Sailing

Canadians win pre-Paralympic event

ST. PETERSBURG -- Tampa Bay held its final major regatta for disabled sailors before it hosts the Athens Paralympic trials in November, with a three-day competition that ended Sunday.

Judy Altenhoff's race committee started races around times of little wind and blustery conditions to make the event a good test.

Canada's Brad Boston and Liz MacDonald won the 16-boat Martin 16 class, spinnaker Division 2. Danny McCoy of Canada with crew Ken Carpenter, who hails from St. Petersburg, came in second, followed by Australians Daniel and Greg Fitzgibbon. Karen Mitchell of Deerfield Beach was top female skipper and fifth overall.

Dallaire Rene sailed using the sip and puff configuration -- not having the use of hands or feet, he used strawlike pipes for the steering and sail controls to activate servos that responded to his commands. He came in seventh.

The majority of the field was from Canada, with other entries from the United States and England, including Palm Harbor's William Morris, who was 15th.

Nigist Sewnnet of Toronto was first among the Division 1 Martin-16 sailors, who don't use spinnakers and the "crew" just goes along for the ride, not participating in the sailing of the boat.

"Sailing these boats is the only time I get out of my wheelchair," Sewnnet said.

Americans swept the 2.4-meter class, with Tom Brown of Maine in first with five points, followed by John Ruf from Wisconsin with seven. Tom Franklin of Miami was third. Twelve boats competed with representation from Canada and Singapore.

Nine boats competed in the 23-foot Sonar class with a skipper and two crew members. The United States swept the top three in close competition. Three top teams are vying for the nation's one slot at the Athens Games.

Winning overall was Paul Callahan from Rhode Island with crew Keith Burhans and Mike Hersey with 18 points. Rick Doerr from New Jersey, with crew members Tim Angle and Richard Hughes, also had 18 points but lost a tiebreaker.

In third was 1996 bronze medalist John Ross Duggan of California with J.P. Creignon and Mike Ross crewing.

England, Ireland and the Netherlands also were represented.

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