By Barby MacGowan

The Hartford 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championship, held August 6-12 off Newport, RI, hosted 17 teams from 15 countries and marked the arrival of sailing as a Paralympic sport and its contenders as serious, well prepared forces with which to be reckoned. The sailing world had cocked its ear when the International Sailing Federation and the International Foundation of Disabled Sailors designated the event a country qualifier for the 2000 Paralympic Games, where sailing will make its debut as a full-medal sport. Heads turned when the New York Yacht Club stepped up to the plate to co-host the event with Shake-A-Leg-Newport, which provides post-trauma rehabilitation programs and progressive activities for people with spinal cord injuries. And when The Hartford, one of America's largest insurance and financial services organizations, came aboard as a presenting sponsor - with passionate conviction to the cause, no less - those who had been watching carefully ceased all chatter, falling silent with awesome respect as if sunset had come and colors were underway.

"We didn't go out to win the race today, we went out to win the World Championship," says Ross-Duggan back at the docks. When we saw how Callahan was doing, we knew there was no margin for error."

Callahan's team takes the runner-up spot on the scoreboard, only a quarter point behind Ross-Duggan. The USA qualifies for a berth at the Paralympics, as do The Netherlands (third overall), Germany (fourth), Canada (fifth), Great Britain (sixth), Israel (seventh) and Sweden (eighth).

Sailors round the mark during the first day of racing at the Hartford World Disabled Sailing Championship.

Photo by Billy Black

Day 1 - Based on team resumés, the USA (allowed two entries because of its host-country status), Great Britain (also allowed two berths as defending champion), Canada, Denmark, and Germany are favored. Not to be fooled with are Armenia, Australia, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.

After a premature start in the first race, John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, CA) and crew Corky Aucreman (Newport Beach) and Waldo Esparza (Tampa, FL) restart almost a minute behind the fleet. The team redeems itself by passing the entire fleet to win the race. A clean start makes for a more handy victory for Duggan's team in the second race and puts the USA at the top of the scoreboard.

Day 2 - Germany takes the lead and Ross-Duggan's team slips to fifth after two hotly contested races. "When we came here," said the German team's crew Jens Kroker, who competes frequently in able-bodied regattas, "we thought it would be a cake walk, but obviously it's not."

Day 3 - The USA's Ross-Duggan regains his lead by winning one of two races. The other race victor is the USA's Paul Callahan (Newport, RI) and crew Keith Burhans (Rochester, NY) and Richard Hughes (Philadelphia, PA). In fifth overall, Callahan knows his performance in the next day's final race must be flawless to win.

Day 4 - Callahan, true to form, wins the day's single race by a longshot. Ross-Duggan must finish ninth or better to win the championship. He does it in a nail-biting finish, edging out tenth-place finisher Ireland by mere seconds. A large spectator fleet cheers as Ross-Duggan's facial expressions show relief, then elation, on the safe side of the finish line.

Skipper Paul Callahan (Newport, RI) is all smiles after steering USA1 into second place at The Hartford 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championship. The USA, as host of the event, fielded two teams. Seventeen teams from 15 nations competed in the event, which was co-hosted by Shake-A-Leg-Newport and the New York Yacht Club and held at Sail Newport's Community Sailing Center. Photo by Dan Nerney

• Sail Newport, Rhode Island's community sailing center, offered its accessible facilities as race headquarters and its docks as safe harbor for the Paralympic Sonar 23s. Volunteers flooded the waterfront to assist teams and organizers, doing everything from pushing wheelchairs up ramps and assisting in the safe dock-to-boat transfer of sailors, to repairing equipment and driving support boats.
• The Armenian team provided the most intriguing story for the media. All three team members had been rescued as children from the massive earthquake that devastated their small country and made headlines ten years ago. Missing four limbs among them, the boys forged ahead in the sports world. (Before coming to the Worlds, they had represented Armenia in the Nagano Paralympic alpine skiing competition.) Their infectious enthusiasm at the regatta was epitomized one rainy day when two of the team members hopped a good distance on one leg each to recover their prostheses, which had been discarded for racing and moved by volunteers for protection under the event tent. Laughing all the way, the young men dropped with exhaustion at the end of their journey. For sportsmanship and spirit, the Armenian team was voted the recipient of the Sailors' Award by fellow competitors.
• The regatta's team with most disability, finishing fifth overall, hailed from Canada and was skippered by David Cook, a silver medalist from the 1996 Paralympic Sailing Exhibition Event. Cook's degenerative nerve disorder ranked him a one, the lowest in the regatta's disability rating scale of one to seven. His crew, Ken Kelly, with high-level paraplegia, rated a two and combined with Brian McDonald, who is a double-leg amputee, also a two, to elevate the team's overall rating to a non-whopping five. The maximum rating per team, which most tried to optimize, was 12.
• The New York Yacht Club provided its race committee and the elegant grounds of Harbour Court for opening and closing ceremonies, which featured a patriotic parade of athletes on the front end and an emotional awards dinner to wrap things up.

At the latter, Baroness Collot d'Escury presented Ross-Duggan with a Challenge Cup dedicated in memory of the late Henri Baron Collot d'Escury, who in 1988 formed the first International Disabled Sailing Committee, which is now the International Foundation for Disabled Sailors with worldwide membership.

"She cried as she gave it to me," said Duggan, "which really choked me up."

When each member of the winning team was presented with a Rolex Submariner timepiece, usually reserved for the winning skipper at major sailing events, crew Waldo Esparza explained, "The spirit of teamwork is very powerful."

