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10 Questions U.S. Paralympic Sailing coach Serge Jorgensen
By Luba Vangelova, Special to CNNSI.com Serge Jorgensen coached the American Paralympic sailing team to a bronze medal in Atlanta, where sailing was an exhibition sport. This year marks its debut in the regular program. When he's not coaching Paralympians, Jorgensen works as a Florida-based computer consultant. He's also the founder of Sailing Alternatives, an organization that teaches people with various special needs (both able-bodied and disabled) to sail. 1. Why was sailing officially added to the competition program this year? Sailing is one of the few completely vertically integrated sports where you see [people with different disabilities] competing against each other on a level playing field. For the single-person boats, you'll see quadriplegics, hand amputees, arm amputees, paraplegics, people with cerebral palsy, and all sorts of different disabilities all competing together; whoever crosses the finish line first, wins. I think that was a major factor. 2. What kind of boats do you use? Both are international classes, raced around the world. The first kind are Sonars, which are 23-foot keel boats with two sails. They use a crew of three. The others are 2.4mR's, which are 14 feet long and also have a keel and two sails. Only one person sails that one. They sit inside the boat, and only their head sticks out. Only eight inches of the boat sticks up above the water line. It's interesting to see, because all you see is a bunch of sails and talking heads. 3. Do disabled sailors ever compete against able-bodied sailors? Forty percent of the [world's] 2.4mR fleet are disabled. Usually three or four will finish in the top 10 in the open worlds [championships]. So you'll see perfectly able-bodied people competing against quadriplegics and everyone else. It's not that I beat you because you're disabled, but I beat you because I'm a better sailor. 4. Do the disabled sailors' boats differ from the rest? The boats are designed for able-bodied sailors, but what we've done is taken and adapted them to be acceptable. Some boats, such as the Flying Dutchman that I personally race, would not be adaptable, because you have to be able to jump back and forth and from side to side. In choosing the Sonars and the 2.4mR's, we've chosen boats where it's the skill of the sailor and the ability they do have, rather than their mobility, that matter. We've modified different parts of the boats. For example, for a quadriplegic, we might bolt a seat into the boat so he doesn't flop around and fall out. For a single-hand or single-arm amputee, we've added additional purchase on the rope so they don't have to use both arms to pull it. For a double-leg, above-knee amputee, we put a platform on the boat, so he can be sitting and still reach all the controls. 5. How are different disability levels accounted for in Paralympic sailing? Sailors for the disabled competition are rated for their mobility, stability and hand function. Each person is given a point value between one and seven. You can't have more than 12 points on board your boat. So you could have a seven, which would be a single leg, below-knee amputee, with a four, which might be a single-leg, above-knee amputee, and a one, which might be a quadriplegic. Those three would work together. The limitations they do have don't affect them while they're sailing. A quadriplegic gets strapped into a chair, but the other two guys on board could do the things that he can't. In the 2.4mRs, they figure out how to manage their lines, even if they have one hand. A quadriplegic can wrap lines and use their teeth and anything else. 6. What happens if a disabled sailor falls out of a boat? Quadriplegics actually use swimming a lot of times as an exercise. Besides, they'll float, because all sailors wear life jackets all the time. And with the fixed keels, the boats might tip over, but they won't stay over. It's what's called a knockdown, not a capsize. That happened to our Sonar crew the other day. Their boat was hit by about a 30-knot gust that knocked the boat over. But everyone held on, let the sails go, and the boat came back up again. They had a good laugh about it later, because if they'd been paying attention, it wouldn't have happened. 7. Is there a fear barrier to conquer in getting out on the water as a disabled person? I think most sailors feel liberated rather than helpless, because, especially for paraplegics, [out on the water] they're not in a wheelchair, and they're fully in control of where they're going. They're under no limitations as to where they can steer. They have no hills or curb cuts to worry about. They can go anywhere they want. 8. What kind of reactions do you see from disabled people after their first time sailing? It's amazing how many of them break down crying when they get back to the dock. It's their first time out of the wheelchair, the first time they've not had someone pushing them. Probably the most important thing for many of them is it's the first time they've been able to take their caregiver to do something where the newly-injured person knows more about it than the caregiver. 9. Is disabled sailing a new sport? A lot of pirates were disabled. They lost arms and legs. In recent times, probably one of the best-known disabled sailors is Tristan Jones, a double-leg amputee who sailed every navigable body of water in the world. He sailed solo across the Atlantic, the Pacific, and so on. In terms of disabled sports, [sailing] has probably been around since the mid-1980's. 10. Do you notice any differences between sailing in the U.S. and in Australia? There are some different conditions. In the U.S., we think of heavy winds being 15-20 miles per hour. Australians think of 15-20 [mile-per-hour winds] as normal, and heavy winds as being about 30 [miles per hour]. Also, sailing tends to be a weekend pleasure sport in the U.S. It's taken much more seriously here. In the U.S., the typical sailor is 40 to 50 years old, sails for pleasure, and races occasionally. Here you see very active sailors in their mid-30's. And people who are 50, 60 or 70 years old are still sailing big boats.
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