Official sailing regatta boat 'sinking' off Qingdao

One of the official boats governing the Beijing Olympics sailing regatta is reportedly sinking on one of the competition courses off Qingdao.

The start boat, possibly with as many as 20 officials aboard, began taking on water around 1pm (Australian time) after setting out with the Tornado and Star fleets ahead of day nine of the competition.

Australian sailing team director Michael Jones said the competing sailors were immediately ordered to return to shore but added no other information was available.