Paralympic Games 2008

[bamamick]

I have been remiss in not posting this. The results of the sailing Games, halfway through each event:

2.4mR: CAN, USA, GER. GBR 7th
SKUD18: USA, AUS, CAN. GBR 6th
Sonar: FRA, AUS, GER. GBR 7th, USA 8th.

From the photos it looks as if the Paralympic sailors are dealing with the same stuff that the Olympic competitors faced during their time in Qingdao. Challenging, but these guys can handle a challenge.

The wife of a regular poster on SA is the crew on the USA SKUD18 class boat. From what I understand her driver, Nick Scandone, has been a former US 470 class national champion, and is suffering from the affects of ALS. Of course, every competitor in every sailing event has a story, a history all their own. In just about every one of these sailor's cases it is a story of incredible courage and dedication, well worth the telling, and the hearing. If you'd like to follow along and read some personal notes of what it's like to experience this event from some folks who are there, take a look at www.sailinganarchy.com, go to the 'forums' section, then go to the 'sailing anarchy' forum. It's pinned at the top of the page. Good stuff.

Mickey Lake

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Thanks, Mickey.

We in Britain need to up the profile of this. There's a fleet of SKUD18's near me, but I've never seen a 2.4 in reality.

Very poor BBC coverage too - thanks for the reminder about Anarchy.

[Hwyl]

Thanks Mickey

[bamamick]

Not a lot of backround information to look at on the site that I am following. I will try and find out more about conditions and such.

After 6 races (of 11):

2.4mR: CAN, USA, NED. GBR 7th
SKUD18: USA, AUS, CAN. GBR 4th
Sonar: FRA, AUS, GER. GBR 7th, USA 8th

Still a long way to go and a lot can happen. I am quietly optimistic about chances for medals for Team USA.

Mickey Lake

[Hwyl]

Congratulations to the Skud 18 winners. Team USA Nick Scandone and Maureen Mckinnon-Tucker

[elf]

Nick was a foregone conclusion. He's one hell of a sailor, when you consider that he's real close to sailing by sipping on a straw. What a soldier!

If you think 6 meters are cute little 12 meters, get a look see at a 2.4 meter. Tiny, tiny, tiny little Americas Cup boats. Cute, cute cute.

I gotta run some errands and then I'll put up some pics from last fall's trials in Narragansett Bay.

[bamamick]

Through eight races, things are pretty much status qou.

2.4mR: CAN, USA, GER. GBR 7th, AUS 11th.
SKUD18: USA, CAN, AUS. GBR 4th.
Sonar: FRA, AUS, GER. USA 7th, GBR 8th.

Nick and Maureen had an awesome day in winning both flights in the SKUD. Rick Doerr and the Sonar guys had a pretty good day with a 2 and a 3 to move them up a spot and put them just behind Israel for 6th.

The regatta is winding down now and reaching it's conclusion. Looks like the North American teams were pretty strong. I honestly started this thread for two reasons. One of which is that it's sailboat racing. What's not to like? The other reason is that I wanted to see if the UK's dominance in sailing extended to Paralympic sailing. Does the RYA have a strong program for Paralympic sailors? Do they have the same sort of access to coaching and service programs that the Olympic class sailors do? I was just interested.

On another note, do any of you Mainers know Mr. Brown that used to be a really good 2.4 sailor? I remember that he ran a hardware store in Northeast Harbor, and that he was excellent in the 2.4. Did he stop racing?

Mickey Lake

[bamamick]

The 2008 Paralympic Games regatta has ended. The thread that I posted about up above has some great stories of what happened in Qingdao during this week. Marvelous stories.

For a regatta with very little movement things got shaken up quite a bit in the last day of racing, with the French 2.4 sailor overtaking John Ruf to take the silver (maybe a little payback for Zach holding off the French Finn sailor last month to secure a silver of his own?), and the German Sonar team cruising past the French to capture the gold!

Final results are:

2.4mR: CAN (Paul Tingley), FRA, USA (John Ruf). GBR 7th.
SKUD18: USA (Nick Scandone and Maureen Tucker-McKinnon), AUS, CAN. GBR 5th
Sonar: GER, FRA, AUS. GBR 6th, USA (Rick Doerr) 8th. The racing in this class was incredibly tight, and Rick and his team counted 4 races in the top 3 places and still wound up 8th.

Final team tally: CAN 2, USA 2, FRA 2, AUS 2, GER 1.

Well, that's the end of the sailing Games for this year. It's been interesting to keep up with and to try and learn from what's going on over in China. As a one design sailor all of this is relevent to me and I try to watch and listen for anything that might help make me a better sailor. It's been fun to keep up with it all.

Mickey Lake

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Thanks very much, Mickey.

The answer to your question, as can be seen from the results, is "yes, but not quite as much".

One lesson that we in Britain have to learn (and I think we may have taken it away with us from Qingdao) is that we need to put more RYA effort into Paralympic sailing. I hope we do.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

I've said this before - the 2.4 makes the strongest case of all for being an Olympic class.


From UK 2.4 Class Site (http://www.24metre.org.uk/3.html)
In the past the 2.4 metre has been perceived to be a disabled persons boat but this is far from true. Both Internationally and Nationally the majority of helms are able bodied.

So the winner of the regatta is The Best 2.4 Sailor - not the "Best Able Bodied, nor yet the best Disabled - "Simply The Best".

As good a statement of the Olympic ideal as I've seen.

And there's no good reason to have separate Men's and Women's races either.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I've just been reading through the back issues of Yachts and Yachting at my club. It seems that "future funding of disabled sailing by the National Lottery will be dependent on medals won over the next four years" (April 2008 article) so maybe the outlook is not that bright.

In Britain there are "20,000 disabled sailors" registered as such, according to Sailability, the charity that organises disabled sailing; I suspect that figure includes just about everyone who has had a go.

Uk paralymic sailors had to arrange their own funding for Qingdao - transport, support teams, etc. The RYA did loan boats.

[bamamick]

Andrew, so that basically put them on an even playing field with the other teams. That's difficult.

I don't have a clue how many Paralympic sailors there are in the US. I would imagine that the number is pretty small. The only place that I have seen them racing is at the St. Pete YC sailing center, and I have been around quite a bit of sailing in the eastern part of the US. For the sport to grow it would require a little bit extra in the way of support. I really don't see that that would be a problem, but for some reason if it IS growing we don't really see it.

Mr. Newt, I agree that the 2.4mR is a great equalizer. I am not sure that it is the perfect boat for the Olympic/Paralympic experience. I am still of the opinion that Olympic sailing needs to push things a little physically. It's a part of it.

Mickey Lake

[Chip-skiff]

I sailed a 2.4 metre with hand controls at in Auckland a few years ago, and raced a bit with some disabled sailors who were in the NZ Sailability program, which maintains a small fleet. The boats are very enjoyable and responsive, and with the body positioned quite low in the hull to provide ballast, incredibly stable.

My friend Malcolm Waller was president of Sailability for years, and introduced me to a fellow in Sumner (near Christchurch) who'd built his own 2.4 metre to compete– beautiful boat (although I seem to recall he'd painted it pink).

In any event, if you ever have the chance to sail a 2.4, give it a go.

One of the sailors I met, who'd lost the use of his legs, said that he felt a freedom while sailing— a pure joy in movement— that didn't exist for him anywhere else.

Chip