Sailing Event Makes NZ

Lake Rotorua will host the 2009 IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships from 12-21 March. Organizing committee chairman Don McGowan says the goal is to provide a world class regatta, combined with a true New Zealand experience for the crews and supporters. “We are expecting between 15 and 25 crews to compete in the event, and so far we have had interest from the United States, Britain, France, Ireland, Norway and Israel,” McGowan says. New Zealand will also be entering a team, following on from its first, second and third placings in the three different categories at the 2006 event held at Rhode Island, New York. “The sighted people essentially perform support roles in the crew. The tactician is a sighted person, but the yacht is skippered by a blind person. A sighted person is not allowed to touch the helm at all.”