I can imagine trying to organize the Olympics is not unlike organizing a wedding - whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. China’s latest problem to plague the Olympics is an algae outbreak at the sailing venue in the city of Qingdao.

“There’s football fields of green algae type stuff, and it’s a little difficult to sail around it,” says Stittle of Orangeville, Ont. “We have rudders and centre boards, and stuff gets caught on it, so we have to steer clear of it, or try and sail around it. It’s a little bit challenging.”

A group of 10,000 people have been deployed to try and clean up the algae, which they are doing by hand. Training for the sailing now also includes how to best dodge the algae and remove it from your boat, which is likely to cause unnecessary drag on the boat.

“We can clear the bottom by pulling the centre board and rudders up, but it’s not something that’s very fast to do,” Stittle says. “It’s probably something we’ll practice more and more, just in case the water’s not that clear for the Games.”

Read more: The perils of algae for Olympic sailors