clamchucker
04-12-2008, 12:05 AM
Beating odds, they're men against the sea
Thursday, April 10, 2008BY JEANETTE RUNDQUIST
Star-Ledger Staff
Bill Donohue was 18 years old, a college freshman and a gung-ho sailor, when he had the freak car accident that eventually cost him part of his right leg.
He was standing between two vehicles, jumping a car battery, when a truck slammed into the cars. Donohue spent almost a year in hospitals with doctors working to save the limb.
A month after he was able to walk again, he bought a new boat and headed back to Barnegat Bay.
"I kept sailing. Yeah, it was hard," said Donohue, one of two disabled New Jersey sailors on the team that will represent the United States in the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September. "My ankle was fused; I would hop from one side of the boat to the other. But my sailing skills hadn't changed.
"I was stubborn," Donohue said.
His lower leg was amputated years later because of complications from the injury.
The 55-year-old Brick resident will join Rick Doerr, 47, of Clifton, and Tim Angle, 29, of Marblehead, Mass., to race for gold in the games that are equal to the Olympics for physically disabled athletes.
Doerr was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. Angle lost an arm to meningitis. Reaching the Paralympic Games is an accomplishment they and Donohue built on years of hard work, determination and pain.
The name of their sailboat sums up their quest. It is called Valiant.
"It's a good name for a crew of guys who are trying to make an effort," said Doerr, the boat's owner and skipper. A plastic surgeon, Doerr began sailing near Lavallette as a child, and he dove back into competitive sailing as a form of rehabilitation after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident during his surgical residency in Chicago.
He put together the crew that races the Valiant, a Sonar model that is 23 feet, 8 inches long. They are the disabled world champions in their sailing class.
"We'll give it a good shot. A valiant effort," he said.
The Paralympic Games were started in 1960, and they take place in the same venues as the Olympic Games.
Some 4,000 athletes from around the world, including about 220 from the United States, will compete in 19 sports in Beijing, according to Beth Bourgeois, spokeswoman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, Paralympic Division. Several other New Jerseyans are also hoping to qualify in other sports.
NAUTICAL CHALLENGE
The sport of sailing requires both a tactical mind and physical strength. Sailors have to watch wind and waves and calculate how to harness their power. They use muscle to haul lines and trim sails, and have to move quickly, distributing their weight to control the boat.
When a disabled sailing crew is assembled, each sailor gets a rating -- someone with a 7 being the most able-bodied -- and the numbers are added for a team rating. Doerr, Donohue and Angle, who have sailed together since 2006, total 14, the maximum allowed in a Sonar.
Beyond the numbers, the sport is about teamwork. Doerr steers with a tiller, seated on a bench and using a bar to slide across it. Angle trims the main sail, using his arm and teeth to work the lines. Donohue mans the jib, or front sail, and does most of the weight transfer in the boat.
"I've got it down to a science, where to place my leg, where to grab onto the boat," said Donohue. He normally uses a prosthetic leg, but isn't allowed to do so while competing.
"We play off of each other's disabilities. It works out real well," he said.
BOAT EN ROUTE
Betsy Alison, coach of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team, said reaching the Games in Beijing is a pinnacle for the three. "Everything they've done before is only leading up to the final event, which is the Paralympics," she said. "There's nothing greater than to stand on the podium and see the American flag being raised, and hear the national anthem played."
Betsy Alison, coach of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team, said reaching the Games in Beijing is a pinnacle for the three. "Everything they've done before is only leading up to the final event, which is the Paralympics," she said. "There's nothing greater than to stand on the podium and see the American flag being raised, and hear the national anthem played."
Doerr, Donohue and Angle named their campaign to reach the Games "Team Odyssey," taking the moniker from the Greek epic.
Since qualifying for the Paralympics in October, they have been racing and working out. Next month they plan to travel to Qing Dao, about 430 miles southeast of Beijing, to race on the course where they will compete.
Their boat is already headed there: Valiant was placed on a container ship in early March.
They're also trying to lose weight to be more competitive in the "lighter air," or less windy conditions, of Qing Dao. Ideally, Doerr said, they'd drop a combined 100 pounds. "You try to trim down the boat, get extra gear off to make it as light as possible. As sailors, we have to do the same thing," he said.
While the U.S. Olympic Committee funds travel, housing and uniforms for the Games, the sailors must cover other training, travel and boat-related costs. Sail-Habitation of Island Heights, a nonprofit group that promotes sailing for the physically challenged, and members of Shore Acres Yacht Club in Brick, to which Donohue belongs, will host a fundraising dinner for Team Odyssey April 18. Members of Doerr's home club, Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, Conn., also are raising funds.
The sailors like their chances in September.
"Every kid who grows up sailing has dreams of sailing in the Olympics," Donohue said. "Life kind of changes your dream sometimes, but right now we're ranked number one. That feels pretty good."
Doerr said the team has worked hard and prepared well. Like all sailors, though, he acknowledged the "wind gods" may play a role.
"We are probably in the top five in the world right now. Anytime you're in that group, it's like any given Sunday in football. One team can beat another," Doerr said.
"Chance still does play into a portion of it, but I think we've done our homework," he said. "I'm confident we will win a medal."
