New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy win at IFDS World Blind Sailing

by Jacky James on 21 Mar 2009

NZL, Gold Medalist in the B2 division, has a huge lead in the B2 Race 13 on Day 3 of the 2009 IFDS Blind World Sailing Championships, Rotorua David Staley - copyright

New Zealand has successfully defended its world championship team event title at the IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships sailed on Rotorua this week. Italy and Great Britain won the B1 and B3 events respectively.

New Zealand wins the 2009 title after securing a gold in the B2 fleet, and two silver medals in the B1 and B3 fleets.

Regatta organisers attempted to hold two races on Lake Rotorua this morning to complete the week’s sailing, however, half the fleet were not able to finish the first race after the wind dropped, and the second race was abandoned due to no wind.

Italy won the B1 Event in the 2009 IFDS Blind World Sailing Championships at Rotorua © David Staley - copyright

After 15 races, Italy, skippered by Luigi Bertanza, held onto its lead at the top of the table, coming first in the B1 division. New Zealand, skippered by Dick Lancaster came second, and Norway, skippered by Thomas Johannesen came third.

New Zealand won the B2 Event in the 2009 IFDS Blind World Sailing Championships at Rotorua © David Staley - copyright

In the B2 fleet, Paulien Eitjes from Tauranga skippering the New Zealand team, completely dominated racing this week, winning 14 out of 15 races. Great Britain, skippered by Lucy Hodges, came second. Japan, skippered by Takao Sugiyama, came third.

Great Britain won the B3 Event in the 2009 IFDS Blind World Sailing Championships at Rotorua © David Staley - copyright

In the B3 fleet, Gary Kirby skippering the Great Britain team, dominated much of the racing, finishing well ahead at the top of the table. New Zealand, skippered by Dave Allerton, came second. The USA, skippered by Jason Wallenstein, came third.

Organising committee chairman Don McGowan says he is delighted with the regatta – even though the wind sometimes posed a challenge.

'We are very pleased with how the regatta has gone this week. We were able to get 15 races away, despite some fickle winds, and at times we had some very close and exciting racing.

'It has been a great festival of blind sailing and we have a big group of happy sailors from all around the world.

'It would have been nice to have some more racing today, but it wasn't to be.'

The prize giving for this week's regatta will be held at the Novotel in Rotorua tonight.

The next Blind Sailing International Championships will be held in Yokohama, Japan in 2013.

Results as of 14:49 on March 20, 2009

B1 Fleet

Sailed:15, Discards:2, To count:13, Entries:9, Scoring system:ISAF Series A
Rank	Fleet	Nat	VIP Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15	Total	Nett
1st	B1	ITA	Luigi Bertanza	(9.0)	(4.0)	3.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	34.0	21.0
2nd	B1	NZL	Dick Lancaster	2.0	(10.0 DSQ)	1.0	4.0	4.0	1.0	3.0	1.0	1.0	4.0	4.0	1.0	2.0	3.1 RDGa	(5.0)	46.1	31.1
3rd	B1	NOR	Thomas Johannesen	1.0	1.5	2.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	(6.0)	4.0	1.0	5.0	(8.0)	4.0	3.0	2.0	49.5	35.5
4th	B1	FIN	Jukka Jokiniemi	3.0	1.5	6.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	(9.0)	3.0	5.0	(9.0)	8.0	3.0	71.5	53.5
5th	B1	FRA	Olivier Brisse	4.0	(8.0)	(7.0)	7.0	3.0	5.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	5.0	2.0	3.0	7.0	5.4 RDGa	7.0	80.4	65.4
6th	B1	AUS WA	Kylie Forth	5.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	6.0	(10.0 DSQ)	4.0	(9.0)	5.0	3.0	8.0	9.0	6.0	2.0	4.0	85.0	66.0
7th	B1	JPN Team Toyota	Fumihiro Adachi	7.0	3.0	8.0	8.0	(9.0)	8.0	8.0	4.0	7.0	6.0	7.0	7.0	5.0	5.0	(9.0)	101.0	83.0
8th	B1	USA	Matt Chao	6.0	6.0	(9.0)	3.0	7.0	4.0	9.0	7.0	8.0	8.0	6.0	6.0	8.0	(10.0 DSQ)	6.0	103.0	84.0
9th	B1	GBR	Vicki Sheen	8.0	7.0	5.0	(9.0)	8.0	7.0	7.0	8.0	(9.0)	7.0	9.0	4.0	3.0	6.0	8.0	105.0	87.0

B2 Fleet

Sailed:14, Discards:2, To count:12, Entries:5, Scoring system:ISAF Series A
Rank	Fleet	Nat	VIP Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	Total	Nett
1st	B2	NZL	Paulien Eitjes	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	(3.0)	1.0	1.0	20.0	14.0
2nd	B2	GBR	Lucy Hodges	1.0	(4.0)	3.0	2.0	3.0	(4.0)	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	34.0	26.0
3rd	B2	JPN Team Flying Fish	Takao Sugiyama	3.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	(5.0)	4.0	1.0	(5.0)	3.0	44.0	34.0
4th	B2	CAN	David Brown	4.0	1.0	4.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	(5.0)	4.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	(5.0)	47.0	37.0
5th	B2	USA	Walter Raineri	(5.0)	(5.0)	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	4.0	65.0	55.0

B3 Fleet

Sailed:14, Discards:2, To count:12, Entries:5, Scoring system:ISAF Series A
Rank	Fleet	Nat	VIP Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	Total	Nett
1st	B3	GBR	Gary Kirby	1.0	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	(2.0)	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	18.0	14.0
2nd	B3	NZL	Dave Allerton	2.0	1.0	(3.0)	(5.0)	3.0	3.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	1.0	32.0	24.0
3rd	B3	USA	Jason Wallenstein	(5.0)	3.0	2.0	3.0	(4.0)	2.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	4.0	44.0	35.0
4th	B3	JPN Team Yuki	Yuki Kawazoe	4.0	(5.0)	4.0	4.0	(5.0)	4.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	57.0	47.0
5th	B3	CAN	Randy Nelson	3.0	4.0	(5.0)	2.0	2.0	(5.0)	4.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	59.0	49.0

Scoring codes used

Code	Description	Points
DSQ	Disqualification	10
RDGa	Redress - average points for all races except the race in question	Varies

Editor's Note: for those unfamiliar with the Blind Sailing categories, B1 is completely unsighted, B2 is 5% vision, B3 is 15% vision. Two crew, one of whom must helm, assessed in the appropriate category, sail on the boat along with two sighted crew.

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