2023 – As It Happened:
- UK Hansa Traveller Trophy – 2nd
- French Hansa Nationals – Doesn’t count (explanation in summary)!
- UK Hansa Nationals – 1st
- Para World Sailing Championships – 4th
- Swiss Hansa Nationals – 1st
- UK Challenger Nationals – 4th
- Eurosaf European Para Sailing Championships – 3rd/2nd
- Hansa World Championships – 3rd
The 2023 season started as ever with the first of the UK Hansa TT regattas (initially delayed due to stormy weather) and so began what would prove to be a big old year for disability sailing!
I ended up extending a couple of my trips to the southernmost TTs and travelled to the Isle of White to join the Andrew Castle foundation, sailing on Sonar, three handed boats. It was interesting to gain experience on such a different class and learn the complexities of managing a crew. I wise man once told me that sailing other classes can help you better understand your own, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for more opportunities to diversify my knowledge.
April also saw the first regatta of the Sailability Scotland TT at Annandale, Lockerbie. After racing in one SS regatta last year, I was determined to do more with the Challenger class, so I collected one of the examples from Bardowie and brought it home for some serious TLC! ‘Mory Wilson RNVR’ made its debut at the Annandale Regatta and despite not achieving the best results, I’m happy to say it was the shiniest boat in the fleet!
Come May, and I started the first big trip of the year. The expedition began with a journey to Oxford for the English Challenger Championships. This was my first time at the champs, and it did not disappoint! There were strong and shifty winds across both days of the competition, which I enjoyed immensely, and I managed to stay close enough to the front to keep the old guard on their toes, finishing 4th overall.
But I hadn’t come to Oxford alone. My ever-faithful craft, The Glasgow Bonnet, was in tow and I headed straight to Lake Geneva for the French Hansa Nationals, pleased to find a saltire hanging from the balcony when I arrived! Once again, the French couldn’t be faulted for scale, with over 70 boats taking part. The sun shone for the whole event and the atmosphere was jovial. Unfortunately, the wind was not with us, and we only managed two races! Despite this, a good time was had by all who attended, and I shall return to the French Nationals in 2024.
The next big trip was in August and started with a week of RYA supported training before the UK Hansa Nationals. This training proved to be invaluable. Something seemed to click, and I finally understood how to handle and take advantage of boat-on-boat racing, which is something I have always struggled with. As a result, the fleets at the Nationals were noticeably more engaging in their tactics (all in a sporting way of course) and it made for a very intense competition. I finished 1st overall, maintaining the title for a third year in a row.
From Rutland, I headed back across the Channel and on to the Netherlands for the Allianz Para World Sailing Championships on Braassemermeere. This was the first Para Worlds to happen in unison with the World Sailing Championships, being held along the coast in The Hague. Making up the British Para Sailing Team was myself in the 303 Men’s class, Adam Billany and Emily Wright pairing up for the RS Venture Connect class, our coach, team manager, and two cats that were resident in the Airbnb! With only one entry per class per country, the Para Worlds was made up of the best of the best from the nations represented, which meant despite being an average sized fleet, every position from first to last was a possibility. There were a few days for training and then we were on for ten races across five days. I had mixed results early in the week, but I managed to pull back as the week progressed. The final race was broadcast live online by the World Sailing media team, and I think this was the tensest of the lot. Despite knowing the top position I could achieve was 4th overall, I aimed to win the final race as a good way to round off the competition. After a hectic start and catching a couple of shifts I found myself at the front of the fleet. However, this was not to last as, after a tense last leg, I was overtaken by the world champion with just a few meters to go! Still, I think finishing 4th is a respectable result and I still laugh when I watch the final race on YouTube!
When back in Scotland, I helped with organising the Bardowie Disability Sailing Open Day. Interest in the event from the public was good and we arranged for Hansa Class UK to send up their six-boat travelling fleet to ensure there were enough boats for the day. Despite an apocalyptic forecast, the weather for most of the day was lovely and everyone that attended thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully this will be the beginning of rebuilding disability sailing at Bardowie as we seem to have the enthusiasm and the boats!
After the Para Worlds, the next big event was the Swiss Hansa Nationals, this year held in Neuchatel. Having enjoyed the Swiss Nationals in 2022, I was keen to return and not only sailing in the 303 Single class, but the Doubles as well. After flying out, I was paired up with Matthias Kaiser, who thankfully spoke very good English! Conditions on the first three days were testing to say the least, with very light winds making racing almost impossible. Thankfully things improved on the last day and we had perfect conditions for the final races. I came away with a 1st in the Singles class and 7th in the Doubles. I think me and Matthias will need to get some practice in for next year!
