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Hi All,<br>
I just got back from the Paralympic Regatta in Newport RI. It was
my introduction to Paralympic Sailing and what an eye opener. I
learned a great deal about Paralympic Sailing and think that with the
right team and funding I may be able to win the Paralympic Trials in Oct
2007 and go to China in 2008. However, that would require a
$100,000 budget for going to 14 national regattas (some Paralympic and
some Able-body) over the next 13 months, plus training time with the team
and coaches all year long. That's a lot of travel and its
associated cost.<br><br>
While I am trying to put together my Paralympic program we will go to the
Lake Geneva Great Lakes Championship, leave the boat in Lake Geneva and
pick it up on Oct 6th to go back out to Newport for the Paralympic
Pretrial s Oct 11th thru the 15th.<br><br>
I found out I can NOT crew a Paralympic Sonar because I'm not strong
enough to trim the main in strong wind with one arm. However, I did
get "Classified" by the international doctor as a
"4", and that is great. "1" is a high Quad, 7
is a single below knee amputee, a low para is a 3. Maximum of 14
points on a boat of 3 people and only 2 on the rail. So, with me
being 4, I can have a 3 Para on a bench in front doing the jib and a 7 in
the middle doing the main. No spinnakers are used. We do use
wisker poles that launch automatically from the cockpit.<br><br>
I'm fortunate that I was able to hook up with 2 para #3s who have done a
total of 4 Paralympic campaigns and want to do bow for me. I have 1
#7 who has done 2 campaigns and wants to do middle, and a second who may
be interested and one #4 who could do either. So, its now time to
put the resources together to activate the campaign.<br><br>
See you Thursday,<br>
Bert<br><br>
<br>
At 10:51 AM 8/22/2006, John Sligh wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hello Fellow Sonar Sailors,<br>
<br>
The Great Lakes Championship Regatta is in Lake Geneva again this year
September 30 & October 1. Allow 1-2 days before for traveling
down to Lake Geneva. If you've never been it's a good time.
Gusto is going for sure and it would be great to get 3-4 more boats to
make the trip.<br>
<br>
If you're interested in going please let me know. If your regular
crew can't go don't let that stop you. I'm sure we can put some
teams together. <br>
<br>
<br>
John Sligh<br>
<a href="mailto:jsligh@earthlink.net">jsligh@earthlink.net</a><br>
<br>
<br><br>
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