Nick, Be Quick

Paralympic sailors supreme Nick Scandone and crew Maureen McKinnon-Tucker
file this report from Qingdao on the eve of their Olympics.

Apologies
for the delay however it’s been a bit of a whirlwind over the past 72
hours. We arrived at the Sailing village in Qingdao Saturday evening
around 9’ish, via police escort from the airport. We weren’t sure if
the escort was for our safety or was it a sign on how serious the Chinese
people are taking these Olympic Games, whatever the reason, it was appreciated.
The weather over the first 36 hours was grey, cloudy and very rainy
….think Seattle in March just a lot warmer. The temp was comfortable
during the rainy days, about 75 degrees with 80 degree humidity, not
bad. The weather switched from somewhat comfortable to hot today, 90
degrees with 90 degree humidity. We’ve been told that the cooler days
are behind us. The rainy day gave the sailors an excuse to chill out
and check out the hotel’s amenities. The athlete’s room was fitted complete
with ping pong, air hockey, pool tables, wireless internet, plenty of
computers, coffee and tea bar, couches, flat screens and lots of talk
about sailing. While Nick and I were checking out the rest of the hotel,
Mike Pinckney was down at the boat doing some glass and epoxy work to
a damaged keel on Nick’s boat that must of happened during shipping.
Mike has been an artist with his attention to detail and focus on making
sure that Nick and Maureen have the fastest boat in the fleet and making
sure that all of the finest of details of the boat have been checked
and double checked.