Final three races from Perth

(Nick Scandone, 2005 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, files this report from Perth, Australia, where he is competing in the 2.4 Metre class at the Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships.)

The last day in Perth proved to be a deciding factor for the World
Champioships. After a one and a half hour delay due to light winds
with large shifts, the RC set the course with the winds starting out
between 7 to 10 knots, I nailed the start and tack and crossed the
fleet. With the weather mark right under the land I sailed a course
to limit my tacks and lead from start to finish. As race two was
delayed due to a shift in the winds, the Freemantle doctor began to
build. Just before the start, I broke my vang and found myself battling
to finish in the top ten. In race three, I had another poor start and
found myself ducking the fleet as they crossed on starboard. Making a
conscious effort to limit my tacks and stay out of the middle, I then
tacked back from the right side of the course and crossed back to the
left where I was able to find a favorable shift and round the weather
mark in third. I past the Aussie downwind and battled Heiko Kroeger from Germany for first. He ended up with the win as I finished second. As he crossed the finish line his coaches were there and handed him a bottle of champange for the overall win. Congratulations to the German, and we will see each other in Finland this summer for the Open Worlds.

Well, I ended up fifth and qualified the country for China (2007 Olympics), which was the main goal so I accomplished what was important to the US. - Nick Scandone