Thursday, April 10, 2008BY JEANETTE RUNDQUIST
Star-Ledger Staff
Bill Donohue was 18 years old, a college freshman and a gung-ho sailor, when he had the freak car accident that eventually cost him part of his right leg.
He was standing between two vehicles, jumping a car battery, when a truck slammed into the cars. Donohue spent almost a year in hospitals with doctors working to save the limb.
A month after he was able to walk again, he bought a new boat and headed back to Barnegat Bay.
"I kept sailing. Yeah, it was hard," said Donohue, one of two disabled New Jersey sailors on the team that will represent the United States in the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September. "My ankle was fused; I would hop from one side of the boat to the other. But my sailing skills hadn't changed.
"I was stubborn," Donohue said.
His lower leg was amputated years later because of complications from the injury.
The 55-year-old Brick resident will join Rick Doerr, 47, of Clifton, and Tim Angle, 29, of Marblehead, Mass., to race for gold in the games that are equal to the Olympics for physically disabled athletes.
Doerr was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. Angle lost an arm to meningitis. Reaching the Paralympic Games is an accomplishment they and Donohue built on years of hard work, determination and pain.
The name of their sailboat sums up their quest. It is called Valiant.
"It's a good name for a crew of guys who are trying to make an effort," said Doerr, the boat's owner and skipper. A plastic surgeon, Doerr began sailing near Lavallette as a child, and he dove back into competitive sailing as a form of rehabilitation after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident during his surgical residency in Chicago.
He put together the crew that races the Valiant, a Sonar model that is 23 feet, 8 inches long. They are the disabled world champions in their sailing class.
"We'll give it a good shot. A valiant effort," he said.
The Paralympic Games were started in 1960, and they take place in the same venues as the Olympic Games.
Some 4,000 athletes from around the world, including about 220 from the United States, will compete in 19 sports in Beijing, according to Beth Bourgeois, spokeswoman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, Paralympic Division. Several other New Jerseyans are also hoping to qualify in other sports.
NAUTICAL CHALLENGE
The sport of sailing requires both a tactical mind and physical strength. Sailors have to watch wind and waves and calculate how to harness their power. They use muscle to haul lines and trim sails, and have to move quickly, distributing their weight to control the boat.
When a disabled sailing crew is assembled, each sailor gets a rating -- someone with a 7 being the most able-bodied -- and the numbers are added for a team rating. Doerr, Donohue and Angle, who have sailed together since 2006, total 14, the maximum allowed in a Sonar.
Beyond the numbers, the sport is about teamwork. Doerr steers with a tiller, seated on a bench and using a bar to slide across it. Angle trims the main sail, using his arm and teeth to work the lines. Donohue mans the jib, or front sail, and does most of the weight transfer in the boat.
"I've got it down to a science, where to place my leg, where to grab onto the boat," said Donohue. He normally uses a prosthetic leg, but isn't allowed to do so while competing.
"We play off of each other's disabilities. It works out real well," he said.
BOAT EN ROUTE
Betsy Alison, coach of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team, said reaching the Games in Beijing is a pinnacle for the three. "Everything they've done before is only leading up to the final event, which is the Paralympics," she said. "There's nothing greater than to stand on the podium and see the American flag being raised, and hear the national anthem played."
Betsy Alison, coach of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team, said reaching the Games in Beijing is a pinnacle for the three. "Everything they've done before is only leading up to the final event, which is the Paralympics," she said. "There's nothing greater than to stand on the podium and see the American flag being raised, and hear the national anthem played."
Doerr, Donohue and Angle named their campaign to reach the Games "Team Odyssey," taking the moniker from the Greek epic.
Since qualifying for the Paralympics in October, they have been racing and working out. Next month they plan to travel to Qing Dao, about 430 miles southeast of Beijing, to race on the course where they will compete.
Their boat is already headed there: Valiant was placed on a container ship in early March.
They're also trying to lose weight to be more competitive in the "lighter air," or less windy conditions, of Qing Dao. Ideally, Doerr said, they'd drop a combined 100 pounds. "You try to trim down the boat, get extra gear off to make it as light as possible. As sailors, we have to do the same thing," he said.
While the U.S. Olympic Committee funds travel, housing and uniforms for the Games, the sailors must cover other training, travel and boat-related costs. Sail-Habitation of Island Heights, a nonprofit group that promotes sailing for the physically challenged, and members of Shore Acres Yacht Club in Brick, to which Donohue belongs, will host a fundraising dinner for Team Odyssey April 18. Members of Doerr's home club, Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, Conn., also are raising funds.
The sailors like their chances in September.
"Every kid who grows up sailing has dreams of sailing in the Olympics," Donohue said. "Life kind of changes your dream sometimes, but right now we're ranked number one. That feels pretty good."
Doerr said the team has worked hard and prepared well. Like all sailors, though, he acknowledged the "wind gods" may play a role.
"We are probably in the top five in the world right now. Anytime you're in that group, it's like any given Sunday in football. One team can beat another," Doerr said.
"Chance still does play into a portion of it, but I think we've done our homework," he said. "I'm confident we will win a medal."