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U.S. Sailing Names SKUD-18 Sailors to 2006 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team
By Marni Lane
// U.S. Sailing
// August 28, 2006
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| Photo by C. Luppens |
Karen Mitchell and Michael Grimm receive their hardware after winning the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta.
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PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – U.S. Sailing, the national governing body of the sport, has named the top three SKUD-18 teams to the 2006 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team (USDST) in the two-person class. The athletes qualified based on their results at the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta, held August 17-20 in Newport, R.I.
The SKUD-18 two-person teams are:
- Karen Mitchell (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) and Michael Grimm (Miami Beach, Fla.)
- Mark Lewis (Hingham, Mass.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.)
- Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Boca Raton, Fla.)
In December 2005, the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing selected the SKUD-18 (Skiff Universal Design) as the new two-person class for the 2008 Paralympic Games in China. The fast and highly-technical boats first arrived in the United States in June 2006. The SKUD-18 is a lead-assisted skiff, similar in hull shape to the 29er with a big, asymmetrical spinnaker and a bulb keel.
The 2006 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team is coached by Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.). The classes currently selected for the 2008 Paralympic Games are the 2.4 Metre (Open Singlehanded), the SKUD-18 (Open Doublehanded), and the Sonar (Open Triplehanded). The 2008 Paralympic Games are scheduled for September 6-17, 2008, in Beijing, China. The Paralympic Regatta will be held in Qingdao, a coastal city located 430 miles east of Beijing.
Sponsors of the 2006 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team are Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Gill, Zodiac of North America, Vineyard Vines, Sperry Top-Sider, Nikon, Harken, Extrasport, New England Ropes and Team McLube.
For more information on the 2006 U.S. Disabled Sailing Team and the ranking system, please visit www.ussailing.org/olympics/paralympic.
For results and photos from the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta, please visit the official web site: www.ussailing.net/clagett.
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