The Regatta and Oakcliff Sailing Center, Jr. Memorial Clinic, C Thomas Clagett along with the Waterfront Center in Oyster Bay, New York have created the match race for disabled sailors.
This initiative was taken to fill the gap for disabled sailors giving them an equal opportunity to take part in the racing to experience the competition like any other sailor. The launch event had 8 teams along with coaching offered by Dave Perry, the renowned match racer. Perry will soon return to train the sailors this year with 10 Sonars made available for the participants.
The event for 2017 is likely to schedule from 25th to 27th of August. The initial one and a half days would be fully dedicated to practice and coaching followed by match racing for the remaining one and a half days.
The silver medalist of 2016 US Paralympics Rick Doerr from New Jersey will also take part in the race in 2017 along with other international teams from parts of Europe, Canada and the Caribbean. These teams have shown their interest to take part in the race.
The teams with adaptive requirements sailors of 2016 are invited to come back to participate this year. Every team is encouraged to get a new face in the team to encourage participation in adaptive sailing. Also, there will be no segregations done on types of disabilities. However, each team need to self identify as being part of the skipper, one sailor with a disability. Several organizations have contributed towards the event and will provide equipment required for adaptive sailing for the sailors. In addition, some organizations will also help them install the equipment. The military veterans of Sail Ahead and Brian Skeels will be available as rescue swimmers and safety officers. This event will help in seeing several sailors that had a chance to take part in the Clagett/Oakcliff Match Race regatta 2016.