2009 IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships - Top sailors gather

4:42 AM Wed 14 Oct 2009 GMT

'IFDS' IFDS

The world's top Paralympic sailors have gathered in Athens, Greece for the start of the 2009 IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships, where the competition gets underway tomorrow.

Organized by the Hellenic Sailing Federation, the Faliron Olympic Complex at the Marina Delta Falirou is the venue for the 2009 IFDS Worlds, which features competition in all three Paralympic sailing events. Today was the last day of the measurement, classification and registration, with the Polish Sonar team last to register, having arrived late on Tuesday night.

In total, 16 nations are represented in Greece with final entries per event as follows:

Single-Person Keelboat - 2.4mR: 26 entries
Two-Person Keelboat - SKUD18: 4 entries
Three-Person Keelboat - Sonar: 12 entries

The IFDS (International Association for Disabled Sailing) sailors' forum took place today at 10:00, giving the sailors an option to discuss their issues with the members of the IFDS Executive Committee. The skippers meeting, with the Principal Race Officer (PRO) for the regatta, Paul Schilizzi (GRE), took place just after the forum.

The strong northwest wind which was blowing from early this morning and the rain prevented the Race Committee from completing the practice race as scheduled.

Tomorrow the first race has been scheduled for 12:00 in the morning. Shuttle buses accessible to wheelchair users have been scheduled to start from early in the morning in order to bring the sailors to the venue by 09:30 to prepare for the first day of races.

Mores information: www.sailing.org/ifds-worlds-2009.php

by ISAF (source: Hellenic Sailing Federation)