Gold Medalists at the Club - At the New York Yacht Club, the winning U.S. team at the Hartford 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championship is joined by the Hartford's Senior Vice President, Lizabeth Zlatkus. From left are gold medalists Waldo Esparza, skipper John Ross-Duggan, and Corky Aucreman. Photo by Billy Black

Photo by Billy Black

Paralympics 2000 Sailing will be a full medal sport for the Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, with the Paralympic Regatta scheduled for October 20-27, 2000, less than three weeks after the Sydney Olympic Regatta. At the 1996 Paralympic Games in Lake Lanier, GA, sailing (in Sonars) served as an exhibition event and attracted 15 countries. "Although US SAILING's Sailors With Special Needs Committee has existed for many years, the Paralympic connection is recent and adds a new dimension to our Olympic planning," said Olympic Sailing Chairman Bob Hobbs (Vernon, CT), whose committee will facilitate proposals for funding from the U.S. Olympic Committee. "We are excited to include this segment of the sport in our Olympic goals and to recognize these sailors."

1998 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team Named   US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, recently named its first-ever U.S. Disabled Sailing Team. Created to recruit and develop athletes for upcoming Paralympiads, the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team will annually distinguish the top-three ranked sailors in each of the two Paralympic classes, Sonar and 2.4 Meter. The 1998 rankings were determined by a selection committee appointed by US SAILING's Sailors With Special Needs Committee and are based on racing results from calendar year 1997. Named in the Paralympic Sonar class (skipper and two crew)-1996 Paralympic Bronze Medalists John Ross-Duggan, Chris Murphy, and Jim Leatherman (Orlando, FL/Annapolis/Baltimore, MD); John Kostanecki with Waldo Esparza and Hugh Elliot (Naperville, IL/Seffner, FL/Alexandria, VA); and Paul Callahan with Keith Burhans and Richard Hughes (Newport, RI/Irondequoit, NY/Philadelphia, PA). Named in the Paralympic 2.4 Meter class (skipper)-1997 North American Paralympic 2.4 Meter Champion David Schroeder (Miami Beach, FL); Richard Hughes (named in the Sonar class above); and Richard Doerr (Tampa, FL).

---

Barby MacGowan handles press and public relations for Shake-A-Leg-Newport through Media Pro International, which specializes in sponsored sporting events.

Chicago Yacht Club had the distinct honor of hosting the 1998 U.S. Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup (NACC) for sailors with disabilities July 31-August 3. This was the third in a five-year arrangement with US SAILING to host the national championship for sailing for persons with disabilities.

The national championship, the U.S. Independence Cup, was merged with the North American Challenge Cup to take advantage of the synergy the two events are able to provide. The U.S. Independence Cup was started in 1986 and has strong roots and involvement on the east coast. The North American Challenge Cup was started in 1993 to promote sailing for persons with disabilities in the U.S. and abroad. The NACC has a strong corporate sponsorship base that enabled all of the competitors to be brought to Chicago at no cost to them. This enabled sailors to travel and compete when they might not have been able to afford to otherwise. American Airlines and Doubletree Guest Suites still provided transportation and lodging for the merged national championship. This feature has helped the national championship to grow considerably over the past two years. This year eighteen teams were selected through regional competition and resumé from over 50 applications. We expect this number to continue to grow, and thanks to our other corporate sponsors-Rolex, USG Corp, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Prudential Securities, Chicago School Transit, and Fuji Film - we will be ready for them.

Regional qualifying regattas were added to the current format last year and have helped promote the national championship at the local level. 1998's regionals were held in Newport, RI; Annapolis, MD; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL; Long Beach, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA. Four of the eighteen available slots were held open for selection by resumé. Many familiar faces showed up in Chicago for the racing, but some of the nation's top sailors with disabilities were unable to compete due to a conflict with the Disabled World's held in Newport, RI. Nonetheless, the sailing was close and the competition keen.

Chicago Yacht Club hosted the event at its dry sailing compound at Belmont Harbor. Sailors competed in the Freedom 20, a boat specially designed for disability sailing. The Freedom 20 has counterweighted seats that can be moved from one side of the boat to the other and locked in place. This helps to equalize the boats for varying degrees of disability the competitors exhibit. The boats also have a non-disabled crew member on board who is provided by the race organizer. His/her job is to assist competitors with any maneuvers or situations they are physically unable to perform.

Racing this year was quite good and came down to the last race in the six-race series. Local sailors John Kostanecki and Gerry Dahl from the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Program took first place. Miami sailors Allen Fiske and Alan Febesh took second, with Craig Wilson and Matt Malley of Shake-A-Leg Newport taking third.

Overall, it was another excellent U.S. Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup, with racers and volunteers having an excellent time in Chicago courtesy of US SAILING and Chicago Yacht Club's corporate sponsors. Plans for 1999 are being made for the championship to be held in Chicago, July 30-August 3. Regional qualifiers will be held approximately two months prior to the championship. For more information, contact Chicago Yacht Club at (312) 861-7777 or visit the web site at chicagoyachtclub.com. You may also contact US SAILING at (401) 683-0800 or visit their web site at ussailing.org.

Jim Armstrong is a member of the Chicago Yacht Club and a director for the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation (JGASF). He became involved with sailing for individuals with disabilities in 1994 as a volunteer for JGASF's racing program. He continues to work with the program as an adviser and volunteer.

Home