The inaugural international DN regatta in China has begun, and Minnesota sailor Mike Bloom, US321 checks are. The time difference adds a bit of mystery about when the races kicked off. Joerg Bohn, G737, has also shared photos and videos. Check them out on our Facebook page.
Stay tuned for further updates on this groundbreaking DN regatta, which is taking place in the heart of China.

Life is good! Jost Kolb G936 and I successfully met up this morning at the Beijing train station. On any given day, it’s got to be one of the busiest places in the world. I have never seen so many people in one place. Jost and I then traveled together for 3 hours on a bullet train traveling 241km/hr to Jinzhou [Liaoning] South. There we meet up with Joerg Bohn G737 and Valarie Dichenko R166 for a fun mini-reunion at the regatta headquarters.
The entire fleet then took a bus to dinner at a local restaurant. The big debate of the evening surrounded a bottle of clear liquid supplied by our hosts. The Russians insisted it was vodka while the Chinese said it was white wine. Unfortunately, despite emptying several several bottles, no decision was rendered. Instead, promises were made to try again tomorrow night.
After dinner I learned racing starts tomorrow. That’s a day earlier than what I expected. I probably should have put the Notice of Race, which was written in Chinese, though Google Translate.
It was also nice to see that the race committee is much of the same crew that ran the races when I was in Baikal. It’s a top-notch crew. With their experience, they’ll have no trouble cycling through the 3 fleets. So I expect lots of racing.
First race tomorrow is at noon. I plan to get up early, put the boat on the ice and attend the opening ceremonies. Hopefully, I’ll get a couple of laps in before they drop the first flag.
That’s all for now.
Think ice.
Mike Bloom US321

Via Joerg Bohn G737

First day at the sports university. They are educating sports teacher (Masters degree). Summer sailing is already a possible choice. The whole university is moving into a new campus in September into the neighborhood of the Jinzhou Sailing Club. They have professional sailing coaches. They have a partnership with the sailing club and can use all Olympic classes and beyond. Now they started, due to at least 3 month ice, every year. It is perfectly smooth and dry and is part of the bay, which is part of the South Chinese Sea. We will race against 20 students who picked sailing as their major. They had 30 DNs built. They are more the old style DN at are really heavy. Now the bought the first boats from Poland and will due to President of the sailing Club Wang, Qiguang registered for both, Worlds- and North Americans gain new experience over the season.