Weymouth Journal: Charming Retreat Plays Host to Sailing, but Crowds Do Not Follow

 


WEYMOUTH, England — The bubonic plague is said to have come ashore in this coastal town, carried by fleas infected by rats. The so-called Black Death quickly spread throughout the British Isles.

“We try to play that one down, especially in light of some people’s thinking about British food,” Lorraine Morris of the county tourism office said.
People on the beach who wanted to see the races were welcomed into an area with large video screens.Alex Trautwig for The New York TimesPeople on the beach who wanted to see the races were welcomed into an area with large video screens.

Fair enough. The notorious pestilence occurred way back in 1348, and this lovely seaside retreat has since become a favorite spot of not only King George III but also generations of commoners. It is now hosting the Olympic sailing events.

Sometimes, when the Games are held in great coastal cities — a Barcelona, a Sydney, an Athens — sailboat events can occur near the center of the action. Other times, at an Atlanta or a Beijing, the racing takes place an inconvenient distance from the running and swimming and fighting.

Weymouth is 136 miles south of London, a three-hour train ride to what is known as the Jurassic Coast, a fossil-rich World Heritage site on the English Channel. For the Olympics, it has been primped with fresh paint, newly planted flowers, carnival rides and a 174-foot-tall revolving tower. This high perch offers magnificent views while a narrator encapsulates 185 million years of geological history into a succinct 15 minutes.

The main esplanade, which extends along a fetching stretch of beach, is fronted by stately Georgian buildings with iron terraces that look like eyebrows over the ground floor. Gulls swoop through the sky. The air is a mixed scent of sea breeze and fish and chips. The sand is soft and clean.

August is a busy month here, with one bus after another dropping off families and retirees. The climax ordinarily comes on Carnival Day, the third Wednesday of the month. The Olympics were supposed to fill the town with a record number of visitors: a two-week-long Carnival Day!

“Well, you had to be a fool to believe that one, didn’t you?” said Andrew Bryan, a merchant in a souvenir shop, who numbers himself among the fools.