Algae Threatens Olympic Sailing, NYT

Andrew Campbell, America’s Laser representative has this to say about the algae situation:

In the theme of our training we’ve been heading out to make the most of what we had on hand but still were up against the odds. Massive swaths of algae are still the dominant factor in our training. The green ‘fairways’ as we call them are aptly labeled.

Sometimes hundreds of yards long and up to a hundred yards wide, the blobs creep the water in massive waves of weed spoiling any racecourse in their path. It’s our own personal version of the sci-fi movie: the Blobs!!! They never go fast enough that you cannot outrun them (you are moving in the same current the blobs are). However, if you have to go through a line to get to a mark or get back to the beach, you may be swallowed alive and not make it back in before dinner.

We’ve watched the Dutch Yngling team, coach boat and three boats in tow get stuck so badly they had to be hooked and hauled out by a local fishing trawler. Acres of the nasty stuff are the target of an increasing number of fishing craft and rumors are filtering through the boatpark that more help is on the way in the form of a Chinese Navy destroyer and some offshore fishing fleets from other ports along the coast.