Canada's Tingley Takes Early Lead at 2012 Sailing Worlds

IFDS Worlds © • Paul Wyeth

“I took a couple gambles on wind shifts and that helped and my boat was going well. I was trying to keep my head outside the boat and with the changes in wind pressure I had to change gears in the boat. It was a hard day mentally.”

Canada’s Paul Tingley dominated the 2.4mR class on the first day of racing in the 2012 International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) World Championships in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, USA. In the first 2 of 11 races, he notched two wins to take a five-point lead over Lasse Kloetzing of Germany and an eight-point lead over Germany’s Heiko Kröger.

Light winds on the outer harbour kept the SKUD-18 and Sonar fleets from racing, but with a front forecast, it's hoped racing can resume on day two.

Tingley and Kloetzing finished first and second respectively in the first race, but Kloetzing dropped to fifth in Race 2. After an over early in the first race, France’s Damie Setuin shot to second behind Tingley in the second loop.

“I took a couple gambles on wind shifts and that helped and my boat was going well,” Tingley said. “I was trying to keep my head outside the boat and with the changes in wind pressure I had to change gears in the boat. It was a hard day mentally.”

Tingley started the U.S. 2.4mR Class Association Pre-Worlds Regatta in December on Charlotte Harbor in the same position and was careful not to put too much stock in his early lead.

“I did this in the Pre-Worlds and I screwed it up,” said Tingley, who finished behind Great Britain’s Helena Lucas in that event. Lucas was in fourth overall with a third and ninth on Tuesday, two points ahead of Thierry Schmitter, the three-time defending 2.4mR world champion.

Eleven races are scheduled in total for each class. Though the 2012 IFDS World Championships is not a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, many sailors who have already qualified are competing in what is the last big event before the Paralympics.

Racing is set to resume Wednesday, with the first warning sounded at 10:25 a.m. local time.