Life at sea -- not an ordinary route
- By Zhang Jiaqi
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, March 26, 2019
Sailing in China
According to Lin, despite a late start in the contemporary era, China's maritime facilities have developed quickly since the time of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. A training base for navigational sports has now been established in the eastern city of Qingdao, and yacht clubs have been set up in other coastal cities like Shenzhen, Xiamen, Tianjin and Dalian.
As Lin estimates, there are approximately 10,000 Chinese people engaging in the sport of sailing, and there are hundreds of sailboats registered in China that hang the Chinese flag when they set out to sea.
Some Chinese sailors have even broken world records in navigation sports, Lin said. For example, Guo Chuan, a sailor from Qingdao, broke a record by sailing around the dangerous Northeast Passage in the Arctic.
Meanwhile, people in China are becoming more familiar with it as a sport now, and training programs are springing up fast to meet the international standard, she said.
In September 2016, Shenzhen city embraced China's first Royal Yachting Association-certificated training center to provide instruction for dinghy and powerboat courses.
As far as Lin knows, navigation centers have also been set up in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and summer camps are now being offered to youths around China who are interested in maritime navigation.
She said that as more countries offer visa-free travel to Chinese citizens, it will be increasingly easier for Chinese people to go on sailing trips, but she suggested preparing all visas and other documents before setting out.
Now, two years after she and her husband finished their last global expedition, Lin said they are making preparations to set out for their next oceanic voyage.
By the end of this year, they plan to make it to the Pacific from Chile, a vast section of ocean they have yet to reach on their previous voyages. From there the Haiyou -- which sounds uncannily like "Hi, you" -- will take them on to discover more new places and meet more new friends.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)