As much as I would like to have been there, I wasn't. So I asked Serge Jorgensen, US Disabled Sailing Team Coach and US Sailing Coach of The Year, to write a few paragraphs about the Paralympic Pre-Trials regatta. In light of recent decisions to bring the Paralympic Sailing under the umbrella of US Sailing, one wonders will there ever be a Sonar (disabled) fleet out on the left coast. With US Sailing as the National Governing Body for all Olympic and Paralympic sailing, it will be interesting to see where the money flows. -Webbdawg. Woof.

The recent Paralympic Pre-Trials was a fantastic event, bringing over 40 athletes together for a short clinic and a three-day regatta. Sailors were treated to three days of intense coaching by Betsy Alison, Colin Guthrie, and Serge Jorgensen, as well as some valuable input from Dr. Anne Allen. The coaching talent and medical knowledge at the clinic was among the best in the world - demonstrated by Alison's recent win at the Rolex International Match Racing Championship and Allen's return from the Stars and Stripes Cup Challenge for the clinic.

Sailors faced a mix of conditions - from five to twelve knots, and from smooth water to typical St. Pete lump. With a steep learning curve for some, and with some old teams coming back out of the woodwork, the races were a great opportunity to try some new inventions. Californians Mike Strahle and John Ross-Duggan were back in force, both with some interesting adaptations on board. From the northeast, skipper Paul Callahan with crew Keith Burhans unveiled their new design - a translating Sonar seat made of spare tricycle parts and Harken traveler parts. If only Peter (Harken) had been here to see the new uses that people are putting his equipment to.

Callahan's seat and steering arrangement made for some interesting events over the course of the regatta - with boats never quite sure which was he was going to turn… and in the after-racing debrief, Callahan admitted he wasn't always sure himself. Balancing that, 2.4 mR skipper Tom Brown made sure to spend quality time with newly pregnant wife Kelly and 2-year old daughter Molly when not on the racecourse. Molly's new phrase for the week - "Come here, big boy".

Fun for all, the regatta ended with Tom Brown taking home the first place trophy in the 2.4 mR class and John Ross-Duggan rolling off with the Sonar trophy. Sailors look forward to the Rolex Miami OCR regatta at the end of January, followed by the Midwinters in March. More information on upcoming events and on the teams can be found at www.ussailing.org.