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Message from the President
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The IFDS President, Serge JORGENSEN closed the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition with the following words of thanks. It was directed to the thousands of volunteers, officials and sailors that have selflessly given to the sport of Sailing for People with Disabilities over the last 20 years that have made all of the successes today possible:
"Sailors, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. We have spent the last two years making new friendships, learning new customs and increasing our skills. We came to China with many concerns and uncertain expectations. Working together we blended Western experience and technology with Eastern determination, willingness, intelligence and created an outstanding Paralympic Sailing Competition. We leave with an experience beyond our wildest dreams. We cannot all take home Medals, but we will all take home a new respect and love for China, the Chinese people and especially the city of Qingdao.
On behalf of the IFDS and all of the sailors, I offer my most sincere thanks to the hundreds of volunteers, staff and technical officials who worked tirelessly to make the Games a success. They are among the best in the world and have given us a level playing field, fair equipment, and some great racing.
The athletes are ultimately why we are here. They have fought hard for months and years and have accomplished miracles. Sailing truly embodies the Paralympic spirit. No other sport has such a diverse collection of people with such a wide mix of abilities competing together at once. Paralympic medalists, World Champions, Olympic Medalists, fishermen, businessmen, bankers, doctors and lawyers. Once on the water, disabilities and professions are set aside for sport and pursuit of that perfect race. The camaraderie, energy and determination exhibited as the sailors work together to battle nature and turn the wind and waves to their advantage is awe-inspiring and it has been my honor and privilege to be a part of it.
It is with great sadness that we prepare to leave our friends and return to our own countries. The sadness is surpassed only by our eagerness to return to China someday soon. The 2008 Paralympic Games have made the world a better place and the slogan of the Games will ring in our minds for years to come - Tongyige Shijie. Tongyige Mengxiang. (One World. One Dream.)"
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SKUD18 Gold Medalists ©Getty Images
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2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition
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An exciting finale to the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition in Qingdao ended with gold medals going to Canada's Paul TINGLEY in the 2.4 Metre, US pair Nick SCANDONE and Maureen MCKINNON-TUCKER in the SKUD18 and German trio Jens KROKER, Robert PREM and Siegmund MAINKA in the Sonar.
North America shone on the final day of the Paralympic Sailing Competition, with Canada and the USA ending up tied at the top of the medal tally with one gold and one bronze apiece. Along with Germany's gold medal, the other medals winning nations were France, who won two silver medals after very tightly contested finishes in both the 2.4 Metre and Sonar fleets, and Australia, who won one silver and one bronze.
Nick SCANDONE and Maureen MCKINNON-TUCKER had already secured the gold medal in the Two-Person Keelboat - SKUD18 event even before today's racing began, with an unassailable lead over the rest of the fleet. However the battle was still on for the remaining medals. After several days of extremely light winds, conditions improved in Qingdao for the final day of racing, with the fleets starting their first race in 7 knots of southeasterly breeze, which increased to just over 10 knots by the end of the day.
The Australian crew of Dan FITZGIBBON and Rachael COX who seized their chance in the stronger breezes, winning the first race of the day and then finishing second in the next to secure themselves the silver medal. With the Australians excelling, the Canadian team of John MCROBERTS and Stacie LOUTTIT had to settle for bronze.
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http://www.sailing.org/24994.htm
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2008 Paralympic Games
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Beijing, China - After 12 days of competition, the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on 17 September 2008 officially ended a period of record-breaking competition and events.
The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games was the beginning of an event that raised the standard of Paralympic Sport. The ceremony itself was a poetic expression by the Chinese of "Transcendence, Equality and Integration", the Beijing 2008 Paralympics theme. And at the same time, the Beijing 2008 Organizing Committee (BOCOG) made their "Games of Equal Splendour" pledge a priority throughout the the Games from the Opening until the end of the Closing Ceremony.
Almost 4,000 athletes from a total of 147 different countries around the world came to Beijing to compete in their respective sport.
The 20 sports included Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Cycling, Equestrian, Football 5-a-Side, Football 7-a-Side, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Volleyball (Sitting), Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Tennis. Rowing saw its inauguration into the Paralympic Programme at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.
The days of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games had a total of 472 medal events, with 262 for men (of which 59 include opportunities for persons with high support needs), 176 for women (of which 34 include opportunities for persons with high support needs), and 34 are for mixed (of which 22 include opportunities for persons with high support needs).
The Games saw a total of 279 new World records set and a total of new 339 Paralympic records broken.
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International Paralympic Committee Website
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Sonar's Racing ©08_CR_Son
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IFDS Equipment Evaluation Commission (EEC)
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The evaluation for equipment for the One-Person and Three-Person Keelboats for the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competitions is now completed.
