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Regatta launches disabled program
Sailors part of competitive event
Hamilton Spectator, Pete Kehoe, May 13, 2002 |
While competitors were attempting to qualify for the world championships during the Lilac Festival Regatta, Karen Bergsteinsson used the event to launch accessible sailing at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club. "We are going to see how often we fall on our faces," said Bergsteinsson, who lives with the debilitating effects of Multiple Sclerosis. "This is like our coming out party."
Bergsteinsson had been sailing for several years when MS struck in the mid 1990s causing her to drop out of the sport for three or four years before returning in 1999. "This is terrifically satisfying," said the former librarian. "Until this program came through, I had given up on sailing." Bergsteinsson moved from Toronto to Hamilton last year and has helped bring an accessible sailing program for the disabled to the RHYC. "They asked if I would help so I am. I think I'm running it but I'm not sure, I just know that things are getting done and I don't want to step on any toes," she said.
Sailing for the disabled started in B.C. in the early 1990s thanks to the development of a 16-foot Martin designed specifically for people with special needs. "It is really exciting, this really frees people and it allows sailors to experience companionship again, to lose something like that is awful," she said. Bergsteinsson takes her hat off to the RHYC for embracing the program and assimilating accessible sailors in with all the club's activities. "It is great to be integrated rather than be off in the corner. This way we can use each other's resources," she said. "Because of what happened to me I can no longer work anymore and I wanted something to do with my life. This program gives me a focus and allows me to feel useful."
The custom boat makes sailing a real possibility for many disabled. Even those paralysed from the neck down can sail on their own through breath control known as the "sip and puff" method. "You don't need any previous experience and that is the beauty of it," she said. Hamilton native, Cam Perry, began sailing at the RHYC at the age of eight but a stroke10 years ago robbed him of the use of his right side and impaired his speech. Three years later, Perry was back sailing and now sets his sights on getting his own sailboat. "It is liberating not to have to worry about the things you can't do," said Perry, 53, who used to crew on a larger boat.
Han Tacoma, 55, has been paralysed from the waist down since 1994 when he fell out of a tree while cutting branches. "This is the ultimate freedom," said Tacoma, a wheelchair-bound, Toronto resident. "It is great to have the wind blowing in your face, it is great getting wet. I don't even feel the cold because it is such an adrenalin rush."
While Bergsteinsson and the rest of the disabled sailors were relishing the significance of the weekend regatta as the first integrated event at the RHYC, there were another 65 boats and 75 sailors in nine categories using the first regatta of the new year to qualify for the worlds. Those who had already secured a world berth used the opportunity to get better acquainted with the Hamilton Harbour venue that will be home to the 2002 world championships from Aug. 26 until the day after Labour Day. After the weekend event, the only remaining qualifier prior to the worlds is in Vancouver. "Venue racing is a huge advantage," said Tory Crowder, 25, of Hamilton, who qualified for the world championships in January. "On the ocean, the wind is straight on but on a lake or any small body of water there are swirling winds," said Crowder.
The 2002 event will also mark the first time the world championships will be held on a lake. "It is good to race in the location of the worlds," said Oakville native Claudia Strobele, 24, who qualified for the worlds at the Canadian Championships last summer. "The smaller the body of water and the closer you are to land, the more strategic and tactical the racing becomes."
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