To break up the Hansa theme a little, I returned to Rutland for the 2023 UK Challenger Nationals. Having gained more experience by racing in the Sailability Scotland TTs, I felt more confident going into the Nationals this year. Despite a few big swings in direction, the wind remained ideal throughout the three days of racing. My results were far more consistent, and I managed to hang about at the pointy end of the fleet, finishing 4th overall.
Next came the last and longest trip of the year, which I dubbed “The Iberian Tour”. This trip was five weeks long and perfectly overlapped the first half of term at university. Luckily, most of our live material is also recorded, which meant I was able to keep up with my studies while I was away!
It kicked off with the final UK Hansa TT regatta. Despite good results at the regattas I did attend, I had to miss a few due to the big competitions, which led to a tie-breaker at the final regatta at Frensham Pond, Surry. Unfortunately, the weather was not with us that day, and each fleet was limited to one race. I had a tough battle on my hands, with some seriously freaky wind and my rival, Mike Everitt, being local to Frensham. In the end, it came down to the last tack of the last race, in which Mike gained the upper hand and took the series trophy. It was a shame to lose the title after two years, but I’ll just have to race even harder in 2024!
From Frensham, I headed straight for the ferry to Bilboa, Spain. From there, I towed The Glasgow Bonnet to Los Alcazares for the EUROSAF Inclusive Sailing Championships. This week-long competition proved to be interesting, as there was a good number of locals who I have never met on the international circuit, and who have some crack sailors among their ranks, which kept the rest of us on our toes! With light but consistent winds across the week, a few adjustments to rigging and it was as intense as any competition, with big losses and big gains. I ended up finishing in 3rd place overall and 2nd in the Para class.
After the award ceremony, I started making my way across to Portimão, Portugal, which was to play host to the Hansa World Championships in a few weeks’ time. I had been talking to Jao Pinto, one of the Hansa sailors from Portimão, and he offered me use of his club to launch my boat and go training with him. So, I spent the next week training with Jao on the open sea where the race area was planned to be, as well joining sessions with his coach, Fred, who was also training some very competitive twelve-year-olds at the time! Hey, the more boats on a start line, the better! With the week of training complete, I felt fully prepared for the coming champs.
However, there was one more thing to do before the Worlds started, and that involved heading back across the border to the city of Cadiz, for the SailGP Cadiz Grand Prix. Originally, I was only attending the One Sport Race, where a SailGP sailor from each team is paired up with a disabled sailor from that team’s respective nation, to race together in RS Venture Connects. When the Swiss team heard I was coming and because I had worked with them last year, they offered me a place on their shore crew for a few extra days. So, I arrived on site on the Tuesday and spent the next few days helping around hanger and doing odd jobs. On Thursday morning, I got the chance to watch the team training on the water from the support boat before heading back in to compete in the One Sport Race in the afternoon.
I was paired up with Hannah Diamond who is the strategist for Emirates GBR. We got along great together and it was interesting to hear Hannah talking about comms and strategy as we went around the course. This was another fantastic experience at Sail GP and hopefully I can return for a third time in the future!
Finally, I headed back to Portimão for the Hansa World Championships. This was by far the largest competition I have competed in, with 189 entrants spread across four classes and 87 in the 303 Singles class alone. The week started off with light winds which allowed us to sail on the open sea and in full view of the beach goers at Praia de Rocha. After the first two days, the weather started to turn and the waves became increasingly large, so we raced the rest of the week within the harbour walls, meaning shorter but more intense races. Consistency was the name of the game in the varying weather, and after hovering around the 5th place mark (with a few 1sts and 9ths to spice things up), I was sitting 6th overall going into the final day. My goal was to finish the competition in 4th overall, which I felt would be consistent with my results across the year. However, after a series of perfect circumstances played out across the final race, I finished the Worlds 3rd overall! I didn’t actually realise it was possible for me to jump up to 3rd, and I had no idea I was on the podium until I was washing the boat and someone came over to congratulate me! This was a great way to round off the last five weeks of what has been a busy year overall.
So came to an end the 3,500 mile Iberian Tour and as I write this, classes have just restarted at University. It feels strange to be back after such a long season but I know that 2024 is just around the corner and with that begins the planning for what will hopefully be another equally busy year!
As always, none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for the support I receive from SDS and I am extremely grateful for all that they have enabled me to achieve. I hope you have found this summary good reading and until the next update…
Rory McKinna
2024:
- Sailability Scotland TT series
- English Challenger Champs
- UK Hansa TT series
- UK Hansa Nationals
- UK Challenger Nationals
- RYA Multiclass Regatta
- French Hansa Nationals
- Swiss Hansa Nationals
- Hansa European Championships (Netherlands)
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