S’pore’s sailors report clear waters in Qingdao, but they’re still on their guard

THE waters off the Yellow Sea off Qingdao are no longer covered in a thick green carpet of algae, Singapore’s sailors reported yesterday.

According to Singapore’s Olympic sailing squad, who are currently on a 10-day training stint there for next month’s Beijing Games, the waters at the venue are nearly rid of the algae that threatened to throw the sailing competition from Aug 9-21 into chaos.

In a telephone interview after the squad’s first full training session yesterday, team captain Koh Seng Leong said he was “pleasantly surprised” at the conditions.

“I was expecting it to be quite bad, but was very surprised at how clean the water was. Even Singapore has seen worse days,” said the 24-year-old, who will do battle in the Laser Standard class.

Koh’s brother, Terence, who is paired with Xu Yuanzhen in the men’s 470 class, said: “When we sailed farther out, there were a few small patches of algae, but they were avoidable.

“I’d say only about 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the water is still covered in algae now.”

The sailing competition will be held at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre and will feature 11 classes. Singapore, regarded as an outside bet for a medal, will compete in the Laser Standard (Koh), women’s Laser Radial (Lo Man Yi), men’s 470 (Xu Yuanzhen and Terence) and the women’s 470 (Toh Liying and Deborah Ong).

With the air quality of host city Beijing under intense scrutiny, the unexpected algae bloom was another blow to China’s efforts to promote a “green” Olympics.

Chinese authorities had set a July 10 deadline to clear the algae, which first appeared a month ago, smothering large parts of the Qingdao coastline and covering 32 per cent of the sailing venue.

About 10,000 people, including soldiers, and over 1,000 fishing boats and 38 naval vessels were mobilised to remove the algae. About 50 fishing boats are still trawling the waters off Qingdao for any remaining algae.

Media reports claim a 20km barrier was installed last Friday to block out algae from the coastline, with a second barrier to be installed 100m outside the first .

Health concerns over the water quality continue to persist, as algae blooms are usually associated with sewage and agricultural pollutant run-offs.

At a 2006 test event in Qingdao, Australian sailor Elise Rechichi fell ill for 10 months with gastric trauma after accidentally swallowing some seawater.

While the situation appears to have improved, the Singapore squad will continue to be cautious.

“There are still small clumps of algae, but generally, the water is all right and a lot better now,” said Singapore team manager, Dr Peter Logan. “But we’re still very wary and are taking all manner of precautions to protect our sailors’ health.

“We brush our teeth with bottled water and take vitamins and other supplements to maintain our immunity levels. We are also washing ourselves thoroughly after handling the boats. Any cuts and abrasions must also be attended to as soon as possible.”

Added Koh: “We stick to restaurants we’re familiar with from the last two test events (in 2006 and 2007) and also eat hotel food. We avoid roadside stalls.

“Personally, I’m making my own food much of the time, buying bread from the nearby supermarket and eating it with canned tuna."