Skip to content

U.S. Paralympians Take Precious Metal

American Paralympian gold medallists Maureen McKinnon-Tucker and Nick Scandone celebrate their dominant victory in the SKUD 18 in Qingdao.

© Dan Tucker

Counting no finish worse than a second, Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker secured a gold medal in the Skud 18 class with two races to spare on Saturday at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Qingdao. Despite not having to sail Sunday’s final two races of the 10-race, two-throwout regatta, the duo elected to sail the first to show support for the rest of the 11-boat fleet before cashing in one of their throwouts and sitting out the last one. Scandone and McKinnon-Tucker were both first-time Paralympians, and the latter holds the distinction of being the first woman to win a gold medal in any of the Paralympics’ three sailing events.

“I feel exhausted, very satisfied and somewhat overwhelmed all at the same time,” Scandone said. “It’s been such a long road to get here. It’s emotionally overwhelming for me to finally realize my goal.”
 
For the 42-year-old Scandone who hails from Newport Beach and Balboa YC and suffers from ALS — more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, it became increasingly more difficult to train and compete as the years have passed, and simply making it to Qingdao was a huge question mark for the former Rolex U.S. Yachtsman of the year and College Sailing All-American.

“This is something I’ve strived for since I was 20 years old, when I was trying to go for gold in the 470 class," he said. "Now, to reach that goal, it’s hard to describe in words.”

“Sailing and his [Paralympic] goal has kept him alive," said Scandone’s wife Mary-Kate, for whom the advent of the Skud 18, in its first paralympic cycle and designed by renowned skiff designer Julian Bethwaite, had implications beyond simply enabling her husband to keep sailing. At the dock after racing, she thanked Bethwaite "because he gave me four more years with my husband."

Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker pour on the concentration in Qingdao’s light and fluky Fushan Bay.

© Dan Tucker

For the 43-year-old Mckinnon-Tucker, who was paralyzed after a fall from a seawall in the ’90s, the year leading up to the regatta was fraught with challenges beyond sailing as well. Her two-year-old son Trent was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent brain surgery just prior to January’s Miami Olympic Classes Regatta.

In the singlehanded, 16-boat 2.4 mR division, Peewaukee, Wisconsin’s John Ruf took home bronze in his first ever Paralympic regatta. The 40-year-old Ruf, an attorney, finished the tight series — where the top seven boats were separated by single digit point spreads — with a third, for a 29-point total.

“He came into this as an underdog," said Paralympic team head coach Betsy Allison. "For those of us who know Johnny, his work ethic and how hard he has been working to improve his speed, we are so proud.”

The third American team — Clifton, New Jersey’s Rick Doerr, Marblehead’s Tim Angle and Brick, New Jersey’s Bill Donohue — took eighth in the 14-boat, triplehanded Sonar division which was was also really tight, given that the trio scored a bullet, two seconds a third and a fourth over the course of the regatta.

While the focus of the world of adaptive sailing has been squarely on Qingdao for the past week, you don’t need to go to China to sail. There are a variety of programs available in the Bay Area for adaptive sailing, notably at the Treasure Island Sailing Center and through the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors headquartered at Pier 40.

Leave a Comment




One of the big lessons that Vik learned during his summer of cruising in the Med and Adriatic is that Eastern European girls “love to pose.”
While more than 150 people and 15 ships are being held hostage by Somalian pirates, two French yachties are now free.