2007 by the State General Administration of Sports.

To promote the vigorous development of mass sailing, Qingdao will further encourage sailing as a social sports network of organizations, establish sailing infrastructure, introduce the foreign sailing experience in developed countries, and gradually establish mass sailing training and a performance appraisal system. Through these efforts, the city hopes to raise the number of trainees participating in sailing to 5 million people.

The special Yili State Sports General Administration organized by the Qingdao sailing team has been identified for participation in the 2012 London Olympics sailing team in China, one of four projects, while also being sought by the Qingdao Disabled Association for the Disabled team, on behalf of China to participate in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2012 British Disabled Paralympics Games, and the formation of the Chinese Special Olympics sailing team at the Athens 2011 Special Olympics.

Qingdao will strengthen cooperation with the international sailing community, actively introducing and cultivating high-end international sailing competitions. To further strengthen cooperation with the International Sailing Federation and national sailing organizations, friendly exchanges and cooperation will take place for the 2010 Qingdao International Sailing Week, the International Sailing Summit and other sailing cultural exchange activities. It will also introduce and host international sailing events to build its own brand of high-end yacht events. Qingdao is set to become a gathering place for the international sailing community as well as a cultural information exchange center.

Lin Zhiwei said the first large sailing rally among China, Japan and South Korea will be launched in Qingdao in 2010. It will also organize in 2010 exchanges between Yachting Associations on both sides of the Straits, and also organize the Qingdao International Yacht Tournament, setting up a "Qingdao - Shanghai" Expo Galleon international exchange activities.

The sailing industry has become a new economic growth point, and Qingdao encourages businesses and social groups to take part in investing in the sport of yachting in a variety of forms. It encourages the community to set up yacht clubs, sailing training schools, vigorously develop sailing, windsurfing, sampans, motor boats, canoeing and other appropriate public participation in water sports. It will organize an international yacht fair, the International Maritime Expo, featuring professional exhibitions to accelerate the development of the boat manufacturing industry. Attracting domestic and foreign yachts, sailing (board), spare parts, and well-known manufacturers to invest and establish factories, will allow Qingdao to become an important domestic boat manufacturing base to live up to the fame of "the City of Yachts."

By Zhan Ruiwan (China Daily Shandong Bureau)

Editor: Li Jing