Canadian, British and American sailors claim Blind Fleet Racing World Championship titles

Kingston, Canada, the host venue of the 1976 Olympic Sailing Competition hosted 56 sailors from six nations for the 2019 Blind Fleet Racing World Championships from 31 August to 8 September.

Across the seven days of sailing, the sailors from four continents, including North America, Asia, Europe and Oceania, were tested in a wide range of conditions from 5-25 knots racing on Shark24 boats.
 
Sailing took place across three divisions including:

– Class B1: Visual acuity is less than LogMAR 2.60 (No Light perception)
– Class B2: Visual acuity ranges from LogMAR 1.50 to 2.60 and/or the visual field is constricted to a diameter of less than 10 degrees. (sever hypovision)
– Class B3: Visual acuity ranges from LogMAR 1 to 1.40 and/or the visual field is constricted to a diameter of less than 40 degrees. (normal hypovision)
 
In the Class B1, America’s Duane Farrar, Barbara Bielinski, Denis Bell and Solomon Marini won gold by a single point over the Australian team that included Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medallist Colin Harrison and one of the British teams.  
 
Lucy Hodges, Martin Phillips, Gary Butler and Ben Hazeldine (GBR) came out on top in the Class B2. The British team won 11 or 14 races and were comprehensive winners of Canadian and French representatives.
 
The Class B3 honours went to Canada’s Chris Jonas, Jodi Munden, Peter Van Rossem and Melodie Gummer. Great Britain and USA completed the podium.
 
Full results are available via – https://kingstonyachtclub.com/blindsailingworlds2019/index.cfm?ID=421