Well here is an entry to the website I never thought I'd get to make! Ever since 2006 when I started sailing Access boats, the SKUD 18 has always been an end game boat for me. What I mean by an end game boat is this: this boat is the largest dinghies size I can get! I cannot get any bigger without spending lots of money! It is also the boat I will be using to attempt to gain a place in the Paralympics for both 2012 and 2016.
For the last few weeks I have been negotiating a price for a second-hand SKUD which became available in mid- June. I got an incredible deal which Michael was happy with and yesterday he brought that to my house and I can now look on it from my bedroom window. Not only did I get the boat and all its paraphernalia but I also got two extra sets of sails, a spare mast as well as a road trailer.
The boat itself is just over 6 m long and it is 2.3 m wide. It has a total sail area of just under 400 ft.² with three sails being used.
Below are some pictures of it in my drive way .
More pictures of Michael sailing it at the world Championships in Holland in July can be found at: Image 1 Image 2 Image 3
Well, what a hectic couple of weeks I've had! As you all know it has been my aim to gain a place in the Paralympics either for 2012 or 2016. To do this I would need to get into the Paralympic class SKUD18 by the beginning of 2011 at the very latest, but in the last few of weeks I have made a deposit on a second-hand SKUD as well as finding a team to support me in this immense endeavour.
Having spoken to one of the SKUD coaches I will be abandoning this years access Liberty campaign and will be selling blue streak. I realise I have only just taken delivery of it but it took over a year to be delivered and what with the continual winch problems I have had with it this year I decided to bring forward my SKUD plans.
As you can see from the website the SKUD is a major boat to handle but I will not be doing it alone! In the next few months I will be searching the south for a female crew who can work along side me and manipulate the sails. This person will have to be disabled and have good upper body strength.
As you will see from the right side of the website I'm now looking for definite sponsorship for a Paralympic bid for 2012. On this panel of the website you will find endorsements from well-known sailing personalities. I'm hoping to get more of these as the campaign progresses.
Please keep coming back to the website as things will be happening at a frantic pace now if we are to be competitive for next year's Paralympic campaign!
On Wednesday last week I attended the latest Access Travellers Trophy event in Oxford. We were all very surprised by the lack of competitors at this event because it is a relatively neutral positioned event for everyone concerned. Having said this it was the first one straight after the world Championships 10 days ago.
There was three Liberty competitors at this event but Melvin had technical problems with his boat meaning he was unable to race. This meant there were just two of us racing in the Liberty division which made it relatively boring but still we did for races, David won three and I beat him once.
David has been the UK Liberty champion two years on the trot so I didn't really stand a chance to consistently beat him. In the first three races I was trying different starting positions along the line as it was a good opportunity with so few boats to do this
On the third race I was called back after the start gun had gone because I was over the line.
In the final race I was tracking David throughout the first lap and I knew I had to do something different to him on the second lap which would enable me to overtake him. I decided to stay on one tack right the way up until I made the turn for the mark. I was quite surprised when I reached the Windward Mark that I made it 10-15 seconds ahead of David. I managed to keep this lead until I reached the finish line.
Anyway I still came second which will work wonders for my championship!
Firstly I must apologise for not updating the website on a regular basis this week but we had a dodgy WI-FI Internet connection which kept cutting out just as we finished updating this page. After the second attempt at writing Wednesday’s blog we gave up and I decided to update the site when I got home. Well now I'm back I can update you on how I did.
It was a week of frustration for me both with the weather and the boat. This week we went from no wind on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to having up to 20 knots of wind on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday along with two foot waves. It was not until Friday morning for the final race that I had conditions that I was use to at spinnaker.
On top of this I had three breakages with my two winches on the boat over four days and only on the final day did I actually have a fully working boat.
Having said this I managed to finish all but one of the races but did not get the results I wanted.
Below is a synopsis of how my week went!
On Sunday, June 6 the Bruce Wake Access World Championships 2010 started with 90 competitors over 5 classes of boats.
The races were split into two session’s morning and afternoon, in one session the single handers sailed and on the other the doubles raced. We alternated between morning and afternoon so we had the opportunity for a lie in. With two races back-to-back in each session we should have the opportunity for nine races between Monday and Friday. As Friday will be the final day of racing there is only one race planned for this day.
The organisers had designated two race areas for us to participate in. One was relatively close to the clubhouse but the other was at the other end of the lake roughly 1.5 miles away. The second one was used primarily which took us 45 minutes to an hour to get to.
Today we had a practice race to see how long it took the pontoon crew to change over the singles and doubles boat.
At the beginning of the week my main goal this week is to achieve a first or second placing in the fully servo assisted division, although it would be nice to win the overall championship there are far more able-bodied sailors competing. Having said this obviously with the breakages and the unfavourable conditions completely put a kibosh on my plans!
Monday Day One
Race 1
With light to moderate winds I made a reasonable start but got caught behind another boat, although we were on the favored tack I was at risk of the sails becoming blanketed by the other boat so tacked onto the unfavored tack which resulted in some of the other competitors passing me. I was then playing catch up and came fourth in division and 11th overall.
Race 2
This time I managed to get into much cleaner air at the start and I was able to race my own race without interference from other boats.
I was chasing the leader of the fully servo division right from the start and I managed to come second in division and sixth overall, very satisfying.
In this race I noticed that my jib (the front sail) was not pulling in as it should. When I got ashore I had the winch looked at and there was a problem with it which was sorted for Tuesday's races
Tuesday Day Two
Race 1
Although I made a very good start and was lying third in the race, the race was abandoned due to a drop in wind that left us flat, becalmed and frustrated. After this race racing was abandoned for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better.
