Action from the Paralympic Games Beijing 2008

by Laura Bladwin on 9 Sep 2008
8th September 2008 - Day One - Races One & Two

The first day of racing at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Qingdao got off to a slow start. After launching at 1pm the boats soon returned to the shore where they were held, postponed for a couple of hours. Racing finally got underway at 3:30pm when the 6 to 8 knots seabreeze filled in. The tide was running against the wind so the water was very choppy making conditions challenging. It was a very long day with the sailors coming ashore at 6pm.

Weather:
Wind - SW 6 to 8 knots
Temp - 21 to 27'C
Humidity - 51%
Vissability - Very Good, clear sunny skies

2.4mR - One Person Keelboat - AUS Team: Aaron Hill (VIC)

Aaron Hill from Victoria opened the regatta with a 12th and 10th placing him in 10th overnight. Coach Adrian Finglas explained how tough the competition is in this fleet with sailors having campaign for many years and most have been able to do so full time. Aaron works as a Jeweller and has only been racing since 2003 so he is proud to have made it onto the team and to be representing Australia.

Leader Board:
1st - CAN - 1st, 1st - 2 points
2nd - CAN - 3rd, 2nd - 5 points
3rd - AUS - 2nd, 6th - 8 points

10th - AUS - 12th, 10th - 22 points

SKUD 18 - Two Person Keelboat - AUS Team: Dan Fitzgibbon & Rachael Cox (QLD)

Dan Fitzgibbon and Rachael Cox had a good opening day scoring a 4th and 2nd to place them 3rd overnight just one point off Canada with 5 points. The American Team win with 3 points. Dan & Rachael made a very conservative start in the first race and rounded the top mark in 5th, overtaking the British Team to finish 4th.

'We had a great last run because we held off the English boat' said Dan Fitzgibbon, the helm of the Australian SKUD 18.

Dan and Rachael had a great start at the committee boat end and rounded top mark second which they held to the finish.

'I'm very happy with our performance in the second race' Dan said.

Leader Board:
1st - USA - 2nd, 1st - 3 points
2nd - CAN - 1st, 4th - 5 points
3rd - AUS - 4th, 2nd - 6 points

Sonar - Three Person Keelboat - AUS Team: Colin Harrison, Graeme Martin & Russell Boaden (WA)

After a delay of just over one hour, the Sonar fleet got the racing underway at the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition. The Australian Sonar Team from Western Australia includes the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Gold Medallist, Graeme Martin OME. After the first day of racing the team is sitting in 7th place with 12 points after scoring 8th, 4th.

Colin Harrison explained how he felt before the start of the first race, 'I felt edgy! I always feel better after the first race but with racing being postponed for a couple of hours the pre-race feelings of anxiety were prolonged.'

Colin went onto talk through the racing, 'There was good breeze once we finally got racing. We had good clean starts and good speed. We just got one shift wrong in the fist race and lost a lot to finish 8th. Between races we re-focused and managed to sail a really good race to finish 4th. I'm very happy to have come back after an ordinary first race.'

Leader Board:
1st - FRA - 4th, 1st - 5 points
2nd - GRE - 2nd, 5th - 7 points
3rd - NOR - 6th, 2nd - 8 points

7th - AUS - 8th, 4th - 12 See Results here

More Paralympic news at http://www.yachting.org.au/default.asp?Page=37679