Subject: Blind Sailors To Compete For World Championship Crown
> Blind Sailors To Compete For World Championship Crown
> InNewport (USA)
>
>
> Nautica.it, Italy
> Friday, March 10, 2006
>
> Blind Sailors To Compete For World Championship Crown In Newport (USA)
>
>
> NEWPORT, R.I. (March 9, 2006) - More than a dozen nations are expected to
> send teams to compete in the sixth world championship for blind sailors
> when it comes to the U.S.A. later this year. The 2006 IFDS (International
> Foundation of Disabled Sailors) Blind Sailing World Championship will be
> held from September 20-27 in Newport, R.I., hosted by the New York Yacht
> Club with the assistance of Sail Newport.
>
> Under the vision classification system established by the International
> Blind Sports Association (IBSA) to provide fair competition for blind
> athletes, each nation can enter one team in each of the three vision
> categories: B1, B2 and B3. A registered Ophthalmologist must complete the
> classification forms which are required of all regatta entrants and are
> subject to verification by an IBSA certified physician. The vision
> classification of the skipper determines in which division each
> four-person team will compete with the totally blind B1s and the
> vision-impaired B2s racing in the New York Yacht Club's fleet of Sonars,
> and the least vision-impaired B3s racing in Sail Newport's J/22s. Each
> team will include two vision-impaired sailors - skipper and one crew -
> accompanied by two sighted guides who provide verbal information to
> tactically position the boat as it navigates the race course. The rules
> mandate that only a blind sailor can steer, while the other blind crew
> trims the sails.
>
> The regatta will benefit from the experiences of the husband and wife team
> of Lyn and Peggy Comfort (Newport, R.I.), the co-chairs for the event. Lyn
> Comfort sailed as a sighted guide in two blind world championships (1994
> and 1997). "It got my adrenaline flowing as much as any sailing I've ever
> done. It's serious stuff." A past chair of the American Foundation for
> the Blind (AFB), he presently serves as an AFB Trustee Emeritus. Peggy
> Comfort not only has extensive regatta management experience gleaned
> running events such as the 1994 Etchell North Americans to the 2004 UBS
> Challenge, but also race committee experience at high-profile events such
> as the 2003 America's Cup and 2005 IOD World Championships.
>
> From five nations participating in the first international regatta for the
> blind (1992), to upwards of 14 nations now fielding blind sailing teams
> for competition, interest in blind sailing has grown significantly around
> the globe. Five world championships for blind sailors have been held thus
> far (1992 in Auckland, New Zealand; 1994 in Fremantle, Australia; 1997 in
> Weymouth, England; 1999 in Miami, Florida, USA; and 2002 in Lake Garda,
> Italy). For 2006, regatta organizers are anticipating entries from
> Australia, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and
> the U.S.A.
>
> Sponsors of the 2006 IFDS Blind Sailing World Championship are Best
> Western The Mainstay Inn (Newport, R.I.), The Carroll Center for the Blind
> (Newton, Mass.) and the Sailing Foundation of New York. The organizing
> authority for the championship is NYYC, IFDS, Blind Sailing International
> and US SAILING, the United States' Member National Authority (MNA) of the
> International Sailing Federation.
>
>
> http://www.nautica.it/service/notizie.htm?2006-03-115
>
>
> Dr. Ronald E. Milliman, Professor of Marketing, Western Kentucky
> University
> President: South Central Kentucky Council of the Blind
> Outstanding Teaching Award Winner -- Outstanding Service Award
> inner --
> Recognized Academic Researcher
--
Can you imagine what a scarcity of news there would be If everybody obeyed
> the Ten Commandments?
I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is
IN GOD WE TRUST
Karen Carter '74
-KC- Ministries
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