Typhoon season threatens to scupper Olympic regatta

The International Sailing Federation wants the 2008 Beijing Olympics moved from July to September to avoid the typhoon and monsoon season.

Paul Henderson, the ISF president, will ask new International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge – himself a yachtsman in three Olympics – to consider the change. "Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988 held the Games in September to avoid the monsoon/typhoon season and the intense heat and rain they bring," Henderson said. "It is hoped that the new IOC executive board will address this problem immediately."

The events in 2008 will be held in Qingdoa, 350 miles south-east of Beijing in the Pacific Ocean.

Henderson is a Canadian IOC member who led Toronto's unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Games. He said Qingdoa would provide a "unique experience" for Olympic sailors.

Beijing's Olympic organising committee has given July windspeed figures of four to five metres per second between noon and 5pm when racing is usually held. That is very light winds.

During the recent World Championships which concluded on Sunday at Qingdoa, only one race was possible in the first three days. Dominating the 208-boat, 45-nation fleet were Asian sailors who were used to the light winds.

Fiona Campbell, the British team's meteorologist at the championships, said the problem was two-fold: "The monsoon can bring heavy rain, which will squash the light wind. The heat drawn off the land mass to the west will be intense. There is also the risk of typhoons curling up the coast."