Paralympic Sailing - Josh reports from the in the 2.4m class - Miami

by Joshua McKenzie-Brown on 1 Feb 2010
Paralympic sailor, Josh McKenzie-Brown reports from Rolex Miami OCR:

I've just come back from a couple of weeks of 2.4m sailing in Biscayne Bay where I chartered a 2.4m from Team Paradise at Shake-A-Leg Miami.

The first regatta was the Caviglia regatta. This was basically a warm-up for me for the US 2.4m Mid Winter Champs which were held a few days later. Disaster struck late at night on the first day of our trip when I ended up in hospital with a drip in me after I started to vomit blood. I was so weak the next day I was unable to compete in the first of three days of racing, however I still had several good races.

Everyone who was planning to sail the 2.4m in the OCR had arrived by the time the Mid Winter Champs came around. The top 13 competitors consisted of sailors who are regularly in the top 10 at World Champs and who have won medals at the Paralympics.This gives you an idea of the seriously high calibre of competition.

Day 1 was intense as the Race Committee decided to give us 5 races. Having not raced in a large fleet for a long time I was initially a little apprehensive around the start etc but after 2 races I was back on track and progressed throughout the day.
Day 2 was not a good day for me as the shrouds came loose in one race and I was lucky not to lose the rig. On the final run of the 2nd race the tiller snapped off and I was forced to steer using the rudder cables. Unfortunately this was not possible to repair out on the water and I was forced to retire from the racing early, missing the following 3 races.

The Rolex Miami OCR was more succesfull for me than the previous regattas. My coach Dan Slater had arrived and helped me tune the charter boat and re-cut our sails to better fit the mast. We sailed 10 races over 4 days, as Day 1 was cancelled in anticipation of some heavy thunder storms which never really arrived. Conditions were around 10 - 15 knots for most of the regatta , with the occasional gusty day.

The breeze was inconsistent most of the time and picking the shifts was crucial. The water was choppy every day.
I improved a lot in this regatta and learnt a huge amount. It was a great opportunity to get practise in a large fleet and I enjoyed it as well.

My final result of 19th out of a fleet of 28, whilst not as good as I had hoped for, was a reflection of the fleet, where nine Paralympians and three able-bodied sailors were amongst those who finished ahead of me.

As the youngest sailor there I have plenty to work on and expect to see my placings improve as I continue on my Paralympic campaign.