The Equipment Evaluation Commission, chaired by John Twomey made make their recommendation on the equipment to the IFDS Executive Committee during the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition.
The IFDS Executive Committee has now made its recommendations on the equipment through Submissions 01-08/IFDS, 02-08/IFDS, 03-08/IFDS which will be considered at the AGM.
It is recommended that there be no change in the Three-Person Keelboat and that the Sonar continue as the selected equipment. For the One-Person Keelboat, the recommendation is to retain the 2.4mR for 2012 only, and have a further evaluation for equipment for the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Sailing Competitions.
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©Hotel Melia Castilla
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2008 IFDS Annual General Meeting, 8-9 November 2008
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The 2008 IFDS Annual General Meeting is taking place on 9 November 2008 in Madrid, Spain at the same venue as the ISAF Annual Conference.
On Saturday 8 November 2008, there will be a Development Seminar in the morning, followed by IFDS Committee Meetings in the afternoon.
Election of Officers
During the 2008 IFDS AGM there will be elections for two IFDS Vice-Presidents. The elections will be carried out to fill the vacancies for retiring IFDS Executive Committee Members, Serge Jorgensen and Jan Romme.
The deadline for the receipt of nominations submitted to the IFDS Secretariat has now passed and eligible candidates are:
Micky AYALON (ISR)
Wilfried KLEIN (GER)
Frankie Thanapal SINNIAH (SIN)
Henry SLEUTEL (NED)
Pei Ying SUN (CHN)
Constantine (Costas) TSANTILIS (GRE)
Agenda and Supporting Papers
The Agenda and Supporting Papers for the 2008 IFDS Annual Feneral Meeting have been distributed and are available on the website.
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2.4mR Fleet ©Getty Images
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IFDS Athlete Rankings
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IFDS with the kind cooperation of ISAF has operated a test ranking system from the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championship, 2007, Rochester, USA to the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition. Full details of the resultant test rankings will be available shortly and all RNA's and sailors will be invited to share their views on the ranking system by email.
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Auckland Hosts 2009 Kiwi Cup and IFDS One-Person Worlds
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A unique world championship sailing regatta is being held in Auckland in January 2009 incorporating the IFDS One-Person World Championship.
For the first time in New Zealand, sailors with disabilities will be competing against able bodied counterparts in a world championship. The regatta will be a combined IFDS (International Association for Disabled Sailing) One-Person Dinghy World Championship and Access Liberty Open World Championship.
About 10 Access Liberties will be fitted with 'servo electric' sheet and helm winches, enabling sailors with severe disabilities to compete.
Sailability Auckland is hosting the inaugural event that's expected to draw at least 50 international sailors.
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US SAILOR of The Week - Serge JORGENSEN, 24-30 September 2008
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Fresh from the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition, Qingdao, China; Serge Jorgensen is proud of the successes of the event and the accomplishments of the sailors. The President of the International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) since 2004, Serge will retire from his position in November with a strong sense of satisfaction. Serge was instrumental in attracting an unprecedented 80 elite athletes from 25 countries in three events to the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition. Serge is especially proud the number of women competing in the Games quadrupled this year, which he credits to the Two-Person Keelboat, SKUD18 debut. IFDS mandates that at least one of the SKUD18 sailors must be a woman, which has radically changed the sport. Most importantly, Serge is impressed with the athletes, themselves: "It is incredibly inspirational to see the effort and enthusiasm that the sailors put into the sport," said Serge. "The biggest highlight is seeing years of training, development and collaboration coming together for two intense weeks of competition."
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Forthcoming Events
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The calendar at the bottom of this email shows all forthcoming and recent disabled sailing events. Make sure you keep us up to date with your event details - just send us details of the date, venue, classes and contact details.
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Send your event details to IFDS
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Future IFDS Bulletins
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IFDS welcomes feedback from past IFDS Bulletins and contributions for future issues. The IFDS Bulletin is published every month and your contributions are invited. Please send information to ifds@isaf.co.uk
Use of ISAF/IFDS Information
IFDS is pleased for you to reproduce any part of the IFDS Bulletin, with due credit to IFDS as the source.
Please feel free to forward the IFDS Bulletin to your email distribution lists.
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Recently Updated Documents
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Phone:
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+44 (0)2380 635111
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Fax:
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+44 (0)2380 635789
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Postal Address:
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IFDS c/o ISAF (UK) Ltd, Ariadne House,
Town Quay
Southampton, SO14 2AQ,
United Kingdom
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Email:
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ifds@isaf.co.uk
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Website:
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www.sailing.org/disabled
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