Full sail ahead for Fareast regatta in Qingdao

After a three-year halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shandong Port Fareast Cup International Regatta 2023 restarted its races earlier this month, marking a new dawn of the sport in the coastal city of Qingdao in East China's Shandong province.

The race has attracted seven fleets of nearly 100 sailors from countries and regions that include China, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Consisting of offshore races, the sailing competition had a route of more than 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 kilometers) and took nearly a month to complete.

The offshore races were a round trip between Qingdao and Vladivostok, a major Pacific port in the Far East of Russia. The return voyage stopped at Mokpo, a coastal city in South Korea.

The fleets departed Qingdao on Sept 1, arriving in the city of Vladivostok on Sept 10 and Mokpo, South Korea, on Sept 18. They left Mokpo on Sept 22 and returned to Qingdao on Monday.

At the event's opening ceremony on Aug 31, Wang Dongxiang, deputy secretary-general of the Qingdao city government and secretary-general of the event's organizing committee, said that the Fareast Cup International Regatta is one of Qingdao's own brand sailing events. It is also practiced by the city to support the Belt and Road Initiative.

The organization of the event is aimed at strengthening exchanges in the fields of sports, culture, tourism, trade and investment in the Northeast Asia region, especially among China, Russia and South Korea, according to Wang. He added the Fareast Cup is expected to become the largest and most influential sailing event in Northeast Asia when its voyages are extended to cover countries like Japan.

The Fareast Cup International Regatta was launched in 2016 and was held four sessions between 2016 and 2019. The event has brought more international elements and vitality to Qingdao, making it better known to the international community, according to Wang.

Ilya Yermakov is the captain of the Delo Group Sailing Team from Russia, which was the four-time champion of the races. He and his teammates were back in Qingdao for this year's event.

He said as part of preparations for the voyage, his team loaded several cartons of Tsingtao beer onto their boats. Tsingtao is the famed beer brand of Qingdao.

"We had been together with the event for four consecutive years until it was disrupted for three years because of the pandemic," Yermakov said. "We are happy to be back again and we find Qingdao is still a beautiful city that brings us refreshed excitement and delight."

The event's closing ceremony was held on Tuesday. Delo Group Sailing Team won the championship. Teyoo Investment Xiamen Sailing In Team from Fujian province finished the second place and Qingdao Sailing City Team the third place.