Blind Sailing UK National Championships at Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
by Lucy Hodges 5 Oct 2015 22:38 PDT
2-4 October 2015
This year's Blind Nationals was again hosted by Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club with the support of Island Sailing Club and UKSA providing support, to who Blind Sailing owe a huge thanks for all they have done in 2015 for the charity.
This year 16 sailors took part across all three sight categories, and again saw Blind Sailing's young sailors take part alongside three new sailors that were taking the next step in sailing and trying racing. For many this is an easy step, but for those that use other senses it can be a frighten step, lots of noise on the start and all moves learnt in training seem to be happening faster, but through the sighted team at Blind Sailing they were given confidence and enjoyed their first taste.
The weather was not fully on the side of the event and led to the AP being hoisted ashore, but the team where quick to put into use RYA Sailability's on shore sailing and this lead to great team work and seeing sighted and VI's working together running round the race course. The wind was not to appear on Saturday and racing was cancelled.
Sunday was looking a better day with the AP being hoisted at 9am for an hour, but once the boats were released the wind slowly built. The tide across the race course was strong and it took great team work to ensure the boat kept moving. Sailing with no sight, tide can add a strange feel and with a slight over-tack the bow can be caught, but all 16 sailors showed their skill and ability to cope with the conditions.
Mike Till put on six great races seeing close racing across both fleets. Hannah Stodel coached this year's blind nationals and said it is great to see so many VI sailors out racing, putting into practice what they have been training for. Watching three Sonar's approach the mark together and all working hard to come out on top, you often forget the helms have limited or no sight. After 6 races the results were close.
Overall Results:
B1 class
1st Gareth Robinson, Vicki Sheen, Eddie Kitchen and Sarah Ross
2nd David Ross, Sharon Grennan, Crash and Tony Stockman
3rd Adam Party, Mark Austin, Willabie Mathews and Dennis Manning
4th Ian Shirra, Ed Suckling, Sharon Stockman and Sally Rodrigus
B2/3 fleet
1st Jonny Stephenson, Callum Rawcliff and Toby Davey
2nd Justin Smith, Lucy Hodges and Liam Cattermole
3rd Adam McGovern, Charlie Griffiths and Martin Phillips
4th Jonny Cormack, Patrick Beukenholdt and Laura Cammidge
Well done to all and thanks to Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club, Island Sailing Club, UKSA and Enterprise Cars from Kendal.