As a beautiful seaside cityand the birthplace of sailing sport in China, Qingdaois reputed to be a Sailing City andan Olympic city in China. Due to itsunique maritime environment andresources, sailing has a strong foundation in the city.
I was so lucky to be born here. AndI would say that sailing played a verybig part in my happy childhood. I gotattached to sailing sport when I wasseven years old. I participated in asummer sailing camp organized bySinan Sailing Club at Qingdao OlympicSailing Center during the summer vacation. The camp included 2 days ofbasic knowledge learning and 5 daysof practical training. During the first2 days, I learned the fundamentals ofoperating an Optimist sailboat, andthe basic rules of daily sailing and racing.
I still remembered my first day ofsailing. It was a bright, breezy day,and everything was so perfect for a beginner to make his first attempt. Afterpreparation, I pushed the sailboat intothe water, got onto it and installed therudder and stabilizer plate in a hurry.I must have been so funny at that timebecause I was too small and my armwasn’t long enough to touch the bottom of the rudder. So it was too hardfor me to fully install them. My sailboat turned round and round off theshore. And finally, with the guidanceof my coach, I started to know how tooperate the sailboat.
I also want to introduce the sailboatmodel that I started with, the Optimist,which has a history of over 60 years.It's not the smallest sailboat, but it'sdefinitely the best one for kids to learnsailing and easy to handle. Most of thesailors use the Optimist to learn sailingand get good effects.
After my first experience, I startedlearning sailing systematically. I joinedSinan Sailing Club and got training almost every day. I tried different kindsand models of sailboats such as ByteCII, Topper, and Laser.
Sailing with my family is the most impressive experience for me. I gota chance to try a new sailboat model called RS Quest, which is a medium-sized, pure wind-driven sailboat.Thanks to the event hosted by SinanSailing Club and Shinan District, myparents and I enjoyed a fantastic moment operating this sailboat together.That was one of the best times of mylife. Eventually, we participated in afamily sailing race and won secondplace.
Additionally, sailing is a competitive sport, so competing in sailingevents is necessary. I took part insailing races at the district and citylevels many times. It was at 9 yearsold that I started to compete in sailing races, and I was also a third-gradestudent at Qingdao Jiayuguan Schoolback then. As a beginner, I got a lotof help from my counterparts andthe atmosphere at the races was sogood. When installing and preparingmy sailboat all by myself, I encountered many difficulties, such as losingspare parts, and failing to reach thetop of the sails to get it completelyinstalled because I was too short atthat time. I got so much help from my teammates as well as my competitors. I highly respected their sportsmanship and team spirit, which alsoaffected me a lot. Falling behind inthe race, I still learned a lot of skills.And I got more and more experiencedas I grew older. In addition to the results of the race, I truly enjoyed theprocess much more. Many accidentalsituations kept occurring, such as thechange of wind speed and direction,the overturned boat, and the violation of rules. I have to deal with theseaccidents in time to continue therace. That's very exciting.
All in all, that's my real experiencewith sailing as a boy living in Qingdao.I really appreciate my chance to sailand fall in love with sailing. This sporthas taught me a lot and cultivatedmany of my qualities—perseverance,bravery, and concentration. When Iset sail to the sea, I feel so relaxed thatall of my pressure is relieved. The onlythings that I keep in my mind are theblue sky, the clear sea water and thewhite sail. I'll keep my strong interestin sailing and continue my journey onthe sea.