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Paralympic Equipment
- The SKUD 18 - Two-Person Event
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In 2006, the IFDS,
International Federation for Disabled Sailors, Equipment
Evaluation Committee chose the SKUD-18, and Australian
Mitchell/Bethwaite design, as the equipment to be used in the
two-person event at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics Games.
The SKUD-18 is a lead-assisted skiff with similar lines to the
29er or 49er, with a tube-launched asymmetrical spinnaker and a
modified 29er rig. This platform can be adaptable to
both able-bodied and disabled athletes alike allowing for the
more severely disabled to compete on an equitable level.
For Paralympic competition, team stipulations
require at least one member of the team be a female, and one
member an individual with a IFDS International Classification of
1, which is
For additional information see
www.bethwaite.com;
www.skud.org
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Other
Boats Sailed
Karen
regularly helms the sonar,
www.sonar.org,
a 23 foot mono haul. The sonar is one of the three
Paralympic boats; a Paralympic sonar team consists of three
disabled individuals. She currently sails in her local PHRF 3/J
24 / Sonar fleet in Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing
Association,
www.bbyra.net. Karen and
her local team placed first overall in BBYRA PHRF 4 in
2004 and second overall in 2003,
they also placed second overall in the ARC fleet in 2002.
Karen enjoys
both single-handed and double-handed sailing in the Martin 16,
www.martin16class.com,
and is the first
and only woman to win the Mobility Cup. She single-handedly won the regatta by 11 points. The
Martin 16, the GOS 16 and the UD-18 were evaluated in 2005 by
the IFDS
for the two-person Paralympic equipment to be used in 2008.
A new two person sailing event was recently added to the current
one and three person events.
The Martin is designed to allow the individual to stay seated
while facing forward.
The Freedom
Independence
is the boat where Karen learned to sail. She sails it
every year at the Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup on
Lake Michigan; it is hosted by
the Chicago Yacht Club and the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing
Foundation. Karen
and her partner, Kerry Gruson, made US Sailing History this year by winning the event
for three consecutive years. Prior to their wins, they placed
second and third places the prior four years. Karen and Kerry are
also three
time winners of the CRAB Cup hosted by AYC and Chesapeake Region
Accessible Boating,
www.crab-sailing.org, in
Annapolis, MD. The Shake A Leg Miami Midwinter Regatta is
another yearly event where she and her team have won several
times
www.shakealegmiami.org.
The J 22
and the J 24 are great boats and are known for their large
fleets throughout the country. As part of Karen's
training, she has sailed the J 22
at the Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship. She enjoys the feeling of the neutral helm and
is excited to integrate with the top able bodied competitive women.
Karen has also sailed the J 24 at Key West Race Week. Her
adaptive transfer seat from her sonar is easily adapted to the
J 24.
Karen also
has enjoyed sailing the 2.4 mR,
www.usn3class.org,
also a Paralympic boat, in
the Preparalympic Trials and the 2.4mR Midwinter Regatta. “ It is
a very technical boat and a great experience in single-handed
sailing,”
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