[Sportsandrec] sailing

[Peter Donahue]

Good morning Kris and everyone,

     First I went to school with an individual who is blind and heavily 
into sailing. If the name of Matthew Chao is familiar to you he and I 
went to school together. He's been into blind sailing for many years.

     If you could send us contact information my wife and I may want to 
discuss this with you further. Here is one way this division could 
partner with blind sailors to introduce other blind people to this 
sport. How about making contact with other sports-related organizations 
and creating similar partnerships. I know that Bowling, Goalball and 
various Beep-Ball sports are very popular sports among the blind. A 
great initiative should be to introduce blind children and adults to 
other sports by working with various blind sporting groups to sponsor 
clinics around the country i.e. a partnership with the United States 
Blind Golf Association to introduce golf to more blind individuals for 
example. And let's not forget about organizing various sports 
tournaments to benefit the NFB and other blindness-related concerns. 
Some agencies for the blind have already done this. The NFB should do 
likewise. All the best for a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Peter Donahue

Kris Scheppe via SportsandRec wrote:
> We sail the boat by feeling the wind on our face and the way the boat 
> feels going through the water. You can feel and hear when the boat is 
> moving fast as opposed to being sluggish. There are two types of blind 
> sailing, fleet racing and match racing. In fleet racing there are 4 on 
> the boat two blind and two sighted. The helmsman (person steering the 
> boat) and mainsheet trimmer are blind and jib trimmer and tactician 
> are sighted. The tactician is only allowed to give verbal commands and 
> can't touch any controls on the boat. In this type of racing you are 
> racing against several other boats at the same time. Match racing, 
> which we just had worlds for, is a crew of three blind on the boat. 
> The helmsman must be totally blind or blindfolded. Each person on the 
> boat is given a point value based in visual category, B1 = 1 pt, B2 = 
> 2 pt, B3 = 3 pt, you can't have more than a total of 6 points on the 
> boat. Match racing uses autdio buoys, so you listen for different 
> sounds from the buoys to navigate around the course. Only two boat 
> race each other at a time and each boat also has a sound signal on it, 
> so you can hear where the other boat is.
>
> While boath forms of racing are fun, I prefer the match racing as it 
> is truly blind sailing without sighted assistance. We usually race 
> boat that are 20-24 feet long. The 2017 Blind Fleet Racing Worlds will 
> be at Houston Yacht Club in September.
>
> The boats used for competition are provided by the Yacht Club or 
> Organization hosting the event. A totally blind person can definitly 
> sail and compete! Competitions in different places in around the 
> country. We have events coming up in Titusville, FL, Sheboygan, WI, 
> Boston, MA, Toronto, Canada, and Houston, TX. Last year we did a 
> series of 6 clinics around the country to get more people into match 
> racing, which is fairly new in the US.
>
> Want to learn how to sail? I can help you find a program in your area 
> to learn to sail or tell you when clinic are so you can come.
>
> Feel free to ask any other questions you have!
>
> Kris Scheppe
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SportsandRec [mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> Kris Scheppe via SportsandRec
>> Sent: November-21-16 2:04 PM
>> To: sportsandrec at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Kris Scheppe
>> Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Sports Done by the Blind but not Discussed
>>
>> I'm real into sailing. My team won Bronze in the Blind Match Racing
>> World Championship this last September. I'm also working on doing an
>> ocean race next summer. Next September will be the Blind Fleet Racing
>> World Championship in Houston. I love every part of being on the water
>> and the strategy and competative aspect of sailing. I'm also the
>> Americas representative for Blind Sailing International, so if you have
>> any questions about sailing or would like to give it a try let me know!
>>
>> Kris Scheppe
>>
>>
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>> ron.ca
>>
>
>
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