The Long Beach-Qingdao Association sent Jack Nunn, a celebrated rower and celebrity trainer), to China as the city’s representative to the Qingdao International Sailing Week in September.
Nunn witnessed and participated in numerous events on the water, along with teams in various water sports. He brought an Olympic flag signed by upwards of 100 medalists and presented it to Zhang Min, director of the Qingdao Sports Development Center.
Rower Jack Nunn visited Long Beach sister city Qingdao, China, last month. (Courtesy of Jack Nunn)
Rower Jack Nunn, left, with Zhang Min, director of the Qingdao Sports Development Center, during a trip to China last month. (Courtesy of Jack Nunn)
Rower Jack Nunn, stands on a boat in the bay of Long Beach sister city Qingdao, China, last month. (Courtesy of Jack Nunn)
Rower Jack Nunn, left, and his father, Olympian John Nunn, hold a USA Olympic flag signed by former athletes. The younger Nunn presented the flag to Zhang Min, director of the Qingdao Sports Development Center, during a trip to China last month. (Courtesy of Jack Nunn)
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Rower Jack Nunn visited Long Beach sister city Qingdao, China, last month. (Courtesy of Jack Nunn)
“Honored to be representing the city of Long Beach as an ambassador in our sister city, Qingdao,” Nunn wrote on social media. “As the ‘Aquatic Capital of America’ meets the ‘Aquatic Capital of China,’ we aren’t just sharing a love for the ocean — we’re building a legacy for the future of international sport.
“With the 2028 Olympics on the horizon for Los Angeles and Long Beach,” he added, “being here at the Qingdao International Sailing Week is a reminder of how sports can unite us across oceans.”
Nunn’s visit has also sparked an idea, according to Mary E. Barton, chair emeritus of the Long Beach-Qingdao Sister City Association: The possibility of sending a team to compete in future International Sailing Week competitions.
It’s a large and impressive event, Nunn said, so sending some high-performing local sailors seems appropriate. (Nunn noted that sailors competing in Qingdao hailed from several countries in Europe.)
Barton, in an email, recalled that the association sent two different groups to Qingdao in 2008 as they prepared to host the sailing events for the Beijing Olympics. At that time, Qingdao’s waterfront was completely revamped, from being home to a major shipyard to being a sailing venue.
The change, Barton said, was “equivalent to our moving the Port of Long Beach down to Huntington Beach.”
“A polluted industrial waterfront became a beautiful and lavishly appointed sailing center,” Barton said, “complete with a five-star hotel, luxury high-rise housing, plenty of restaurants and a marina. Now, they’ve added a Museum of Sailing.”
About 15 years ago, Qingdao sent a delegation of marina officials to Long Beach, and Barton assembled a group of experts on teaching sailing and accommodating private boats, most from our local marinas (the largest municipal marina in the U.S.A., she told them at the time).
“They soaked up the knowledge!” Barton told me in an email.
By 2008, not many private sailboats were docked in the new marina. Today, however, there are youth sailing programs, and many locals have purchased sailboats, Barton said.
The Qingdao International Sailing Week, meanwhile, included numerous competitions, from sailing regattas to stand-up paddleboard races to coastal rowing, and more.
Because Qingdao has a population of more than 8 million people spread around a massive bay, it has miles and miles of waterfront. But the hub is the Olympic Sailing Center just down the hill from its City Hall.
In the last 2-3 years, the Long Beach association has sent several delegations of college students to Qingdao for an introduction to that city, and in 2025, Mayor Rex Richardson headed an official delegation in honor of the group’s 40th anniversary. For more information, go to lbqa.org.
It’s just 645 days until July 14, 2028, when the Opening Ceremony for the LA28 Games will take place.
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime few years ahead of us,” Long Beach Rowing Association President Hanne Chupik wrote in an email. “This is just the start.”
Rowing
Marine Stadium will welcome some of the world’s top rowers this weekend, as six national teams will compete in the USRowing Long Beach Elite and Community Invitational.
The two-day event, organized by the Long Beach Rowing Association and USRowing, will feature elite athletes representing the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Great Britain and Norway.
But racing isn’t limited to elite athletes.
The event will also showcase the strength of the local rowing community, with junior, college and masters crews racing each morning, followed by the elite competition.
Elite Racing is scheduled to take place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, and from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. The racing will feature boats competing in a variety of crew combinations. The elites will be based on Boathouse Lane, while the junior, college and masters visiting teams will be located in the Marine Stadium off Appian Way.
The Long Beach hospitality community is also helping welcome the visiting athletes. John Morris of Boathouse on the Bay will close the restaurant Thursday evening to host the athletes and coaches, providing a special opportunity to welcome the international teams to Long Beach and celebrate the sport of rowing.
Many of the local clubs and nonprofits are volunteering as well, including members of Seal Beach Yacht Club and the Long Beach Boatowners Association, who have helped by providing support vessels.
Admission to the racing is free, offering spectators the opportunity to see national team athletes up close while also cheering on the local rowers.
Youth sailors
Alamitos Bay Yacht Club will host the U.S. Youth Championships, the qualifier for the United States team heading to the Youth Sailing World Championships in Portugal this December. ABYC has a large team racing, along with 140 members volunteering, with Seal Beach Yacht Club and the Long Beach Sailing Center helping out with volunteers and maritime resources.
Long Beach will hear a lot more about youth champs this fall — especially with ABYC hosting the 2026 edition — but outside the junior sailing world, few residents know what these championships actually represent. They’re not summer camp regattas or casual junior races. They are U.S. Sailing’s premier national championships for America’s top youth sailors, and they sit directly on the pathway that leads to the Olympic Development Program and, eventually, the Summer Games.
The U.S. Youth Championships are a multi‑event national series run by U.S. Sailing, designed to identify the strongest junior sailors in the country. Sailors ages 13 to 19 compete in high‑performance classes — ILCA, i420, 29er and others — under the same race management standards used at adult national championships.
Entry isn’t automatic. Sailors must apply, qualify or be invited, and the selection committee reviews resumes, regatta results and coach recommendations. In other words: if you’re on the starting line at Youth Championships, you’re already among the top tier.
Women’s sailing
Long Beach Yacht Club will host the Linda Elias Memorial Woman’s One Design Challenge this weekend, from Friday to Sunday, Oct. 9-11. Ten women’s racing teams will compete on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s identical Catalina 37’s — the same boats used in Congressional Cup
Founded in 1991 as the Women’s One‑Design Challenge, the regatta was created by the Long Beach and Los Angeles Women’s Sailing Associations.
Linda Elias, one of Southern California’s most accomplished female sailors, won three of its first five editions. After her death in 2003, the event was renamed in her honor, celebrating her legacy as a champion racer, Transpac competitor and mentor to women sailors.
The 10 skippers competing are Allie Blecher (California Yacht Club), Lindsay Artof (Del Rey Yacht Club), Sunny Santos (Hawaii Yacht Club), Marilyn Cassedy (Long Beach Sailing Foundation), Lena Weisskchel (Long Beach Yacht Club), Alli Bell (San Diego Yacht Club), Hailey Thompson (San Francisco Yacht Club), Molly Howe (Sloop Tavern Yacht Club), Summer Greene (Southwestern Yacht Club) and Kaelyn Ibold (Women’s Sailing Association and Santa Monica Bay Yacht Club).