Chen Xiaochun

654789759@qq.com

NEARLY 200 teams of more than 1,600 athletes from 34 countries and regions gathered at Shenzhen Daya Bay to compete in the 12th China Cup International Regatta, which kicked off Thursday evening.

“I came to compete in the ASAF Keelboat Cup of the China Cup International Regatta. This is my third time joining this competition. In Macao we don’t have many opportunities to sail in international competitions, so we are pleased to come to Shenzhen. We have come for four years and I missed one of them,” Carlos Costa of Team Macao told the Shenzhen Daily on Friday afternoon upon returning to the port after racing.

Costa said that his team members are amateur sailors without much competitive experience. “But we enjoy it very much. We hope the China Cup will continue to grow in the way we have witnessed over the years. This is a party more than a competition to us. But we try to do our best. We feel we have improved every time and we get better and better results compared with the first time.”

Mim Evans from Canada is the skipper of the Doubao team. This is his fifth year joining the regatta. “I brought a couple of people from Canada to race here. I have some Chinese crew as well, who are extremely valuable to me. The organizer has been enormously supportive of our team from Canada over the years. So here we are. I wouldn’t miss it. This is a premier event in Asia, no question.”

“We come from Tunisia and this is our first time participating in the China Cup, but we are amazed by the quality of the organization and the quality of the spirits of the teams. This is truly a great event,” said Naceur Hayouni of Team Tunisia on Friday.

Whiskey Jack is a team of retired veterinary dentists from Hong Kong who fixed the teeth of wild animals for charity and have joined the China Cup for around 10 years. “We love coming here. It’s the best regatta in Asia. We won the event twice before and we are going to try hard this time,” said skipper Nick Southward on Saturday, adding that Daya Bay is a nice place with nice sailing conditions and scenery.

“The wind was very strong so we could sail very fast. For the first race we had a difficult race but we came in third. And then we had a very good race around the island and we are waiting to find out the result,” Alec Tracy, a crew member on Whiskey Jack, told the Shenzhen Daily upon finishing the race of the day.

Ray Roberts from Australia is the skipper of the Boom Egg Joy Ours. His team was the champion at the first China Cup and has returned to the competition again since last year. For Roberts, the China Cup is like a carnival.

“In the first race this morning, we had the first prize and we are very happy about our performance,” said Roberts in a face-to-face event with experienced skippers Saturday afternoon.

“I saw many young people sailing in China. I started as a young boy. I fell in love with the sport of sailing because you sail in the beautiful ocean. In places like Australia where we sail a lot, it’s very often that we see giant humpback whales migrating from the southern part of Australia to the northern part. So we can see whales and dolphins, the clean air and the blue sky. It’s very easy to fall in love with sailing, just like it’s easy to fall in love with a beautiful girl,” shared Roberts.

Maiyo Hood, skipper of team Goddess, said he wishes more kids would join the competition. “The happiest thing in the China Cup is not about watching we old guys compete, but that we can see more and more young people compete in the water nearby. They started to learn sailing when they were kids. There were not so many kids joining the competition 10 years ago.”

This year, the China Cup has increased from four days of competition to five. One highlight of the event is the exhibition of models of ancient Chinese sailing ships.