Wednesday Day Three
Race 1
Once again we had very little wind almost as little as on Tuesday! The committee really had to get us another couple of races in today as we were already a day behind the doubles.
As those who have sailed at Rutland can testify to in light airs you get pockets that just don't have any wind in at all. I think I found most of them on the up wind leg! For those of us that were languishing at the back of the fleet as we approached the Windward Mark what little breeze there was for the leaders just completely died and left us unable to even steer the boats.
The committee boat decided to shorten the course dramatically to only two very short legs which didn't leave us enough time to catch the leaders (not that I think we could anyway!)
Due to the lack of wind in the morning the singles were sent out again for our second 3.5 hour session in the afternoon which was an absolute killer for me as I was already hot and tired! Having said this, the breeze had got up dramatically while we were waiting ashore and now it was blowing 20 knots (or so I was told.)
Race 2
Now we had some wind we also had some quite choppy water which I'm not used too in Blue Streak! Last year at the Multi-Class Regatta I did really well in these conditions in Orville but blue streak has much bigger sails so was a little daunted by the prospect! Although I knew blue streak could handle the waves it was more trepidation on my part whether I would stay seated in my chair properly in the boats.
I don't really remember much about the race but going around the first mark for the first downwind leg I noticed that my main sheet winch was making a horrible grinding noise and losing a lot of power to pull sails in. I was running third in the servo division up until this point but I was unable to pull my sails in to go back up wind at the next mark without going head to wind (the sails are completely depowered.) This lost me time, speed and momentum!
Race 3
I came ashore during the break between the races to get my winch looked at and it was decided that in such strong winds it would be better not to go out and to get the winch looked at overnight for Thursday's racing.
Thursday Day Four
Race 1
With the mainsheet winch repaired I was excited to go out again in strong winds. My enthusiasm didn't last long when just before I was about to be cast off I noticed that my jib motor wasn't working at all.
By now I was completely demoralised and very hacked off! The problem was not able to be repaired so I went out with just the mainsail which the maintenance crew from SS Marine told me that it was just like sailing Orville!
By now my championship was over at least for getting into the top three so it was just a matter of having fun now. I must say that it was great fun just throwing the boat around in two foot waves with one sail! With all the pressure off I just enjoy the environment and I was quite amazed that I didn't come last even with one sail.
Race 2
By now I was really getting into racing with one sail and smashing into these waves! Once again I didn't come last!
Friday Day Five (final day)
Believe it or not the weather today was absolutely perfect and was conditions I would normally thrive in at spinnaker! The battle for the top spot (Gold medal) of the fully servo assisted division was incredibly tight between Melvyn from Great Britain and two Dutch competitors. There was just one point between all of them. Melvin had to get a win in the final race in order to get gold and the Dutch girls were in credibly quick. So I said to Melvyn on the start line that I will act as a buffer between him and the Dutch girls if I was able to. Although I didn't exactly make Vera and Wilma take a penalty which I could have done easily on the second leg, I saw that Melvyn had 20 to 30 seconds lead so I let the Dutch girls go and therefore Melvin won Gold for Great Britain.
Overall thoughts:
I've feel that a big thank you needs to go to the access class Association UK for organising such a well-run event! Although the weather didn't play ball for the first part of the week everything else was perfect.
I would also like to thank the guys from SS Marine who did an outstanding job in keeping the boats going in such trying times especially with all the electrics going wrong on several boats.
Well that's about the combined access world Championships 2010 wrapped up in three pages of A4 in word! What you can't explain is all the camaraderie involved in such an event! I made some new friends and caught up with old ones.
Although I have been racing on the Access Travellers Trophy race circuit for three years I have not been able to attend the Carsington event in this time.
When we arrived at Carsington there was about 8 to 10 knots of wind which is about minimum for what I do well in. Mark (my shore crew) is now getting used to how I like things in the boat and we can now get me in the boat and comfortable within about 15 minutes.
Having said this, there was a complete shambles on the pontoon because there is only one of these for about 25 access boats and only one hoist. Although I was the first in my boat we then had to negotiate getting me away from the hoist to enable other people to get in their boats.
So once comfortable, I set off for the start line in quite a buoyant mood because the last two races took place in, in incredibly light winds. Little did I know that after the first race we would be looking at winds in thev low single figures.
Race one
Having sorted out which end of the line I was going to start from with two minutes before the gun went, a knot came undone in the boat needing attention from people ashore. This took me 25 minutes to come ashore and then back out to the start line to start my race. Obviously I came last in this race.
This completely wrecked this race and essentially the whole day as I discovered later in the day that due to a lack of wind we would only run three races instead of the usual four. Normally when we have four races our worst result gets discarded leaving us with three scored races.
Race two
I got a reasonable start, deciding to get a mid line start to get away from the congestion at the committee boat end. I was forth going round the first mark and made up a place on the second lap. I came third in this one.
Race three
I must say if nothing else my starts were excellent today. In the ever dying wind I managed to get to the first mark first and I was leading up until the second mark. By this time there was absolutely no wind at all and it was just a complete lottery as to who would get it first. I was overtaken by three boats but the first to got embroiled in an argument at the last Mark so I managed to sneak through in second place.
I manage to claim an overall place of fourth which I was reasonably satisfied with.
This is its just
“Despite Keith’s obvious challenges in life, he’s one of the most driven people I know – I like that – it kind of reminds me of myself. He has an obvious talent for sailing and a particular aptitude for racing. And with the right boat and the right technology to overcome his physical limitations, he will prove that he has the determination and skill to earn the right to compete with the best”.
