'10 - Jan.'11 - Qingdao Expat Group

Sailing In QingdaoSailing News in Brief by Jeppe MortensenCan you spot the WOBs?The September sailing article had a header that read "Can you spot the WOBs?" Ironically, thisheader is a lot more relevant for this December/January issue.With three Flying Tigers out for WOBSailing on November 21, we suddenly had adramatic wind shift to north-west and thewind speed increased all of a sudden. Whiletwo boats made it back to the marina, thethird Flying Tiger found itself more exposedto the sudden deteriorated sailing conditions.Not able to sail the boat against thestrong winds and quickly building waves, theWOB sailors onboard found themselvesheading southwards, away from Qingdao.With heavy wind and big waves pushingfrom astern, the boat was "flying" southwardsat an unexpected high speed.Flying Tiger in tow behind fishing vesselEarly attempts were made by fellow WOB sailors and helpful staff at Qingdao InternationalYacht Club to reach the boat, but it quickly became clear that we had a boat in distress on ourhands and the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) was called to assistance.An office in the marina's Media Center was turned into a rescue center, while fellow WOBsailors went to MSA's command center to provide input to the rescue efforts which now involvedmore than 18 search vessels.At 9:39pm, mobile contact was lostwith the crew onboard the Flying Tiger andanxiety further built when search vesselsreported back during the night that heavywinds and high waves made it very difficultto spot anything out there.All fishing and other commercial vesselsin the area south of Qingdao had earlyon been alerted about the missing boat, andas we got into the night, a helicopter wasprepared to be flown down from Penglai(north tip of Shandong) to participate in thesearch at dawn.MSA personnel taking care of the Flying TigerQingdao Expat Magazine 14