Today is an auspicious date, particularly to the Chinese. Eight is the luckiest number in Chinese numerology, which is why the Olympic Opening Ceremonies are today- 8.8.08.
It’s been impossible to escape the Olympic hype -it’s everywhere! People ask Maureen if she’s excited, her reply is interesting -she just wants to get to China and get on with the business at hand, winning the regatta and a gold medal. She’s all business. Both Maureen and Nick have their heads in a good place. They’re calm and confident. Prepared and relaxed.
We’ve been a bit out of touch since January. You may remember that our last email looong ago, was news about our son Trent’s cancer diagnosis. He’s doing very well, and will complete his final treatment about a week before Maureen starts racing. It’s been a tough road with long hospitalizations and the chaos of his treatments, so something had to give, and it was these updates! See the sidebar (left) for more news about Trent’s treatments and status.
While Nick’s ALS has clearly progressed, he’s rested and ready to race. Maureen reports that he’s most energized while on the boat, sailing. They’ve added voice amplification to the boat for Nick, to allow him to conserve his energy for what counts -racing.
Right now Maureen is out in California, for her final training session with Nick. She’s been going to CA every 3-4 weeks for 5 days at a time. Training with the team over the course of the summer have been some fantastic and accomplished Californian sailors - World champ in 5o5 and International 18 Skiff classes, multi-time National Champions from the Snipe and Lido 15 classes, an Athens Olympic Windsurfer, and members of the UCI sailing team. The water and wave conditions have been very Qingdao-ish.
We’d like to thank the sailors who all helped out with training, particularly US Sailing Team training partners and Silver medalists from the Chinese test event, Scott Whitman and Julia Dorsett. Thanks to Scott for making both of his boats available for Maureen and Nick to train with, as well as Team Paradise sending a boat west. Until their boat was packed up and shipped to China on July 10th, Maureen and Nick have had as many as 4 boats to train with, which is a tremendous advantage.
Maureen & Nick will depart for the US Olympic Center in Colorado Springs on August 27th, where their documents will be finalized, they’re be outfitted with their full US Paralympic Team attire and swag. Then they’re directly off to Beijing and on to Qingdao. Paralympic Opening Ceremonies are September 6th, and their first race is September 8th.
Well, sports fans it has been a tumultuous 3 weeks. I apologize for not updating you sooner.
In mid-January Nick and I were down in Miami for a tune-up regatta called the Alex Cavalgia Bluewater Classic Regatta. It was a three day event. On the last day, a storm passed through and we had no racing. Nick and I won the Regatta winning 4 races out of 5.
Never did we know the storm that would develop in our own lives the very next day after receiving our award. Sipping coffee at 8 AM that Monday morning, and getting ready for the first day of a weeks training with our US SKUD training partners Scott and Julia from Team Metedeconck, I checked in back at the homestead. Read the rest of this entry »
Wow. We really seem to hang around in some good sailing company! Maureen’s Sonar skipper from the 2004 Paralympic campaign for , Rick Doerr,was just nominated for the highest honor US Sailing can bestow, the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. Rick and his teammates, Tim Angle and Bill Donohue have had a tremendous year, culminating in winning the IFDS World Championship and then the Paralympic Trials.
We’re cheering for him to win the Rolex, which is decided by a panel of sailing journalists. He’s up against an incredible list of sailors who have also put up impressive results in the past year. Go Ricky!! If he wins, he’ll be the second disabled sailor to win the most prestigious award in American sailing… The first was Maureen’s current skipper, Nick Scandone!
Well, I’m finally happy with the new site! Lots of stuff going on here… this blog; photos; videos (thanks to Gary Jobson), FAQs, info on the non-profit… I’ll be adding some more historical stuff in the coming weeks.
This week, Maureen’s old teammates Rick Doerr and Tim Angle, along with Moe’s replacement Bill Donahue, were named US Sailing Paralympic Team of The Year. We’re really excited for them, they really deserve the recognition. They’ve been absolutely kicking butt and taking names this year. It has been tough and the standings have been close, but they’ve won all the important regattas in the past year: Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta, Claggett, IFDS Worlds, and most importantly, the Trials. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the end of the beginning! In 297 days we will be at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympics - How cool is THAT??? Nick and I clinched the win in the Paralympic Trials by the 14th race on Saturday and needed to not race the last day. The Race Committee gave us an extra long toot of the horn as we crossed the finish line first, to clinch the win.
Yes, that means that Nick and I are now members of the US Paralympic Team representing the SKUD 18 class, we’re going to Beijing! And, in the Sonar class I am so relieved and happy to report that my former teammates are also going to the Games - Rick, Timmy and Bill. It went to the wire for them and I had the pleasure of watching them win it Sunday. Also on the Paralympic Team is John Ruf of Wisconsin in the 2.4 Metre class. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, as the old saying goes…. the opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings… she’s not onstage yet, but we sure can hear her warming up!
Two more races, two more bullets. Today we really had to work extra hard for our second win. The first race we led the race mark by mark, extending on every leg to the finish. The second race though was a fight… Read the rest of this entry »
Today began a bit raw with drizzling rain and kept that way throughout the day. We suited and layered up and sailed out to Potters Cove for Day 5 of racing.
The breeze was much like the end of our last race so we kept the rig tuned the same. There was a gradient breeze of 6-10 knots was from the east north east and the temp was in the high 50’s. The race committee gave us a new course with upwind finishes, this probably meant that race committee was going to do more than two races to catch up. We were right we had 3 races.
We won the first race with Scott & Julia 2nd, Karen & J.P third. The second race was a bit of a nail biter where we found the seaweed again and after a slow downwind, rounded the leeward mark, went a few boatlengths and did a maneuver called a “backdown”. In a backdown, you not only stop the boat from racing, but you push the boom AT the wind and make the boat go backwards. As you might imagine, it’s not fast! We felt the boat was going better again, but one boat passed us. We needed to catch up. We realized we may ruin our first place record but that wasn’t as important as finishing ahead of our major competitor, and we did we finished second. Julia and Scott of NJ stayed out of the adverse current on the way upwind, while we battled it out to pass Karen and J.P. which we did. Scott & Julia passed us both at the top of the beat to finish first and were so happy, it was great to see.
Our last race, race three, we also won, with Scott and Julia behind us and Karen & J.P. again in third. The day was 1-2-1 and we have now 10 pts with a throw-out score and are also 10 points ahead of second place. There’s a great battle developing for second and third, with only one point between them.
There was an article in Thursday’s Salem News Sports section on the racing. Look it up if you can!
Just one race today and still in first by 6 points now after another win - it’s still close though! With 7 of 16 races completed, we’re still not quite halfway done. It already seems like we’ve been racing forever. Boy, is this a long regatta!
Long way to go yet….but still in first place and maybe on ESPN!
The day began drizzly and overcast, and all the competitors were bundled up for a day’s skiing. We had less wind on the course for our third day of races. On the first race, the wind was gusting to 12 knots and we kept extending ahead of the fleet both upwind and downwind and won the race. Nearly two minutes expired before the next competitor crossed the finish.
Celebrating the win as we cross the line.
Well, as the old saying goes…. the opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings… she’s not onstage yet, but we sure can hear her warming up!
Today began a bit raw with drizzling rain and kept that way throughout the day. We suited and layered up and sailed out to Potters Cove for Day 5 of racing.
Just one race today and still in first by 6 points now after another win - it’s still close though! With 7 of 16 races completed, we’re still not quite halfway done. It already seems like we’ve been racing forever. Boy, is this a long regatta!