IFDS
Single Person Dinghy 2004 World Championships
Sail
Melbourne 2004 International Regatta is proud
to count the International Foundation for Disabled
Sailing Single Person Dinghy 2004 World Championships
(or IFDS Dinghy Worlds), as one of their events,
which provides an opportunity to showcase to the
world an international standard regatta for people
with high level disability.
Conducted
by Yachting Victoria, the event will be hosted
by Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron on the Mornington
Peninsula in Victoria, from January 13-22 and
is open to sailors with an IFDS 1 or 2 Functional
Classification, participants will include sailors
with profound physical disabilities such as paraplegia
and quadriplegia.
Already
25 entries have been received from seven countries,
and those to watch in the IFDS ‘two’
category include Sydney based Zoltan Pegan representing
Hungary and Australia’s 2.4mR representative
at the Sydney Paralympics, Peter Thompson from
the ACT.
Other
Australian entries to-date come from South Australia,
Queensland and Western Australia, while internationally
expect to see Panayotis Tsinganos (GRE), Hiroshi
Oda (JPN), Bento Amaral (POR), Simon Harle (UK)
and Herb Meyer (USA). The largest number of entries
come from sailors classified as IFDS ‘one’
– predominantly quadriplegics who have not
previously had the opportunity of competing to
compete in an ISAF/IFDS sanctioned World Championship.
Watch
out for Ame Barnbrook, a 15 year old from Narooma
in NSW, who has been sailing Access Dinghies for
several years using servo electrics to control
the steering and sail settings with her toes.
With a big personality, guts and determination,
Ame is already the darling of media and sailors
alike.
The
Worlds will be sailed in the Access Liberty, the
latest design from Chris Mitchell’s Access
Dinghy Sailing Systems in Melbourne. The Access
2.3 and 303 dinghies are sailed in countries around
the globe and in conjunction with programs like
Sailability; these boats are making sailing more
accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
The
3.6 metre Liberty is an exciting, fast and high-pointing
dinghy and it is hoped that the design will be
chosen for the 2008 Paralympic Games, which would
make it only the second Australian design to represent
at Olympic/Paralympic level.
Blairgowrie
Yacht Squadron is only 1.5 hours south of Melbourne
and racing will be conducted on the waters of
Port Phillip. Committee Chairman Chris Wilson,
Onshore Coordinator Geoff Watson and a large team
of volunteers from the Blairgowrie Y.S. and Sailability
Victoria will work dockside and around the Club
to support competitors and officials during the
event.
The International Foundation for Disabled Sailing
has been very supportive of the event and Accredited
IFDS Classifiers Charlie Simpson (CAN), Anne Allen
(USA) and Stephen Wilson (AUS) will officiate,
along with Technical Delegate Phil Vardy (AUS).
The International Jury will include Noel Allen
(AUS), Joe Butterfield (NZL), Garry Wagstaff (NZL),
John Collings (AUS) and Paul Withers (GBR).
Blairgowrie
Yacht Squadron, who conduct a regular Sailability
program along with their dinghy and keelboat activities,
have been very busy developing their facilities
to accommodate an increased number of sailors
and visitors in wheelchairs and arranging accommodation
for competitors and officials.
For
this event and all Sail Melbourne news, go to:
www.sailmelbourne.com.au
