Windsurfing guru Rene Appel ready to sail the world
Master coach prepares to yacht around the world, leaving behind a legacy of success and fond memories in the HK sailboarding programme he built
Hong Kong's windsurfing guru is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime - a voyage under sail around the world.
Fifty-one-year-old Dutchman Rene Appel, guided Lee Lai-shan, better known as "San San", to a gold medal in the women's mistral at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and developed a world-class team of Hong Kong sailboarders. surprised the sports community last month by quitting the coaching job he has held at the Sports Institute since 1990.
To sail around the world is a common dream, yet one seldom realised, and Appel is determined to make sure his vision becomes a reality.
It's always been a dream of mine to go sailing for a long period of time and I think it's the right time to do it after we achieved our best-ever results in Incheon last year
"The plan is to go to sailing on a yacht and we have set aside the next two years to do it," said Appel, who will be travelling with his wife, Barbara Yendell, whom he married after last year's Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
"It's always been a dream of mine to go sailing for a long period of time and I think it's the right time to do it after we achieved our best-ever results in Incheon last year."
Hong Kong's windsurfers won two gold and two silver medals at the Incheon Games.
For a man driven to excel, there is always another project on the horizon, but he felt his was the right time to make the break with his windsurfing squad.