Issue date
Sonar sailors David Barnes, Rick Dodson, Andrew May and John Weston are in Kinsale, Ireland, for the 2013 IFDS Combined World Championships to be sailed later this month. At a well attended send off function with supporters and friends on July 31st, the team confirmed their intentions to aim for the podium in Kinsale, kicking off their campaign for selection to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
The 2013 IFDS Combined World Championships commence on 22 August, and ten races are scheduled for the 18 boat strong fleet. After this first event, the team will pack bags and head straight to Rochester, New York, for the Open World Championships in September.
Using the Paralympic sailing format for the IFDS World Championships, the Kiwi team known as "Kiwi Gold Sailing" will sail as a crew of three without spinnakers in a fleet where every sailor must classify with a physical disability to be eligible. For the Open worlds, any four sailors can comprise a crew and sail with a spinnaker.
London 2012 Paralympic SKUD 18 coach Rob Hielkema will be supporting team Kiwi Gold for both the IFDS World Championships and the Sonar Open World Championships (sailed with four crew and spinnakers) in New York.
- - - - --
August 14th 2013: Team Update
By Amber Cameron - Team media
Today was a successful day on the water for the Kiwi Gold Sailing Team.
The boys did a lot of what they call "mucking around" but is in fact vital to getting Great Wall Cars race ready. We have a local character here in Kinsale by the name of Harry, who we now call "Harry The Handy Man Super Dude". Nothing is too much for him and his welder mates, who have turned out some awesome stanchions we need for when Andrew is on board.
Systems were being sorted today too; halyards and sheets cut to length and marked, the cockpit and clutches labeled and a good part of the day on the water working on communication between the sailors on Great Wall Cars and in the chase boat with Robert Hielkema, our Coach.
With Rob alongside in the tender donated to us by April and Joe English of Kinsale, Rob and John were able to put the Sonar and the sailors through the paces of calling trim and twist on the sails, tacking to and fro and getting a good feel how our boat handles. What could be considered basic set up, it still vital in starting in the right way towards a good result here in Kinsale and further down the course of our Paralympic Campaign. We are building a relationship with not just Great Wall Cars, but together as a new Team.
Towards the afternoon the crew lifted her out in the strop lift at the Kinsale Yacht Club and were rather surprised to find quite a covering of barnacles, considering she has only been in the water for 4 days.
What was even more alarming was the Big Ba%^&rd of a water blaster. It's not too PC down here in Kinsale in regards to Health and Safety, so no hard helmets where required. In true Kiwi Style they gave her underside a "good seeing to" and made sure to note that the water pressure was so much that it cuts through webbing straps like a razor blade....
This afternoon they had a mini lecture from the resident weather and tidal guru called Rob Jacobs, who instilled in them his local knowledge of the sailing conditions, tide and current information, only gleaned by many years sailing in Kinsale herself. What a gift.
The end of the day saw Rob bringing home a heap of Fish and Chips, the boys making mugs of tea and there was a mandatory piece of fresh fruit on Coach Rob's orders.
I asked the boys a few questions;
What has been the thing you have enjoyed the most since coming to Kinsale?
David: "Actually getting ready to get down to some racing....and sleeping!"
Rob: "It's been really easy to fit in here culturally, it has a very friendly sailing community and a great vibe"
There must have been a few things niggling on the sailors minds coming out here to Kinsale.
It's a long trip and regardless of any disability, there must have been something that you thought would be easy and another much harder than it actually turned out to be....
Andrew: "The hill, getting up the hill. It's really quite steep to get from the Yacht Club up to Ron Hollands house. But, I literally rose to the occasion! " (He goes down it at 200km an hour though!) Video to follow.
John: "Learning to order off the menu!" (see the Facebook page and pic of John vs The Shrimp...)
Tomorrow the boys put Great Wall Cars back in the water, fit the new stanchions and then hopefully being race ready, go for a sail at 2pm Irish Time.
There is a cruising race at 7pm that they will hopefully join in with, but for sure they are going to take part in the club racing on Thursday night that has big fleet of able bodied sailors and some other Sonars they can line up against.
- - -
Great Wall backing for top Kiwi sailors
Press Release by Great Wall
Great Wall is providing support for two of New Zealand’s leading sailors in their bid to take part in the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil.
David Barnes and Rick Dodson not only share multiple world championship titles and participation in the America’s Cup, they have also both battled Multiple Sclerosis for 13 years. Their aim is now to provide New Zealand’s Paralympic Sailors with the same reputation and position on the world stage as other New Zealand sailors, such as Neville Crichton, who, as Executive Chairman of Great Wall in New Zealand and Australia is providing support for the Kiwi Gold Sailing team and who is one of the country’s leading sailors.
David and Rick want to use their bid to enter the 2016 Paralympic Games as a springboard to raise the awarenessof sailing for people with a disability, to make the Sonar yacht class more available across New Zealand and, from this, use other classes such as the 2.4 and Skud for disabled sailing.
To achieve this David and Rick will be taking their Great Wall sponsored Sonar yacht around the world in the build-up to the 2016 Paralympic Games in September 2016, starting with the Sonar World Championships in Ireland at the end of August, before competing in the USA less than a month later before returning to New Zealand for training in Wanaka prior to a major regatta in Australia in December. A similar calendar of events in 2014 and 2015 will keep the team busy right up to Brazil 2016.
“We are committed to pursuing our goal and we are competing with the hope that others will be inspired to take up sailing,” says David Barnes. “Our message is to never give up on your dreams and to keep believing in a brighter future.”
