U.S. Disabled Championships comes to Texas

Published on October 29th, 2014

Galveston, TX (October 29, 2014) – Year in and year out, the U.S. Disabled Championships is one of the most fascinating sailing events in the world. A strong collection of the top sailors in the country are preparing for this week’s three-day championship, which begins Thursday, October 30 and concludes Saturday, November 1.

The 2014 U.S. Disabled Championship is hosted by the Galveston Community Sailing Center (Sea Scout Base). To increase participation and drive more awareness to the opportunities in adaptive sailing, US Sailing has incorporated a development regatta, October 27-29, for the Sonar class. Development regatta participants are also encouraged to race in the championship if they wish. US Sailing’s Paralympic Coach Betsy Alison is also running a clinic in conjunction with this event.

This US Sailing National Championship is one of the oldest sailing regattas in the U.S. for sailors with disabilities. The talented field includes Paralympians, US Sailing Sperry Top-Sider members, and new contenders. This year’s championship will be raced in two fleets, all of which are adapted for disabled sailing. The U.S. Disabled Singlehanded Championship for the Judd Goldman Trophy will be raced in the 2.4mR class and the Triplehanded Championship for the Gene Hinkel Trophy will be raced in Sonars.

First established in 1986, the U.S. Independence Cup became US Sailing’s National Championship for sailors with disabilities in 1989. In 2007, the regatta moved under the championships division of US Sailing and was renamed the U.S. Disabled Sailing Championship. Many competitors at the U.S. Disabled Sailing Championships have gone on to represent the United States at the Paralympics Games including Nick Scandone, gold medalist at the 2008 Paralympics, and Jennifer French, silver medalist at the 2012 Paralympics.