2010 Beijing Sailing Center Ladies Cup - some cruising, some bruising

by Kevin Liu, Beijing Sailing Centre on 23 May 2010 The idea to put seven Chinese middle-aged female socialites on dinghies was a comical one to begin with. All were complete novices, but more importantly affluent women accustomed to glamour and luxury. The group included four CEOs, the wife of China’s richest man, a bestselling author and one of China’s most popular TV presenters.

And here’s something even funnier: we would train them up within 10 hours to participate independently in the 2010 Beijing Sailing Center Ladies Cup, taking place on 22-23 May 2010 in Qinhuangdao, a northern Chinese port city around 300km to the east of Beijing. Despite (well, because of) the 30 degree sunshine, we dressed them up in bright red Musto gear fully equipped with gloves, boots, hats and lots of SPF 400 sun block.

Then off they went for the first of three practice sessions, skippered by highly experienced but visibly nervous instructors from the Beijing Sailing Center. Some were cruising, but others were bruising. Tammy Liu, an author of 13 books, lost control of her Omega and fell in the water an hour into the session, accompanied by screams that would have frightened even the most battle-hardened Mongol warriors. She rolled into the rescue boat laughing, had a glass of hot water and munched away her burger and beer.

Now that’s the spirit!