Paralympic Sailors ready to race

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Issue date

31 Aug 2012

The two boat strong NZ Paralympic Sailing Team is ready to start racing at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

This is the first time since Sydney 2000 that New Zealand Sailors have attended the Paralympic Games, and never before has a female been on the sailing team until now.

Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel will sail together in the Two Person Keelboat event (SKUD 18) and Paul Francis will sail in the One Person Keelboat event (2.4mR). For all three sailors representing NZ, this will be their first time at the Paralympic Games.

“We have our practice race tomorrow which will be our first chance to see how we go against our competition” said Tim Dempsey, Skud 18 Skipper.

After more than a week of training at the venue, official practice races will get underway on Friday mid day (11:15pm NZT Friday) off the shores of Weymouth and Portland, but the first races to count toward the scoreboard for both of New Zealand’s boats will commence just after midday September 1^st (11:15pm Saturday night NZT) .

“The competition is going to be intense and it is clear that everyone has lifted their game including us. Jan and I are sailing really well and we are really enjoying it” Tim continued.

After eleven races in for each fleet (two races scheduled daily, except the final day only one will be sailed), sailing medals will be awarded on September 6^th. The full regatta schedule can be viewed online the London 2012 Paralympic Sailing Website.

New Zealand is 11 hours ahead of London, so in New Zealand time, racing will usually take place between 11:00pm and 4:00am. Kiwis will be racing in two of the three Paralympic sailing classes.

- Ends -

Header Image of Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel in the final stages of training with coach Rob Hielkema in Weymouth.

Where to get ongoing information on this event...

Websites:

Official London 2012 Paralympic Sailing Website (Official News, Results, and Schedule)
New Zealand Paralympic Team (Daily news and updates from all of NZ’s paralympic Teams, including sailing.)
Yachting New Zealand (Yachting New Zealand will be posting a brief daily summary news item and schedule for the next day via a media release)

Social Media:

Athlete Profiles

Paul Francis
One person Keelboat – 2.4MR

Paul Francis is a promenant kiwi sailor having won the P class Tauranga cup in 1974 and sailing competitivly in the 470 when it was one of the strongest classes in NZ. From 1977-80 Paul skippered for some very talented crews including 2016 Olympic Women’s Skiff designer Dave Mckay and three time World Champion Hamish Willcox .Paul has also sailed in the Tornado class and attended a total of 11 Sailing World Championship events in his career.

Paul began sailing the 2.4mR yacht in 2010 and attended the World Championships in Weymouth 2011, and finished 12^thwhich was enough to qualify New Zealanda spot at the 2012 paralympic games.

Since his 2.4mR first regatta Paul has been battling for selection with Josh Mckenzie-Brown (the youngest and longest campaigning sailor in the NZ fleet) and Brett Willcock (who was 1 point adrift of Paul at the final selection regatta). The sailing has been close between these 3 sailors, all three of them taking race wins in the latest Sail Auckland ragatta in 2012.

He has proved to be a consistant sailor, maintaining top eight nations spots at all his major international events in the build up to 2012.

Charles Baillie-Strong is the lead coach for the NZL Sailing Team 2.4MR class.

Paul Francis
Yacht Club: Takapuna Boating Club
Resides: Auckland
Age: 54

Career highlights

1977 ISAF Youth Worlds- 4^th (catamaran)
1993 Flying Dutchman Worlds - 3rd
2007 ISAF Worlds Tornado Portugal
2008 Tornado Worlds Auckland
2009 Flying Dutchman Worlds Napier
2011 IFDS World Championships- 12^th
2011 Sail Melbourne 3^rd
2012 Delta Lloyd Regatta 10^th
2012 Skandia Sail for Gold 11^th

Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel
Two Person Keelboat – SKUD 18

Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel joined forces just three months prior to the IFDS World Championships in 2010. The duo have dedicated an extensive amount of time to their training since this first regatta, and they are being rewarded with results that reflect this effort.

Since their first regatta, Tim and Jan have competed in nearly ten elite international regattas, and have carded some very solid performances in the road to selection for the Paralympic games. Particularly rewarding form them was a 2^nd finish place at Sail Sydney 2010, and just recently finishing 6^th at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta which was sailed at the Paralympic Venue of Weymouth in June 2012.

Both members of Sailability Auckland and the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Tim and Jan have also raced against each other in the liberty class as part of their training. This has been a key in allowing them to practice starting in NZ’s most competitive disabled sailing fleet, as there are still few SKUD 18’s in the country.

Robert Hielkema is the lead coach for the NZL Sailing Team SKUD 18.

Tim Dempsey
Position: Skipper
Yacht Club: Royal Akarana Yacht Club
Resides: Auckland
Age: 40

Jan Apel
Position: Crew
Yacht Club: Royal Akarana Yacht Club
Resides: Auckland
Age: 61

Recent Team Highlights