The bright green algae, described as “thick as a carpet”, is making it impossible for dinghies to navigate the course that will host the Olympic regattas in less than two months.
Wrapping itself around keels, bringing the boats to a standstill, the seaweed is believed by experts to have drifted in from the Yellow Sea to the eastern coastal city on the back of bad weather during the past month. Local fishermen are struggling to clear the area, armed only with their nets slung over the side of their small boats.
Iain Percy, a gold medal-winner in Sydney 2000, said that the ocean had “turned green”. He told The Times: “It has appeared in patches about the size of football pitches which are impossible to sail through. How the organisers are going to be able to set a mile-long sailing course is a real concern.”
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Beijing Olympics 2008 