RYA Sailability Blind Regatta
- From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:39:18 -0400
Royal Yachting Association (UK)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
RYA Sailability Blind Regatta
Blind Regatta
Seven visually impaired sailors took part in the RYA Sailability regatta held
at the Sail Laser centre in Weymouth. Crews, with varying experience, were made
up of two visually impaired sailors and one sighted crew member. George Barker,
RYA Sailability Racing Coach, was on hand for the racing and safety aspects of
the regatta. Vicky Sheen, Chair of the Blind Sailing Association organized all
other aspects of the event with help from fellow sailor Andy Stokes. Sail Laser
offered the use of four Laser Bahia's along with the help of their instructors.
Two other RYA Sailability volunteers, both RYA senior instructors, sailed with
the crews who had traveled from all parts of the country.
The event ran over two days with a varied programme of training and racing
focusing on improving racing skills and giving VI sailors more dinghy sailing
experience. Crews rotated so not only did everyone sail together but also got
the opportunity to helm. Saturday saw a light breeze and focused mainly on
familiarization ending the day with two practice races. Sunday's conditions
were challenging with strong winds -18 to 22 knots and a choppy sea. The breeze
dropped a little by the afternoon but with a persistently large swell the
sailors were fighting to stay upright. Despite reefed sails a number of crews
capsized but spirits remained high and the racing remained competitive.
This was all made possible due to the support from the National Sports
Foundation as part of the Sail On programme for blind and visually impaired
sailors.
Vicky Sheen commented:
'The event was a tremendous success everyone had a great time, enjoying the
training and opportunity to sail on different boats. Many thanks go to the Sail
Laser team for their great support of this event and to RYA Sailability'.
Results
1st Lucy Hodges
2nd Toby Davey
3rd Ying Chan
4th Vicky Sheen
5th Andrew Stokes
6th Tim Horsefield
7th Adam Luckhurst
http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/newsroom/news/BlindRegatta.htm
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