Match Racing World Championship for Blind Sailors Underway

by David Staley on 23 Jun 2010 Racing commenced today on Lake Garda, Italy for the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships, 2010, Homerus Blind Match Racing. Conducted in conjunction with Homerus Associazione Onlus, the event is using the ISAF Experimental Appendix CBS for Blind Match Racing and the innovative Homerus system of acoustic buoys.

This is the 12th Homerus International Championships and the inaugural event to be conducted as an IFDS authorized World Championship. A separate series of match races will be held for the B1 and B2 vision classifications. The B1 Division for totally blind sailors will be an IFDS World Championship, while the B2 Division is sailing an IFDS International Championship.

Sailors competing in this event must be classified under the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) system. The championships are sailed in pairs of identical keelboats by a two person blind or vision impaired crew with a sighted observer on board. Three acoustic buoys, each with a unique signal, define the course and each boat has its own acoustic device that changes signature when it is on port or starboard tack.

On the B1 course today, the Australian team of Kylie Forth and Erin McGlew kicked off their championship in the best way, winning both their matches. First were Vicki Sheen / Dennis Manning (GBR), then Manuel Ugarte / Federico Albir (ESP). Forth, an above-knee amputee as well as being totally blind, has been steadily progressing up the rankings since taking on the helming role in 2007.

Local Champion, Luigi Bertanza, winning helmsman in the B1 division of the 2009 IFDS Blind Sailing International Fleet Racing Championship in Rotorua, New Zealand last January, has paired with experienced sheet-hand Silvia Parente for this event. The pair comfortably won their only match today, beating the San Marino team of Francesco Alborghetti and Alessandro Mancinone. But it was another Italian team, Anna Gamba and Enrico Sosio, which equaled the Australians by beating Alborghette / Mancione (RSM) and Ugarte / Albir (ESP).

On the B2 course, two teams have 100% on the scoring sheet. Husband and wife team Alessandro Malapiero and Elisabetta Bardella (ITA) were too good for Jordi Taule / Jose Avalos (ESP) today and went on to beat Pekka Rantanen / Egidio Carantini (FIN). The GBR team of Lucy Hodges and Toby Davey also managed two from two, beating Taule / Avalos (ESP) and Antony Bersani / Mario Alciati (USA). Malapiero and Hodges meet in the first match tomorrow.

The event is being hosted by Circolo Vela Gargnano and continues until June 27.